So the militant Blairites have revealed their trump hand – John Mann called a fellow party member a Nazi apologist during an outrageous outburst in front of television cameras. Who was suspended by the Labour Party?

Ken Livingstone had made some ill advised factual comments in relationship to a story that was brewing about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Namely that Hitler had considered exporting German Jews to Israel and that for a period Hitler supported the Zionists.

John Mann said that he was factually wrong, an anti-Semite and a Nazi apologist. On all counts John Mann was wrong. British slander laws could see John Mann in trouble in the courts if Ken Livingstone wished to go that route. Labeling someone an anti-Semite is a pretty disgraceful thing to do. It’s the kind of thing that sticks.

On top of all this John Mann had constructed the affair so that his denunciation of Ken Livingstone was filmed and broadcast for all to see, plunging a difficult moment for Labour into borderline crisis. Livingstone was suspended pending an investigation for his comments, John Mann got away with a slap on the wrist in spite of the fact that Jeremy Corbyn wanted him suspended.

Having gone through the transcripts several times I can see no basis for calling Ken Livingstone’s remarks anti-Semitic. He pointed out a historical fact at a peculiar time, but simply saying facts cannot be anti-Semitic. You can challenge the validity of the facts but as it turns out Ken Livingstone was correct. Hitler did consider exporting the German Jews to Israel and dialogue was conducted with the Zionists about the feasibility of the plan.

So we are in a situation where the Labour Party had suspended someone for stating accurate facts and the person who has seriously undermined the Party, called a fellow member a Nazi apologist and an anti-Semite has got away with a slap on the wrists… Peculiar stuff.

This is all going on when Sadiq Khan is suffering at the hands of an overtly racist campaign by the Tory party. Real racism which is undermining the London mayoral campaign is being ignored for a storm whipped up by the noisy rabble of the PLP who have consistently undermined Jeremy Corbyn. The narrative of which is that “the leadership” are not dealing with this quickly enough. Yet when Jeremy Corbyn wanted John Mann suspended he couldn’t do it because the whips office refused. How can it be Jeremy Corbyn’s fault if suspension of MP’s isn’t up to him?

The trap is set. The PLP accuse Jeremy Corbyn of not suspending people quickly enough for saying anti-Zionist things in their teenage years, yet the decision seems to ultimately rest with the whips office. In effect criticising him over something he has no control over.

The really dark underbelly of this is the abuse Labour Party members have had to endure from the PLP. The suggestion is that there is a section of the membership that has a problem with anti-Semitism. Hard line leftists that support you know who… The same people who have been labeled terrorist sympathisers and naive pacifists, anti democratic and a noisy rabble.

What conclusion can you draw from all this? That the hard-line Blairites have shown that they might be willing to sacrifice the Labour Party if they don’t get their way. The damage they are willing to do to the Party could be terminal.

Support for Jeremy Corbyn amongst the party members is as strong as ever, if the bad eggs in the PLP think he is going anywhere soon, they need to think again. Just how far are they willing to push it?