Last month Labour MP Paul Flynn emailed a Jewish constituent claiming the anti-Semitism crisis was a “nasty smear, distorted, exaggerated, wholly untrue”. Today he’s emailed MP colleagues to inform them that the whole row and ensuing inquiry is “moral panic”.

From: FLYNN, Paul
Sent: 10 May 2016 16:17
Subject: Moral Panic

Dear Colleague,

Moral panic is on the march in the Labour Party again.

A councillor in my constituency has been suspended. I have known him for 40 years, greatly respect him and affirm that there is not a single atom of racialism or anti-Semitism in his body. The accusation is based on a perverse interpretation of the anger he expressed at atrocities in Gaza committed by the Israeli Army in 2014. This is an injustice prompted by the political imperative to act swiftly on accusations-even though they are not substantiated and created by malicious anti-Labour forces. They are trawling through millions of statements made by Labour members and none by members of other parties…

[A] greatly respected MP and comrade Ian Gibson resigned his seat because of an article published in the Telegraph. He claimed that the party’s executive refused to listen to his full explanation that nothing improper had occurred. Again, because of hysterical media political pressure of moral panic to act swiftly against both the guilty and innocent he was expelled from the party. As an honourable man, he resigned his seat and Chloe Smith replaced him. Ian was guilty of nothing except being the victim of a Telegraph smear.

The party permanently wounded itself seeking transitory political advantage. We must not repeat the error by doing our enemies’ work through exaggerating a problem that 80 Jewish members of our party described as ‘tiny and trivial’.

Best wishes,

Paul Flynn MP

Remember, Flynn was once hauled in by the whips when he accused Britain’s first Jewish ambassador to Israel of having“divided loyalties”. He now claims the recent spate of suspensions were “created by malicious anti-Labour forces”. Exposed, he means…