Burnham’s War On The Greens Is Turning Into Political Suicide

Right, so Andy Burnham as you are I’m sure aware to some degree or other, decided to start a punch-up with the Greens for daring to become anti-Zionist, ostensibly for the sake of Israel, because how else are we meant to read a bust up over another party passing a progressive vote calling out the ethnic cleansing and genocide Zionism in practice has created, when Labour still cannot even call the matter genocide to begin with. And all of course while apparently forgetting that so many Labour run councils are only Labour run because of deals made with the Greens to share power, or secure the administration in some other way, case by case, or in exchange to some policy getting taken on, we know that deals like this lead to the running of the Council post-election when it’s a close run finish. But the fallout from this for Burnham has now reached from councils across the country to the inner workings of Downing Street itself it seems, all the way into his national security adviser’s living room. You see the journalist and author, Sarah Helm, who just happens to be married to Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser in question, has piped up in support of Palestine Action, and now the Met is taking a look at at her social media, presumably to see if she’s plotting the downfall of the state from her kitchen table. Th wife of the national security adviser to the Prime Minister folks, I reiterate.

That’s a bit closer to Number 10 than your average Green councillor’s late-night Facebook posting, isn’t it?

On Thursday, Labour gave its Green council partners an ultimatum: denounce your party’s 'Zionism is racism' motion or watch your precious deals with us go up in smoke. By Friday, Sheffield’s Greens had politely told them to jog on, offering to keep working together for the good of Sheffield anyway. Now Labour gets to choose between following through on its big scary threat or making life even more miserable for its own councillors. Decisions, decisions.

Brilliant strategy: threaten your partners, then remember you actually need their votes to keep your own administration running. But Israel First isn’t it?