Lord Walney was right about anti-Israel protests. It’s no surprise Labour want him gone
The propensity of the Left to plunge their heads in the sand to avoid uncomfortable truths is one with which we’re familiar. Now it is reported that Labour’s avoidance strategy is about to be formalised in Government policy with the sacking of its independent adviser on political violence and disruption – “extremism tsar” in tabloidspeak – Lord Walney.
The peer and former Labour MP recently warned that far-Left groups, particularly those involved in climate change protests and anti-Israeli movements, were a real danger to the rule of law. “Noble causes such as the battle against climate change have been hijacked by extremist groups, determined to bypass democratic norms and cause maximum destruction to society,” he said.
“Meanwhile, hostile states are actively seeking to sow division in our communities by stoking hatred on our streets.”
And he warned that the state had “ a serious blind spot” when it came to understanding the extreme left. Far-left activists are in an “unholy alliance” with Islamists looking to coerce and short-circuit our democracy rather than shaping the future through engaging with it, said Lord Walney.
Every day more evidence of the truth of Walney’s analysis is revealed. In Glasgow at the weekend, a peaceful vigil for the victims of October 7 in Israel could not go ahead as planned because of a demonstration by protesters who clearly felt offended by the very notion that Jews might gather anywhere in the city to offer prayers and thoughts to the victims of terrorism.
Walney himself knows a thing or two about the extreme Left. As John Woodcock, the MP for Barrow and Furness, he exited the Labour Party in protest at the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
Inevitably, supporters of such groups immediately demanded Lord Walney’s dismissal, and if reports are to be believed, they may soon get their way. If they do, it will expose this Government’s lack of seriousness in its approach to law and order.
Even if he departs his post, however, Walney has done the country a service by his honest, if uncomfortable, stating of truths. It has long been an article of faith among the more devoted types of Leftist that the “far-Right” and “fascism” pose the greatest threat to society, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Nearly 100 deaths of innocent British citizens at the hands of Islamists in the last two decades have done nothing to convince the broad Left that Islamism – an extreme, political iteration of Islam – needs to be addressed or even feared. Certainly its adherents in Gaza, who murdered, raped and tortured more than a thousand Israelis a year ago, get nothing but support and solidarity from the British Left these days.
Labour’s natural instinct is to encourage the belief that the far-Right is on the march, for in doing so, its own fragile coalition is less threatened. People like Lord Walney walking into TV studios and calling out this politically convenient delusion and inviting audiences to focus on the real threats to law and order just makes life more uncomfortable for ministers.
But is Labour’s coalition so shallow that it cannot afford to incur the displeasure of extremists on the Left? The loss of four constituencies to “pro-Gaza” candidates on the night of the general election (plus the victory in Islington of Corbyn himself) certainly rankles and causes party strategists nervousness. Even the Government’s craven capitulation to the far-Left in the form of a partial arms embargo on Israel and the restoration of funding to Hamas’s former favourite refugee agency, UNRWA, has done nothing to win back unhappy Muslim voters who until last year were considered a reliable block vote for the party.
But it is that tendency to capitulation that will have Walney’s supporters worried. Previous Labour governments, when they found themselves under siege by the Left for government policy decisions, stood their ground and sought to convince the broader public of their argument. Keir Starmer’s Government? Not so much.
And if the Government believes it can win some much-needed kudos from the kinds of people who might look favourably upon the antics of Extinction Rebellion or the mishmash of pro-Palestinian groups for silencing a rare, principled and informed voice speaking from a position of authority and experience, then Lord Walney’s dismissal may be already on the cards.
And therein lies the real danger to the rule of law: it comes not only from religious fanatics who believe they can murder and threaten their way into paradise, or from self-obsessed activists who believe their commitment to saving the planet removes them from the normal legal obligations of their fellow citizens, but from a Government who will sacrifice policy and positions in order to win favour with people whose extreme demands can never, ever be satisfied.