Labour is in a chaotic mess

The Labour Party has never been in such a chaotic mess.

The antisemitism row, far from abating, has suddenly escalated to dangerous proportions.

Frank Field, who insists he is not a gesture politician, shocked the leadership by his decision to resign the party whip over the issue, and because of alleged intimidation.

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The leadership has been fearful that Field’s action would be followed by an avalanche of his fellow MPs following suit, which would thrust Labour into as bad a crisis situation as it has experienced in its entire lifetime.

More and more Labour MPs are expressing concern at their leader Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on antisemitism. But resignation is a huge step for an MP to take - it would blight his/her prospects of being able to fight the next election.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi, has renewed his attack on Corbyn, saying his stance is at least as bad as that taken by Enoch Powell - that remark must have stung Corbyn more than anything. And Gordon Brown has waded in, saying this issue is destroying the soul of the Labour Party.

Adding to this, the hard-left campaign group Momentum, much-feared by moderates, is calling for a change in the system of choosing parliamentary Labour candidates. This is seen as a sinister move designed to dump anyone who is not a hard-liner.

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- Alex Salmond, the former First Minister of Scotland, has come under attack for launching a crowd-funding operation to enable him to finance a legal challenge to the Scottish Government over accusations of sexual harassment against him.

But I believe that Salmond, who fiercely denies these accusations, is quite within order in taking this action.

After all, those who are investigating these allegations are presumably using taxpayers’ money to do so.

If what he says is confirmed, Salmond has been shamefully treated over this affair. He has apparently been kept in the dark about what has been going on.

Anyone whose reputation is at stake, and who is facing such serious allegations, is entitled to be aware of what is going on.