In a move that is no surprise to anyone, Socialist Appeal has come out in defence of the racist Howard Beckett, the Deputy Secretary-General of Unite and Len McCluskey’s hand-picked successor. He was suspended after he tweeted calling for Priti Patel to be deported instead of refugees. If this was a prominent figure on the political right, there would be immediate calls for his cancellation, but since he is a stalwart of the left, he is being defended by the usual suspects – Owen Jones, Ash Sarkar, etc.
Beckett’s suspension is richly deserved. He has backed some of the worst anti-Semites in the Labour Party, and has offered uncritical support to anyone affected by the so-called ‘witch-hunt’. He has played a big role in turning the party into the toxic, hard-left circus that it is now. His recent racist attack on Priti Patel is simply the tip of the iceberg.
This is not the first time Socialist Appeal has defended anyone on the hard-left that is suspended, rightly or wrongly. The organisation will uncritically defend anyone who is part of their hard-left tribe, whilst gleefully calling for the expulsion of the Blairites. Racism against a BAME politician is perfectly fine provided they are on the political left. No doubt they think racism against me is fine because I’m a black conservative. They were certainly much quicker to hound me out for daring to question Saint Trotsky than they have proven willing to expel the (largely white) members of their cult who have been guilty of things such as sexual assault, rape, etc. They have no trouble defending the white racist Beckett, but they hound out members of their own sect for less, and have even called for the expulsion of people from the party for daring to criticise or oppose Jeremy Corbyn. The hypocrisy is incredible, but consistency has never bothered these odious, repellent pseudo-revolutionaries.
If the Labour Party is ever to return to being a sensible party of government, its leadership must purge the whole rank-and-file of these vicious cretins. Sadly, they probably number in the hundreds of thousands, making this an impossible task. Anyone who wants a decent, centre-left opposition to the Tories should just join the SDP. It is the least you can do.