Witchfinder General

Joyce Gould was a long-time Director of Organisation with the Labour Party, retiring in the mid-1990s. I’ve just read her memoir The Witchfinder General: A Political Odyssey (Biteback, 2016). Memoirs by party staffers are rare, not least because of the omerta of deep tribal loyalties. Gould, now in her 90s and in the House of Lords earnt her witchfinder title for her role in the party’s efforts to defenestrate Militant—for which  of course she should be applauded. One paragraph with a current resonance caught my attention:
 
‘To sections of the media, the truth of the stories mattered less than the effect they would have on the electorate and the consequent lack of support for the Labour Party. The press fabricated myths of loony left activity. The media research group at Goldsmith’s College estimated that some 3,000 news items about the ‘loony left’ were circulated between 1981 and 1987, mostly untrue. There were stories such as the nursery rhyme ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ becoming ‘Baa Baa White Sheep and the renaming of manhole covers and black bin-liners. […] What I found disturbing was that the words ‘loony left’ or ‘loonies’ were used extensively by senior members of the party, so giving credence to the media reports. The completely ridiculous comments of the Tory press went practically unchallenged.’ (p.157. Emphasis added)
 
What’s changed after forty years? Just change the untruths and fabricated myths—the pattern remains the same, and how it has advantaged the current leadership! Gould’s book was written before the Labour great ‘anti-Semitism’ crisis. I wonder if she would approve of the way the party dealt with that.