Jeremy Corbyn supporters are spewing vitriol about a Court of Appeals judge that they think ruled against the Labour leader because he was born in Israel.
Corbynistas have questioned the integrity of Lord Justice Jack Beatson after learning that he was born in the city of Haifa on the banks of the Mediterranean.
Left-wingers branded Beatson a “Zio” – a derisory abbreviation of “Zionist” – on the basis of his birthplace, and co-opted him into an Establishment conspiracy to undo Corbyn.
The judge came into the firing line on Friday after he and others in the Court of Appeals ruled that recent entrants to the Labour Party are ineligible to vote in the upcoming leadership contest.
Corbyn’s campaign was not directly involved in the claims, but appears happy to tolerate them.
Heat Street offered the Corbyn campaign a chance to formally distance itself from the theory, but a spokesman declined to comment.
Many of the incriminating messages online have since been deleted, but some were preserved:
The question has dogged internal Labour politics, leaving Corbyn and his deputy Tom Watson at daggers drawn over whether entryists are trying to take over the party.
Beatson’s critics were given more succor this weekend when the gang of five supporters who brought the original challenge decided to give up.
The group could have tried to take their case to the Supreme Court, but said they lacked the cash to do so – despite a large crowdfunding campaign. Corbyn’s campaign praised the plaintiffs and called their attempts “remarkable”.
Speculation centred on Beatson having supposedly attended a “Zionist” school in his youth – a fact Heat Street has been unable to verify.
Indeed, there is very little information in the public domain about Beatson’s early life, other than this 2004 entry in International Who’s Who, which confirms that he was born in Israel, but little else:
The conspiracy claim – that biased judges are acting to quash Corbyn’s popular support – took on another dimension as supporters claimed links between another judge and Tony Blair’s government was behind the decision.
Many blasted Sir Philip Sales on the basis that he carried out legal work for the last Labour government – and is therefore somehow corruptible:
The claims – particularly around Beatson – will fuel accusations that the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn is becoming increasingly hostile for anybody Jewish.
Corbyn attempted to bury the issue by co-opting Shami Chakrabarti to run an inquiry into Labour anti-Semitism.
But the exercise turned to farce after Chakrabarti was accused of whitewashing the problem, and was promptly given a peerage.
The Jeremy for Labour campaign was contacted for comment, but declined to answer any questions.