Given the serious problem the LibDems have have with talking about Israel, from Jenny Tongue to Bob Russell and, of course, David “the Jews” Ward, Guido is not surprised that they have had to resort to running a class on how not to be offensive when discussing the subject. LibDem conference delegates will be taught by an “expert panel”, including the Chief Whip on “the importance of sensitivity when commenting on Israel, Palestine and the Middle East.” Guido will be there to make sure Ward is at the front and paying attention.

Across the hallway at the Glasgow conference next month, the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine have invited UCL academic Colin Green and Ireland’s Desmond Travers to address their fringe meeting. Green led a campaign to boycott academics who happened to be Israeli that collapsed because too many its own supporters thought it would be anti-Semitic to single out Israelis uniquely. Travers denied terrorists in Gaza used Mosques to hide weapons even after he was shown photographs of them doing just that. He has tried to drum up opposition to Israel by pointing to the many previously unknown Irish victims of Israel: “so many Irish soldiers had been killed by Israelis” and “a significant number who were taken out deliberately and shot”. What could go wrong?