Whatever one’s view of Brexit, the 21 rebel Conservative MPs who voted against the government displayed more moral and political courage in one day on Tuesday than the entire membership of the Parliamentary Labour Party has done in four years.
Despite the knowledge that rebelling would lose them the whip and the ability to stand as Conservative MPs in a forthcoming election — thus more than likely ending their political career — they nonetheless did what their principles told them they had to do.
What a contrast with Labour MPs who think that posting the occasional tweet about their commitment to fighting antisemitism actually is fighting antisemitism.
As we head for an election, that supposed commitment is exposed for the deception it always was. Other than the small number of former Labour MPs who have honourably resigned the whip over Mr Corbyn’s racism, the rest have put their careers before what they led us to believe were their principles.
This week so-called moderate Labour MPs have taken to the airwaves to talk of how the PLP is now more united than it has been for years. What that means, of course, is that they are united in readying themselves for an election campaign in which they will fight to make an antisemite prime minister. We are now entering the endgame.
Ever since Labour’s strong showing in the 2017 election, the choice for its MPs has been binary: they either support making a racist PM or they leave the party. With an election now imminent, there is no space for ambiguity.
Our so-called allies in the PLP are no such thing. They are preparing to swat aside the Jewish community in the rush to power.