David Blunkett blasts Labour over anti-Semitism and ‘thuggery’ in major blow for Jeremy Corbyn... as party's poll numbers take huge hit

Lord Blunkett said the "anti-Semitism" and "thuggery" in the Labour Party makes him "despair"
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Patrick Grafton-Green9 November 2019
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Jeremy Corbyn’s election campaign suffered another heavy blow as former home secretary David Blunkett said the "anti-Semitism" and "thuggery" in the Labour Party makes him "despair".

Lord Blunkett, who was an MP for 28 years and now sits as a Labour peer in the upper chamber, said the likelihood of Mr Corbyn winning a majority was "extraordinarily slim".

He urged moderates within the party to "stay and fight" to ensure the "voice of reason" prevailed following deputy leader Tom Watson's decision to stand down.

It came after a bruising week for the party, with the latest polling indicating Labour is suffering in its northern heartlands.

In the latest YouGov data, Labour scored 30 per cent in the north-west, down 25 from the 2017 general election result, and 32 per cent in the north-east, down 23 from 2017.

Writing in the Telegraph, Lord Blunkett said: "The behaviour of the hard-Left within the Labour Party - the anti-Semitism, the thuggery, the irrational views on security and international issues, and the lack of realisation that you have to embrace a big tent of people in order to win - certainly makes me despair.

"But it also makes the likelihood of an all-out Labour majority in this general election extraordinarily slim. The political landscape right now is completely different to what the hard-Left would have you believe.

"We are in a 1983 situation here, not a 2017 one - with not only the Lib Dems and the Greens, but the Brexit Party, the Tories and the SNP all seriously vying for traditional Labour votes."

The 1983 election saw Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party secure a sizeable majority after votes for the opposition were split between Labour and the Liberal/SDP Alliance.

Mr Blunkett's comments came after two of Labour’s former MPs urged voters to back the Tories instead.

Ian Austin and John Woodcock said they would be supporting the Conservatives as they did not believe Mr Corbyn was fit to be in Number 10.

Meanwhile Dame Margaret Hodge - one of the most prominent Jewish figures in Labour - declined to endorse the opposition leader as prime minister.

Also on Friday, another Labour candidate was forced to step down after allegedly making an anti-Semitic remark.

Gideon Bull, the prospective parliamentary candidate for Clacton, apologised after a Jewish councillor complained about a reference he made to "Shylock" – the Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice.

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Meanwhile, Boris Johnson came under fire for suggesting his Brexit agreement was a "great deal" for Northern Ireland as it would retain access to the EU single market and maintain freedom of movement.

Labour will attempt to get its campaign back on track as Mr Corbyn visits Leeds to announce proposals to provide 30 hours per week of free care to all children aged between two and four.

Mr Corbyn and shadow education secretary Angela Rayner will announce the proposals to provide 30 hours' publicly-funded childcare every week for all pre-school children over the age of two.

It comes on top of a £1 billion investment programme to reverse Conservative cuts in order to open 1,000 extra Sure Start centres in England to support young families.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, will pledge to create 50 million more appointments in GP surgeries every year if the party wins a majority at the December poll.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will also hit the campaign trail on Saturday as she sets out her party's vision to stop Brexit and "build a brighter future" at a rally in London.

The party will announce plans to introduce free childcare for children aged between nine months and 24 months where their parents are in work.

It has also pledged to provide free, high-quality childcare for every child aged two to four for 35 hours per week for 48 weeks a year.

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