McCluskey claims it is ‘UNFAIR’ for MPs to blame anti-Semitism

February 18, 2019

But STILL Labour supporters deny there is a problem: Len McCluskey says claims that the party is anti-Semitic are ‘contrived’ and ‘grossly UNFAIR’ as he brands anti-Corbyn MPs ‘hypocrites’

Len McCluskey dismissed anti-Semitism claims cited by MPs who quit Labour
Unite leader said they were ‘contrived’ because party was tackling vile abuse
Jewish MP Luciana Berger quit Labour saying it was ‘institutionally anti-Semitic’
Corbyn has been criticised for years for failing to get a grip on racist abuse

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Len McCluskey branded anti-Corbyn MPs who quit Labour ‘hypocrites’ today and said it was ‘grossly unfair’ for them to leave over anti-Semitism.

The Unite leader claimed the allegation around abuse of Jews were ‘contrived’, insisting Labour had made huge progress in tackling the problem.

Former Labour mayor of London Ken Livingstone – who was suspended from the party for years over anti-Semitism before resigning – told TalkRadio ‘almost all of this stuff about anti-Semitism and racism is based on lies’.

One of the seven MPs to quit the party today is Jewish MP Luciana Berger. She branded her former party ‘institutionally anti-Semitic’ after enduring years of abuse for standing up to the problem inside Labour.

Jewish leaders said the decision of the MPs to quit was a ‘searing indictment’ of the Labour leadership’s failure to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis.

Len McCluskey (pictured today on the BBC) branded anti-Corbyn MPs who quit Labour ‘hypocrites’ today and said it was ‘grossly unfair’ for them to leave over anti-Semitism

Jewish leaders said the decision of the MPs to quit was a ‘searing indictment’ of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis

Mr McCluskey said there was a ‘strong whiff of hypocrisy’ about the resignations because their majorities increased under Mr Corbyn’s manifesto.

He told the BBC that the MPs had stood on a manifesto which promised to respect the 2016 referendum and ‘all of their heartbreak about what’s happened in Brexit sounds a little bit hollow’.

He added ‘the issue about anti-Semitism, I just think, is grossly unfair’ because Labour general secretary Jennie Formby has ‘done more in the few months that she has been in office than previous administrations’.

Of the anti-Semitism claims, he said: ‘They are still a very miniority of Labour Party members and I think the whole thing is contrived.’

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He said: ‘I joined Labour 50 years ago and I never heard one anti-Semitic comment… this is a good old smear.’

Following the resignations today, the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews Marie van der Zyl said: ‘Today a group of seven Labour MPs announced their decision to leave the Labour Party and sit as an independent group in Parliament.

‘In a searing indictment of the Labour leadership both Luciana Berger MP and Mike Gapes MP accused the party of being institutionally anti-Semitic.

One of the seven MPs to quit the party today is Jewish MP Luciana Berger (pictured today at the launch). She branded her former party ‘institutionally anti-Semitic’ after enduring years of abuse for standing up to the problem inside Labour

‘In the light of the horrific abuse aimed at Jewish MPs, we stand in solidarity with all those who have been targeted.

‘Labour has failed to deal with anti-Semitism since the Jewish Community’s Enough is Enough demonstration called on the Labour leadership to act against this racism.

‘This is a moment of great shame for the Labour Party and a tragedy for the thousands of Jews who have supported the Party for generations.’

At today’s press conference, Ms Berger said: ‘For my part, I have become embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the Labour Party.

‘I have not changed. The core values of equality for all, opportunity for all, anti-racism against all and social justice – the values which I hold really dear and which led me to join the Labour Party as a student almost 20 years ago – remain who I am.

‘And yet these values have been consistently and constantly violated, undermined and attacked, as the Labour Party today declines to my constituents and our country before party interests.

‘I cannot remain in a party which I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic.’

Another of the group Mike Gapes, a former chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told the press conference: ‘I am sickened that the Labour Party is now a racist, anti-Semitic party.’

Timeline of anti-Semitic scandals which have erupted under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) has been accused of failing to tackle the racism among his supporters

The anti-Semitism scandal has dogged Labour since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader in 2015.

Here is a timeline of the controversies:

April 2016:

Labour MP Naz Shah is suspended for anti-Semitic posts – including one in which she appeared to endorse calls for Israelis to be deported to the US.

She apologised and was given a formal warning.

Ken Livingstone goes on the radio to defend Ms Shah – but sparks fresh controversy by claiming that Hitler supported Zionism.

He is suspended by Labour but refuses to apologise and has repeated the claim many times.

He eventually quits Labour two years later, saying his suspension has become a distraction.

June 2016:

A two-month inquiry by civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti finds that Labour is not overrun by anti-Semitism.

But the launch is overshadowed when Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth flees it in tears after being accused by Corbyn supporter Marc Wadsworth of colluding with the press.

Critics accuse the report of being a whitewash and Ms Chakrabarti is widely criticised for accepting a peerage from Jeremy Corbyn shortly afterwards.

October 2016:

The Home Affairs Select Committee says Labour is guilty of incompetence over its handling of anti-Semitism and of creating a safe space for people with ‘vile attitudes towards Jewish people’.

March 2018:

It is revealed that Jeremy Corbyn defended an artist who painted an anti-Semitic mural and said the offensive art should be removed.

He apologises saying he did not properly look at the picture before he made the post.

Jewish leaders take the unprecedented step of holding a demonstration outside Parliament protesting Mr Corbyn’s failure to tackle anti-Semitism.

Several Labour MPs address the crowds.

April 2018:

Marc Wadsworth is expelled from Labour after being accused of anti-Semitism.

Meanwhile, Labour Jewish MPs tell of the anti-Semitic abuse they have suffered in a powerful parliamentary debate – and round on their leader for failing to tackle it.

July 2018:

The Labour leadership sparks fresh anger by failing to fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism

Peter Willsman, a strong ally of Jeremy Corbyn, is secretly taped ranting that Jewish ‘Trump fanatics’ invented the anti-Semitism storm engulfing Labour.

In an angry diatribe at a meeting of Labour’s ruling executive committee, he said he was ‘amazed’ there was evidence party members hated Jews.

He claimed ‘some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump – they are Trump fanatics’ before shouting: ‘So I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up duff information without any evidence at all.’

August 2018:

Jeremy Corbyn issues a video insisting he is committed to tackling the racism – but it is panned by Jewish leaders.

Corbynistas mount a social media campaign to get deputy Labour leader Tom Watson to quit after he criticises the party’s handling of anti-Semitism.

The Daily Mail exclusively publishes photos of Jeremy Corbyn holding a wreath at a ceremony where a terrorist linked to the Munich massacre was honoured.

The Labour leader insists he was there to honour others killed – but faces fresh calls to quit over the scandal.

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