False equivalency: J. Corbyn vs T. May

False equivalence, hypocrisy and out-right lying and distractions: these are things that we tend to associate with Donald Trump’s administration in the United States, or find ways to easily dismiss at least. But it is something we must begin to look at in the context of the British political leaders: Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, as well as the cases of out-right hypocrisy that characterise how we view the two parties.

Focussing just on the period following the General Election in June, I’m going to use this space to talk about the contrast between the scandals that have disgraced both of the parties at certain given points.

First off, in June, came the moment Conservative MP for Newton Abbot Anne Marie Morris used the following sentence in the House of Commons during a debate on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union: “Now we get to the real nigger in the woodpile, which is, in two years, what happens if there is no deal?” Prime Minister Theresa May had just been through a grueling election campaign that resulted in her majority being wiped out, a relatively successful election for the Labour Party and her political authority being banished. Yet, she managed to cobble enough authority together to condemn the vile racist language, and in her Manchester Conference speech said the Party will always “stamp out” racism and intolerance.

Same Old Tories was, of course, the narrative, with the Conservatives’ more suspicious policy of immigration and desire for more controls regularly meeting claims of racism from some on the left (again, wilfully ignoring the Labour immigration policy which was about the same as the Conservatives’).

But the Prime Minister managed, at her weakest point, to gather enough political authority and strength to stand up to racism in her own parliamentary party, removing the whip from Morris within three hours of the remarks being made. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn has presided over a growth of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, white-washing the report commissioned into the problem, only reluctantly removing the whip from MP Naz Shah after she made anti-Semitic comments, and still unable to expel former London Mayor Ken Livingstone for his continuing ill-judged, silly, and almost fetishised comments about Judaism, Anti-Semitism, Zionism and Adolf Hitler.

Conservatives and others within Labour have rightly criticised that, but it seems to have fallen on death ears. Which brings us to the Labour Party’s Conference in Brighton in September. Brighton’s Labour Council Leader, on the theme of anti-Semitism, questioned if he would allow Labour Conference to be held in his city again, because of “open” anti-Semitism. Leaflets were distributed with anti-Semitic slogans, and the British Human Rights Commission said, because of the open toleration of a culture of anti-Semitism, that Corbyn’s Labour needed to “establish that it was not a racist Party”.

There are in-built, institutionally anti-Semitic practices within the Labour Party that people need to highlight and tackle. Labour MPs that sought to criticise Boris Johnson’s absurd and insulting “move the bodies” comment about Libya need, first of all, to start calling out their own party for its vile anti-Semitism. One is an institutionalised problem, one was a gaffe — something we’ve come to expect, admittedly, wrongly, from the Foreign Secretary.

Jeremy Corbyn’s speech lasted over an hour and was commented on as “unexciting”, boring some audience members. On its content, it was deeply criticised: Shelter said the housing policies would result in increased levels of homelessness and poverty, while Labour’s Haringey Council also opposed the Leader’s new policies. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell all but admitted a Labour Government would spark a run on sterling, a far cry from any of the worst economic warnings over Brexit — which wasn’t even discussed.

Meanwhile, Theresa May had a cough and was the subject of a half-funny prankster. The Boris blunder was quickly looked over as a disgusting remark which the Foreign Secretary apologised for. May promised a change in the organ donation system in England to a deemed consent, a move that will change the lives of a countless number of people and save many more. Mrs. May would, in any other circumstances, be able to claim the winning title of the conference season, with the divisions over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party being a deciding factor — and that’s before the abuse was taken in.

The BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg couldn’t even go to Brighton without body guards because of constant threats of violence.

And that brings us to today’s events.

Jared O’Mara, the new Labour MP that defeated Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam in June, was outed as a homophobe and as a misogynist — or at least to have made comments that are interpreted as such. Violent statements calling for one person in particular to be “sodomised to death”. Instead of criticising the issue head on, some in the Labour Party tried to distract in a big game of false equivalency and distraction. Former Corbyn advisor Matt Zarb-Cousin picked a fight with one Lib Dem, as shown here:

Kevin, among others, has widely criticised former Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron for his views and bigotry on the issues surrounding LGBT+ people, rights, and his concept of “sin”. Most of us call all of this out as one giant problem of homophobia. Matt Zarb-Cousin and others in the Labour Party try and cover it up as not important because other people have issues too, and they shouldn’t take lectures from people in other parties, even if those people try and tackle those issues in other parties. There’s also quite a difference between calling for someone to be “sodomised to death” and not voting for gay marriage.

The LGBT+ Conservatives group also came under fire from some for their criticism of O’Mara, despite being a group that continually calls out bigotry and backwards views from all parties, MPs and others, especially those on their own benches. For Cousin and others, they are attempting to draw (false) equivalency between Philip Davies speaking out against LGBT inclusive sex education, and Jared O’Mara wanting to “punch women in the face”, saying gay men are “driving on the marmite motorway”, and calling for people to, in more colourful language, to be gang-raped (sodomised…).

If Jared O’Mara was a Tory MP, the rest of us would call him out, Zarb-Cousin and others would join us against the Same Old Tories. But a sense of false equivalency and method of distraction and whataboutery governs their thinking when bigotry is exposed on their own side.