Angela Eagle warns Labour there is no room for moral relativism in fight against ISIS

There can be no room in the Labour Party for “moral or cultural relativism” when it comes to tackling ISIS. Speaking at last night’s LabourList’s annual dinner, the Shadow First Secretary of State described the jihadist terrorist group as a “nihilistic death cult”.

In what appeared to be a tougher rhetorical stance than has been set out by the leadership, Eagle noted that Labour has “a long and proud record of standing for equality and human rights in the world”, and said the party will “stand against” ISIS and will “not excuse their atrocities”. She warned against “moral ambiguity” when judging terrorist attacks.

Eagle was one of last night’s keynote speakers, along with London Mayor candidate Sadiq Khan, and used her speech to set out the critique of ISIS:

“Democracy. Freedom of thought and action. We celebrate diversity.

“That is our vision, and in the Labour Party we have a proud history of standing up for it. So it follows that there is no room in the Labour Party for moral or cultural relativism.

“These rights are for everyone whether they live in UK or Syria. So if you are a Yazidi woman sold into slavery by ISIL/Daesh we condemn that oppression and fight it. We do not excuse it.”

She added: “We stand against them because they are a nihilistic death cult. We do not excuse their atrocities.”

The Shadow Business Secretary also said that Labour is “more divided” than it was before the leadership contest. She said there are political realities the party needs to face up to in order to rebuild after May’s election loss.

“We have now lost two elections in a row. Our political failure has seen the return of a majority Tory Government for the first time since 1992,” she said.

“And we have had the tumultuous events of our own leadership election which I witnessed first-hand in hustings and meetings up and down this country over the summer. So we have a much bigger membership but the Labour Party is more divided.”