Sputnik: So as this anti-Semitism row surrounding Labour continues, last night we heard Alan Sugar speaking to British press claiming that Britain needs to get rid of Corbyn and that the Labour leader is absolutely dangerous… How true are these comments?
Tom: The establishment doesn’t like Corbyn, there’s no doubt about that. The extremely wealthy don’t like Corbyn because of his plans of increasing tax on the top 5%. Ideologically they would be very opposed to his line and his consistent line before he entered politics before. As a man describes himself as ‘For the Many, Not the Few’, who is opposed to war consistently, who is a strong advocate for human rights… they just don’t want him about the place.
This anti-Semitism row it’s a stoked up row, because in fact the Labour party has fewer anti-Semitics than the Tory Party, but there’s not a word about that. I would discount Alan Sugar; he’s a big player has notoriety and is bit of celebrity and so on but I’d take far more seriously the threats from the British military or elements of the British military, in what purports to be a democracy the threats of resorting to a coup to move a democratically elected politician, who is potentially a prime minister.
Sputnik: I appreciate anti-Semitism exists to some degree in the Labour party, as it does in other political parties, activist groups and sectors of society. However this recent row seems to be another attempt to oust Corbyn from the Labour party at a very chaotic time in British politics. Without sounding conspiratorial and taking into account the eagerness by sectors of the British media, sectors of the Labour party and others… is this just another desperate effort to remove Corbyn as Labour leader?
Tom: I think it is and I think it’s sustained. There has never been a month since Corbyn assumed leadership of the Labour party where he hasn’t been under attack. Anti-Semitism is present throughout society to a certain level. We are all human, we’re all flawed, we’re misinformed and a certain cohort of the population will seize on to conspiracy theories and all that, but its certainly not prevalent in the Labour party. It exists but it’s not prevalent. Anyone who has studied Corbyn’s past, his consistent past will know that he doesn’t harbor any anti-Jewish sentiment… at least it has never been discerned.
Sputnik: With all this going on and signs that this row and similar rows and similar smears, (depending on your definition) could reoccur in the future; how would you advise Jeremy Corbyn and the British Labour party to protect themselves going forwards from an out of control media?
Tom: I think that they have taken the right course of action in the absence of any other option. The mainstream media is not open to Labour to get its idea’s across in a fair way and so the Labour has opted to use social media as a way of getting its story across out and it has to, a political party, has to get its side of the argument out and its idea of there. My idea would be putting up on the web a proper online newspaper but in absence of that social media is the vehicle they have to use and they do it effectively.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.
