Less than two weeks after being elected Labour Leader, Keir Starmer’s already suffered his first frontbench resignation, with former Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol quitting last night as a Labour Whip in the Lords. Corbyn managed three months before suffering a shadow cabinet resignation… 

Lord McNicol’s move comes in response to the pending investigation into the recently-leaked dossier on Labour’s handling of Antisemitism, in which McNicol is mentioned frequently; including claims that when Corbyn’s office questioned senior Labour staff about antisemitism cases, including McNicol, they repeatedly:

• Provided timetables for the resolution of cases that were never met.
• Falsely claimed to have processed all antisemitism complaints.
• Falsely claimed that most antisemitism complaints the party received were not about Labour members.
• Provided highly inaccurate statistics of antisemitism complaints.

The report also implies McNicol was amongst those secretly disappointed in Labour’s 2017 election performance, claiming he and others discussed “hiding their reactions, saying “everyone needs to smile” and “we have to be upbeat. And not show it”.

WhatsApp messages from McNicol also show him ridiculing Labour policies as they were being announced, including free school meals with comments such as “Next we will be saying most poor people are criminals. And the best way to reduce future offending is by forced castration.” McNicol is in an awkward situation, however if Starmer makes him to be the fall guy Labour’s centrists will not be happy…