LONDON—Monitoring polls and news coverage of the upcoming elections, U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson reportedly expressed concern Thursday that continued accusations of anti-Semitism against the Labour Party will hurt the Tories’ hold on the bigot vote. “ Those with prejudiced and discriminatory beliefs have long been a bedrock of the Conservative Party constituency, but I’m nervous that so many people attacking Labour as the party of anti-Semites will eat into our ability to win,” said Johnson, adding that he was concerned the volume of allegations that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t doing enough to combat anti-Semitism in his own party could result in bigoted voters believing that Labour actually represented their values. “ When allegations first started coming out, I figured it would be a flash in the pan and the Tories could continue counting on the bigot vote, as we have for generations.  It’s really going to hurt us if people think Labour is the party for anti-Semitism based on a few things in the media and ignore the political reality, which is that the Conservatives have for decades reliably issued policy driven by prejudice and racial animus.  But it’s going to be a close election, and I’m worried if this doesn’t stop, the Tories could be at risk of losing the Islamaphobe or even the white supremacist vote, and that would be devastating at the polls.”  An increasingly desperate Johnson added that he was pondering saying or doing something extremely anti-Semitic in order to remind bigoted voters on the fence about which party best advocated their interests. 

Advertisement