Labour’s little problem with Luciana Berger
Chuka Umunna says the Labour Party is “institutionally racist”. Too many of its fans are Jew haters and Jew baiters. Umunna is an erudite, cosmopolitan bloke. He hasn’t left Labour, the party that likes to bill itself as an ‘anti-racist’ party. He’s still in it. Will Labour split?
At a recent meeting, Jennie Formby, the Labour Party’s general secretary, refused, as the MP Luciana Berger reported, “to answer reasonable questions… or commit to taking the action we need” to defeat anti-Semitism.
By coincidence, Berger’s local party in Liverpool Wavertree accused the Jewish MP of “continually using the media to criticise the man we all want to be prime minister”. Two motions for her removal were tabled. In the Liverpool Echo a Labour spokesman denies the motions had anything to do with Berger’s Jewishness. And:
The Liverpool Wavertree Labour group has called an ‘extraordinary’ meeting next weekend after motions of no confidence in MP Luciana Berger were tabled. Agendas have just been issued to 1,700 members of the Liverpool Wavertree Constituency Labour Party with just two motions, which both call for votes of no confidence in Ms Berger .
Who is Berger? The Guardian:
Berger, often a critic of Corbyn, has faced persistent antisemitic abuse over the last decade, some of it from within her local party. She has been the target of online abuse and had a police escort at last year’s Labour party conference after receiving death threats.
And then motions were withdrawn. Why? The Guardian:
A no-confidence motion in the Labour MP Luciana Berger has been withdrawn and a meeting to discuss her future has been cancelled after it emerged that one of her key opponents within the local party called her a “disruptive Zionist”.
The Times:
Earlier in the day John McDonnell said that he believed the motion was related to reports that Ms Berger was considering backing a party split and urged her to “just tell people you’re not supporting a breakaway party”. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the shadow chancellor said that if the motion had arisen because of her stance on antisemitism then it was “completely wrong”.
Chuka Umunna, the former shadow business secretary, accused Mr McDonnell of suggesting that a “victim of outrageous racism . . . must promise she will not walk because of that racism”.
Evidence of a party split? None provided. But McDonnell is clear: suck up to Jeremy Corbyn and it will all go away. Anyone think Labour treats anti-Semitism seriously? It doesn’t.
Says Berger:
“I have made no secret that, as a Jewish woman representing a city with a Jewish community, I have been deeply disturbed by the lack of response from Jeremy Corbyn as party leader and many in the wider leadership of the party to the antisemitism that stains our party.
“I and my colleagues have pressed the party for months to take concrete action to tackle this serious issue. I joined colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday in a unanimous call to the party to be transparent about what it has and has not done to root out antisemitism in the party.
“I am deeply disturbed at the party leadership’s desire to brush this aside and its decision not to comply with the expressed wish of Labour MPs. Nothing will deter me from exposing antisemitism wherever it festers, including in the Labour Party where it is being wilfully ignored.“My values remain the same as they did when I was first elected. I will not be distracted from fighting for the interests of my constituents.”
A Labour Party source said: “Antisemitism is not mentioned in the motion and the motion has no formal standing. However, Jeremy Corbyn has made clear that no one should be criticised for speaking out against antisemitism.
Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, wrote to the aforesaid Formby to ask her to suspend the Liverpool Wavertree party. He wrote: “It is clear to me that Luciana Berger is being bullied. This behaviour by her local party is intolerable. The actions of her constituency are not only threatening towards Luciana personally but are bringing our party into disrepute. I am therefore requesting that you take the necessary steps to suspend Liverpool Wavertree constituency Labour party (CLP).”
And so it goes…
Posted: 8th, February 2019 | In: News, Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
