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Was this the moment that Labour won back the Jewish vote?

Keir Starmer received a dramatic standing ovation, led by his Jewish wife, when he said Labour had ‘ripped out’ antisemitism

September 28, 2022 16:04
GettyImages-1428017240
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 27: Labour Party leader Keir Starmer with his wife Victoria after holding his key note speech on the third day of the annual Labour Party conference on September 27, 2022 in Liverpool, England The Labour Party hold their annual conference in Liverpool this year. Issues on the agenda are the cost of living crisis, including a call for a reinforced windfall tax, proportional representation and action on the climate crisis. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

ByDavid Rose, in Liverpool

5 min read

For Britain’s Jews, the critical moment of Labour conference came halfway through Sir Keir Starmer’s hour-long speech on Tuesday. It wasn’t that he stated once again how important it was to “rip out antisemitism by the roots”; he had repeated this pledge many times since becoming leader in 2020, and has made some headway.

Much more significant was the reaction in the hall. The thousands present rose in a spontaneous standing ovation, led by his Jewish wife, Victoria, with just a diehard handful sitting on their hands. The cancer of antisemitism in Labour has become symbolic of its unreadiness to govern. Was this the moment the party won the next election?

At the 2019 conference, Jeremy Corbyn’s last as party leader, the venue had been illuminated with projections of the Palestinian flag, together with a series of slogans supplied by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. There were Palestinian flags inside the hall until as recently as last year, when delegates passed a motion calling for sanctions against Israel.

But in Liverpool in 2022, the foreign affairs debate — with both Sir Keir and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy present — took place beneath a giant projection of the Ukrainian flag as that country’s anthem played.