Meeting held on Monday 16th July 2018
Six peoplet were present. Four sent their apologies.
Noting that the Labour Party had moved up in the opinion polls to a two point lead over the Tories, we thought it was significant that the Jewish Board of Deputies was again raising the issue of Labour and antisemitism. We thought that Israel was particularly concerned that UK should not have Corbyn as its PM, and so were again attempting to undermine him with charges that the party has not listened to the Jewish voice over antisemitism. In fact, the Labour policies are rigorous and its definition is almost identical to the Bof D’s, with the exception of the examples which diverge slightly because the BofD examples make it very difficult to have any critical discussion regarding the origins of Israel or its constitution. We were unsure whether such an issue was really likely to have much impact on Labour votes.
We moved on to consider Trump and his recent meeting with Putin. While we all deplored every aspect of Trump’s person and policies, we nevertheless wondered whether these could lead to a reaction against him. His appalling misogyny, for example, appears to have led to a raising of awareness and solidarity against misogyny. He has certainly shaken things up and created more division in USA, but it has become increasingly clear that Clinton et al in the Democratic party are no longer an alternative: more radical opposition is needed. The recent election on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (in opposition to a 10-term congressman) in the Democratic Primary in New York demonstrates this.
This led to a more general discussion of whether Brexit, like Trump, demonstrates the increasingly chaotic nature of politics in which the outcomes are wildly unpredictable. Might such circumstances as these be a precursor of and precondition for progressive change. Perhaps this is being very hopeful. The consequences of chaos could as easily be right wing authoritarianism.
We attempted to sketch out where the current Brexit impasse might lead. Is there any way we could still revoke Article 50 and remain in EU? It appears that there is no ‘deal’ (including ‘no deal’)which any parliamentary majority would support. This might lead to a ‘no deal’ exit, which it seems many of those who voted for Brexit want. Could it also lead to the fall of the Tory government, or at least to Labour winning the 2022 general election once the economic effects of a hard Brexit had become apparent? How would a Labour government respond to that and the hardship which might be its consequence? Might this engender an environment where more radical solutions become acceptable of even inevitable?
Our conversation was highly speculative with elements of hopefulness as well as of impending disaster.