Sunday Shows Round-Up: From Labour Splitters To Tory Cabinet Rebels

“The test for him as leader is to eradicate anti-Semitism. It is not Labour Party members who will be the judge of that, it is the British Jewish community,” the West Bromwich East MP said. “I think he understands now that if he is ever to be prime minister he needs to rebuild that trust.”

Meanwhile Watson said he wanted to give a platform to moderates in the Labour Party in order to avoid more resignations, adding that there was an “urgent need” to address why people want to leave.

“There is a crisis in the soul” of Labour, he told Marr, adding: “For us to hold this party together, things have to change.”

Watson’s call to tackle anti-Semitism in the Labour Party was echoed by John McDonnell on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics, with the shadow chancellor saying that Labour must be faster and “more ruthless” in tackling the racist hatred.

“I think we’ve changed anyway in the last few months…. I’ve always said we need to be quicker, faster in dealing with these cases and we need to be more severe,” he told the radio programme.

McDonnell continued: “I want us to be the best political party in dealing with issues like anti-Semitism and racism and I want us to be able to, with clean hands, get out there and tackle it within our wider community.”

While Labour MPs debated the major split in their party, Conservatives appearing on the Sunday shows focussed on Brexit and their own dividing lines on leaving the EU.

In an interview with the Daily Mail on Saturday, three Cabinet ministers – namely Amber Rudd, Greg Clarke and David Gauke – said they would be prepared to rebel against Theresa May and vote to delay Brexit to avoid no-deal.

Their comments led to Tory Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen – among others – calling on the senior Conservatives to resign from the government, saying it was the “honourable thing to do”.

But speaking on Sunday, environment secretary Michael Gove rejected demands for the trio to be sacked, calling their statement an “expression of their views”.