Labour’s latest civil war getting even uglier. Naturally Diane Abbott picks the side against the people trying to do something about Labour’s anti-Semitism…
A fresh video has been unearthed of Jeremy Corbyn apparently speaking at a Labour event last October. Corbyn gives his response to “some criticisms made of us in the right-wing media over the last Summer”. As in, the massive anti-Semitism and IHRA storm that raged around him all of last summer and has not gone away:
“It doesn’t bother me. Nothing keeps me awake at night anyway, I frankly don’t care.”
He then goes on to tell the enthusiastic crowd about how Labour will face “a lot of pressure from a lot of very very powerful forces”. Vintage Corbyn.
Hat-tip: The Golem
The first panellist to speak in the Victoria Derbyshire Programme’s debate on last night’s Panorama this morning declared Labour’s Jewish members who spoke out about their experiences of racism in the party to be “a bunch of wimps”. A member saying what some at the top of the party seem to be thinking…
I am shocked, chilled and appalled by what I’ve just seen on Panorama. Hearing the testimony of party members and former staff was harrowing. They are not “disaffected”, they have been incredibly brave. Very serious questions now have to be answered.
— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) July 10, 2019
Truly, truly awful watching @BBCPanorama tonight – to see the stress of former staff members who were trying to stand up to antisemitism but most of all to see the pain of Jewish members who our party has so badly let down
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) July 10, 2019
I know some of the staffers on tonight’s Panorama. They joined the Labour Party, like me and most party members, because they hate racism as much as they hate poverty. A statement accusing them of having “political axes to grind” is deeply wrong and indefensible
— Lisa Nandy (@lisanandy) July 10, 2019
Tonight’s @BBCPanorama powerful and shocking. Huge bravery shown by the young people who spoke out. This goes to the soul of what Labour stands for. And it’s not just about processes – it’s about the world view that created the permissive environment for all this.
— Pat McFadden (@patmcfaddenmp) July 10, 2019
Terrible to see vile abuse suffered by our Jewish comrades & the agonies of staff trying to kick racists out of our party, undermined at every turn by Leader’s office. #BBCPanorama
— Mary Creagh (@MaryCreaghMP) July 10, 2019
Attacking those who are brave enough to call out antisemitism is pathetic. And trying to silence anybody who challenges Corbyn’s failure to tackle Jew-hate is truly reprehensible.
If you deny Labour has a problem then you are part of the problem.— Margaret Hodge (@margarethodge) July 10, 2019
After watching @BBCPanorama tonight, it’s hard not to conclude that Labour is being destroyed before our very eyes. We have been an anti-racist, internationalist, progressive party for a century. Corbyn & his clique are destroying our heritage, our reputation & our future 1/2
— Owen Smith (@OwenSmith_MP) July 10, 2019
Well I’m saying it even if no one else will. The buck stops with Jeremy Corbyn. I said at PLP a couple of months back that if we cannot deal with internal problems like this, we cannot ask the public to put us into Downing Street.
— Anna Turley MP (@annaturley) July 11, 2019
Is this the moment when Labour MPs finally stand up and do something about it? Or do they just go back to campaigning to make Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister anyway?
For readers who missed the full hour long documentary last night, it has been cut down to a more digestible eight minutes of highlights (or perhaps lowlights). Not to be missed…
Isn’t it likely that an exasperated current or former staffer who knew the password sent this tweet? The hacked line is invariably a lame excuse.
The BBC have previewed details of their Panorama exposé on Labour anti-Semitism ahead of its broadcast tonight. The Labour whistleblowers are accusing two of Corbyn’s closest allies of interfering in Labour’s disciplinary processes around anti-Semitism – Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby and Corbyn’s right-hand man Seumas Milne. Helps to explain why the Labour response has been quite so aggressive in this particular case…
The Leader’s Office is accused of being “angry and obstructive” over anti-Semitism amidst numerous other allegations including Formby bringing in officials who “overruled” and “downgraded” disciplinary decisions, while deleting emails and using external email addresses to try to cover her tracks, and Corbyn’s office taking in various cases for his own aides to process them directly. Labour are sticking to the line that these are false allegations from “disaffected” former members of staff. Doesn’t look good…
Corbyn’s outriders are continuing their all out pre-emptive war to try to discredit Labour’s anti-Semitism whistleblowers ahead of tonight’s Panorama exposé. Now it’s Momentum founder Jon Lansman who’s been wheeled out to make an extraordinary allegation against the whistleblowers, suggesting that they deliberately sabotaged Labour’s attempts to tackle anti-Semitism in order to make Corbyn look bad. Looks pretty defamatory if he doesn’t have any proof:
Momentum themselves have already put out an attack video against producer John Ware while Corbyn’s spokesman has been briefing heavily against the BBC. It’s a radical change from Corbyn’s past approach of putting out bland statements paying lip-service to tackling the problem. They are seriously worried…
Fresh from threatening their whistleblowers over the weekend with heavy-handed legal letters from the attack dogs at Carter Ruck, Labour have responded in a similarly measured fashion to their three peers who resigned today in protest at Labour’s “institutional anti-Semitism”. Labour have opted to go strongly on the attack, saying “we completely reject these false and offensive claims”.
Guido suspects that going aggressively after two Jewish peers who’ve just resigned from the party over it no longer being “a safe political environment for Jewish people or other opponents of anti-Semitism” is probably not going to down as well as Labour think it is. We’ll find out soon enough who’s in the right when the Panorama documentary airs on Wednesday…
After Barry Gardiner went on Ridge to attack Labour staffers who blew the whistle on Labour anti-Semitism, McDonnell naturally followed-up on Marr, insisting that Labour’s decision to send threatning legal letters was “just to remind them” of their confidentiality agreements. Nothing a short spell in the gulag won’t sort out…
Barry Gardiner has come out swinging this morning after the latest reports that Labour have instructed attack dog law firm Carter Ruck to send aggressive letters threatening former staff members who have blown the whistle to BBC Panorama over Labour anti-Semitism. Despite official Labour policy being to ban NDAs “which stop disclosure of future discrimination, harassment or victimisation” to be banned, Gardiner defends Labour’s actions and then accuses the whistleblowers of having a “political axe to grind”. Just another day in Corbyn’s Labour Party…
Over 60 Labour MPs and 30 peers including deputy leader Tom Watson have issued a statement calling for Jeremy Corbyn to remove the whip from Chris Williamson “immediately”. Despite a highly irregular Labour NEC panel overturning his suspension as a member of the Labour Party, it is still up to Corbyn whether he retains the Labour whip in Parliament. Will Corbyn act? Will the MPs act if he doesn’t?
At least they’re taking it more seriously than Lincoln MP Karen Lee who wrote that she was “absolutely chuffed to bits” with the news Williamson had been reinstated in a now deleted Facebook post. You couldn’t make it up:
UPDATE: Now over 70 Labour Party staffers have written to General Secretary Jennie Formby to protest Williamson’s reinstatement. They have called for an immediate review and the implementation of a “truly independent complaints process”.
Read both letters in full below:
True to form, the Labour Party have lifted the suspension of the notorious Chris Williamson after just four months. PoliticsHome is reporting that NEC members overruled Labour Party officials to lift his suspension: “by a three-person NEC panel on anti-semitism, despite a recommendation from party staff that he be referred to the next stage of Labour’s disciplinary process.” He-who-must-not-be-named is back with just a “formal warning”…
Williamson was suspended in February after a litany of anti-Semitic incidents, far from showing any remorse he’s continue to embroil himself in regular controversy ever since then. Labour’s deadline for MPs to apply for re-selection is fast approaching, the Labour leadership have evidently decided that they want Williamson back. 38 Labour MPs signed a letter to Jennie Formby demanding Williamson was suspended back in February. Will they stand up against him now or just send a tweet, then turn a blind eye?
UPDATE: Former Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the party in protest at anti-Semitism, says Labour has been “poisoned under Jeremy Corbyn”:
“It is a complete disgrace that Chris Williamson, who has caused huge offence to Jewish people, is let off with just a warning. This shows the extent to which a party which had such a proud record of fighting racism has been poisoned under Jeremy Corbyn. The only question is when decent Labour MPs will finally say enough is enough and do something about it.”
It is the key question. When will they act, rather than just talk?
UPDATE: Margaret Hodge says “Ignoring Chris Williamson’s vile track record of antisemitism just for a vote is disgusting! He should have been kicked out of the party for good months ago.”
UPDATE: The Jewish Labour Movement says the “decision stinks”:
UPDATE: Wes Streeting says:
“It beggars belief that Chris Williamson has been readmitted to the Labour Party given his pattern of behaviour on antisemitism. It doesn’t suggest that those taking decisions are taking the EHRC investigation seriously.
“The decision about whether the Labour whip is restored is a decision for Jeremy Corbyn. Restoring the whip will be received as a punch in the stomach to many Jewish members who’ve stayed to fight antisemitism and will reinforce fears that he doesn’t take antisemitism seriously.”
Nutty ginger Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has only been in Parliament two years but he’s got his tribute act to his heroes Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell up and running with impressive speed. His latest stunt is inviting the international spokesman for the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen, Ahmed Alshami, to Parliament. Their slogan includes “death to the US, death to Israel, curse the Jews”. He’ll fit right in with the Corbynistas…
Russell-Moyle has already called fellow Labour MP Graham Jones a “tit” and “illegal arms sales apologist” for criticising his decision to invite Alshami. Meanwhile there’s not been a peep from the Labour Party or Corbyn himself so far. Best not to upset his old friends at Press TV after all…
UPDATE: Russell-Moyle has finally backed down. Old Comrade Corbyn would never have caved in so easily…
Hard-left former Scottish Labour MP and now Labour Councillor Jim Sheridan was suspended from the Labour Party last August after a Facebook post attacking the Jewish community because of what “they and their Blairite plotters are doing to my party and the long suffering people of Britain”. He doesn’t even have the usual “I’m only an anti-Zionist” defence, he’s literally targeting the Jewish community at large:
Sheridan was quietly reinstated in January, showing no remorse for what he wrote: “I remain of the view that my accusers were misguided and overreacted to what was intended to highlight my personal frustration and criticism of those intent on undermining our leadership.” In classic Labour style, they’ve even gone and promoted him now to Deputy Leader of Renfrewshire Labour, ex-Labour MP Ian Austin calls it “utterly disgusting”. Yet another day in Corbyn’s “zero tolerance for anti-Semites” party…
Pete Willsman has now been suspended from the Labour Party after his outburst revealed this morning where he claimed that the Israeli Embassy was fuelling Labour’s anti-Semitism crisis. Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby emailed Labour NEC officers to say:
Dear all,
We have received a number of complaints, including from NEC members, about Peter Willsman’s latest comments, as reported on LBC this morning.
I am writing to let you know that we took the decision earlier this morning to administratively suspend Peter, pending disciplinary action.
Kind regards
Jennie
Willsman can’t attend NEC meetings while he’s suspended from the party but he’s still officially a member of Labour’s ruling body. What are the chances he ends up straight back on the NEC as soon as his suspension is lifted…
Jeremy Corbyn’s old friends at Hamas have landed him in hot water again after issuing an adulatory press statement “saluting” Corbyn’s “solidarity message” at the ‘Nakba’ march last weekend. As Guido reported earlier this week, the march was addressed by multiple Labour frontbenchers including Richard Burgon and Diane Abbott. Despite being ridden with anti-Semitism, as it is every year…
Despite still being a patron of the anti-Semitism infested Palestine Solidarity Campaign who organised the march, Corbyn didn’t attend himself this year but got Diane Abbott to read his message to the crowd instead. Clearly it hit the right notes with Hamas, the terrorist organisation’s response is positively gushing:
“We have received with great respect and appreciation the solidarity message sent by the British Labor Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to the participants in the mass rally that took place in central London last Saturday in commemoration of the 71st anniversary of Nakba…
“We also salute Mr. Jeremy Corbyn for his principled position in rejecting the so-called Trump Plan for the Middle East or the ‘Deal of the Century’…”
He should really send Seumas to have a word with Hamas about sending their compliments privately in future…
After the revelations about Corbyn’s gushing endorsement of a deeply anti-Semitic book, Conservative GLA leader Gareth Bacon wrote to Sadiq Khan asking him to condemn Corbyn’s endorsement to “help reassure vulnerable Jewish Londoners that this sort of disgusting racism will not be tolerated” in London. A pretty reasonable request given 2 in 5 British Jews say they would “serious consider” emigrating if Corbyn got in…
Far from condemning Corbyn, all Sadiq has to say about the matter is that he’s “pleased” that Corbyn rejected the “anti-Semitic elements” of the book, before rattling off a list of things which purportedly show him being tough on anti-Semitism. Funnily enough he forgets to mention having photoshoots with a Labour Councillor whose expulsion he personally called for over anti-Semitism just last year…
Sadiq remarkably even goes on the attack, accusing Bacon of “political point scoring” and calling his letter “extremely distasteful”. It speaks volumes that Sadiq uses that sort of language to attack a letter raising concerns about anti-Semitism, while turning a blind eye to Corbyn’s anti-Semitism itself…
Read Sadiq’s letter in full:
Several members of the Shadow Cabinet spent their Saturday attending a central London ‘Palestinian solidarity’ rally, run by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign which was recently exposed as being ridden with anti-Semitism. Labour frontbenchers Laura Pidcock, Richard Burgon, and Diane Abbott spoke at the rally where protesters spread conspiracies from ‘Israel controlling the media’ to ‘Israel is responsible for anti-Semitic abuse’. Although it is possible that Richard Burgon didn’t notice, after all he tweeted support for the Palestine rally with the Jordanian flag…
The march was led down Regent Street by a man who claimed Jews in Israel “owns the banks and the media” and that “Israel did 9/11.” Don’t expect any condemnations from Labour MPs any time soon – Jeremy Corbyn is still patron of the PSC…
At today’s European Election launch, Jeremy Corbyn criticised people who perpetuate conspiracy theories, and vowed that Labour would lead on tackling antisemitism. He even claimed that “Nigel Farage’s Brexit is a Brexit for conspiracy theorists”…
Labour’s new European Election manifesto even says that they will “lead the fight to tackle all forms of racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia”.[…] Read the rest
