Owen Jones Quotes

And Galloway – a toxic demagogue who campaigned alongside Nigel Farage and voted Tory earlier this year – succeeded both in eating into the party's Muslim vote, and driving other residents into Labour's camp in opposition.

Yes. I think there was a lack of very basic emotional intelligence in some sections of the left in terms of engaging with the collective trauma of the Jewish people. And the same with Israel. There is an emotional connection that many Jewish people have with Israel and you just cannot ignore that.

I certainly learned in great detail what we were up against. The parliamentary Labour party meetings were just brutal and gruesome. A lot of those people in the parliamentary Labour party – I'm just going to say it – are jumped-up thugs. Vicious, horrible people. They would sanctimoniously stand up and talk about the authoritarianism of Corbynism as they screeched like disturbed teenagers, spraying spittle at anyone with the temerity to support the elected leadership of the party of which they were members. I really don't know what they are driven by.

Some within Labour want to establish a year zero, which simply consigns the last five years to a dustbin labelled "Never to be repeated", but while that might suit factional ends, it advances no debate about the party's future in an era of unprecedented social turmoil. The need for a transformative political agenda is far greater now than when Corbyn first stood: but without a balanced understanding of the last five years it will prove impossible.

And here’s where moral clarity is needed. Antisemitism exists, it is a menace, and frightens Jews traumatised by the all too recent Holocaust. Labour must show far greater leadership in tackling antisemitism in the party and rooting out every and any antisemite. But that should not detract from the just cause of showing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Let's be clear. Saudi Arabia is a terrorist state. It slaughters innocent people for political ends. It exports extremism. It is armed and backed by the British government. No one has [been] killed by a wreath. Countless civilians have been killed by British supplied bombs.

The British government arms Netanyahu's administration as it slaughters innocent civilians, just as it arms the Saudis as it massacres little kids in Yemen. Does a wreath have to be laid for this to be a national scandal.

We have a moral duty to offer support and safety to LGBT people fleeing repression for which Britain shares responsibility. ... It is now Pride season in Britain. Members of the government will wrap themselves in the and issue self-congratulatory statements about how far LGBT rights have come. Don’t let them get away with it. Gay and lesbian refugees are being detained and deported to countries where their safety is at risk, even their lives. The should lead to a much wider conversation about the persecution of migrants and refugees. ... The architects of the helped construct anti-gay laws across the globe that still endure today. The victims of such persecution need our support. Instead, they are being terrorised. It is a national scandal – and the silence over it must end.

If 'TERF' [Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist] is unacceptable, let's just use 'transphobe' and 'transphobic', problem solved.

I wasn't a bit wrong, or slightly wrong, or mostly wrong, but totally wrong. Having one foot in the Labour movement and one in the mainstream media undoubtedly left me more susceptible to their groupthink. Never again. Corbyn stays and – if indeed the Tories are thrown into crisis as Brexit approaches – he has an undoubted chance of becoming prime minister, and a fine prime minister he would make too.

Labour is now permanently transformed. Its policy programme is unchallengeable. It is now the party's consensus. It cannot and will not be taken away. Those who claimed it could not win the support of millions were simply wrong. No, Labour didn't win, but from where it started, that was never going to happen.

This is one of the most sensational political upsets of our time.

[As a divisive figure] It doesn't help that I am young, but I also look like a 12-year-old. We live in a country where there is a lot of animosity. If your politics is radical it antagonises. People might think I am overconfident. I look petulant when I stand my ground.

It is a collective failure, not just him, the left, including people like myself, no clear strategy.

I am part of the left; I feel loyal. I don't want to do things that will be damaging to what I believe in.