Politicians Category
Politicans and world leaders making news and in the news, and spouting hot air
Lottery winner Ade Goodchild saves us from Brexit
You can’t come out from under there yet. And go easy on those provisions you’ve stored and planned to live on until March 29 when you could re-emerge into society. And save some of the Buffalo mozzarella – that stuff could be worth more than gold in post-Brexit Islington. Brexit is being delayed, well, it will be if Theresa May can get permission from the EU – you know, the body the country rejected in favour of being sovereign. There, there. Hush. Banging your head into the wall won’t help in the long run. And by the time you come out, the Polish repair team will have left for China. Here, to keep you going is a copy of the Daily Star.
There’s little talk of Brexit on planet Star. The paper focuses on breasts and factory worker Ade Goodchild, who has won £71m in the EuroMillions lottery. He was the only winner of the £71,057,439 prize on Friday. The BBC says he’ll travel the world and buy a home with a swimming pool.
You cares what colour your passport is when you’ve loadsa money? Good for Ade. And his fortune might be better news for our MPs, too, because Ade is looking for staff. If he needs a boat, Chris Grayling Ferries can sort him out; John ‘ORDER!’ Bercow is handy in restaurants; and Jeremy Corbyn is a shoo-in as a travel agent, fixing trips to Iran, Russia and Venezuela.
And what millionaire doesn’t need a life-size weather house? Call me, Mrs May, I have ideas…
Posted: 21st, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, Money, News, Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Brexit: Corbyn shows the humiliated 90% what they’re missing
In the latest news, a poll conducted by Sky discovers that 90% of us consider the handling of negotiations with the EU a “national humiliation”. Seven percent of mouth breathers who had their gimp masks unzipped long enough to speak said it was not humiliating in the slightest.
Three percent who don’t know what the word “humiliation” means answered “don’t know”.
Posted: 20th, March 2019 | In: Politicians | Comment
John Bercow v Brexit: you sweet beautiful man
John Bercow is the “smug Speaker” (Sun) who yelled “Bollocks to Brexit” (see Mrs Bercow’s bumper sticker) who “ambushed” (Mail) the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal. Bercow, the House of Commons’ warden, told MPs that Theresa May cannot bring her deal back for a third vote without “substantial changes”. We cannot have “Groundhog May” (Mirror). Rules are rules. And the ruling Mr Bercow cited from 1604 justifies his decision to block a third vote.
That’s 1604 the year, not 16:04 the time – and given the volatile nature of Brexit negotiation you’re forgiven for confusing the two.
Henry Deedes, writing in the Mail is upset. His paper, which supports May’s deal, says Bercow fired an “Exorcet rocket straight to the core” of May’s Brexit strategy. An Exorcet is the French-made missile used by the Argentines to sink the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Sheffield during the Falklands War. Twenty man were killed. From deadly missile to cheap shot. How language moves on. But at least laws stay rooted.
The Express calls Bercow “The Brexit Destroyer”. The Sun opts for similarly warlike imagery, saying Bercow “torpedoed Theresa May’s EU deal”. “GOTCHA!” as an alternative take on this might have put it. The paper’s editorial calls Bercow “obnoxious, discredited and shameless”. Well, he is also an MP.
Only the Mirror is non-plussed. The news features on its page 2 – that’s the page nobody reads. Well, that’s not exactly true. John Bercow reads it because he’s on it. The replicant incubating in his loins needs the sustenance of media coverage.
What next? Well, for Bercow and his Tourette’s-like scream ‘Divisionnnnnn” the opportunity to sort out camp rations in the I’m a Celebrity jungle surely beckons. For the rest of us, it’s apathy and Ray Mears boxsets.
Posted: 19th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
After New Zealand: Tom Watson calls Mark Zuckerberg ‘wicked’ and blames Facebook for massacre
Forty-nine people are known to have been murdered as they prayed in a New Zealand mosque. The killer live-streamed the massacre on Facebook. On LBC Radio, Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson used his hosted show to call Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook, “wicked”. Watson said he “dreams of the day” when he no longer has to use social media.
Watson sounds like the intro to 1970s TV show Why Don’t You?, which advised British children tuning in to turn the telly off and get a life – but only after they’d finished watching this show, which was more pure than all the other shows. So by all means use Twitter and Facebook, but only listen to people who advocate “decency”, like Tom Watson.
The Daily Telegraph calls the slaughter the first social media terror attack. The Sun calls the killer the ‘FACEBOOK TERRORIST”. The Mail says it’s the “MASSACRE SHAME ON FACEBOOK”. The mood is clear: more censorship is required to prevent a repeat of this. But is that how you stop a disease from spreading? And who gets to decide what we, the impressionable masses, get to see?
You can argue about what kind of person seeks out a video of people being murdered, and why anyone not involved in psychopathic studies would want to spend a muon of their time reading the killer’s long manifesto. But should things be banned?
Maybe context is key? In France, the odious Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally, is being investigated for her tweets. Her response to suggestions that the Far-Right has much in common with jihadism was to tweet the pointer “This is Daesh” and a series of gruesome photos. She thought it useful to show her followers images of a man being burned alive in a cage and decapitated US journalist James Foley. Le Pen has been charged with “circulating violent pictures liable to be seen by children”. “Sharing is caring,” says the blurb beneath social media icons. Not always it isn’t.
So, who else be blamed?
The Hill:
“New Zealand Police alerted us to a video on Facebook shortly after the livestream commenced and we quickly removed both the shooter’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and the video,” Mia Garlick, Facebook’s director of policy for Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement. Facebook is “removing any praise or support for the crime and the shooter or shooters as soon as we’re aware,” Garlick added.
A caller to Watson’s show said words heard in any video can be transcribed by machine learning. If the broadcast features a word on the banned list, then the video is flagged. So, for instance, a video of Tom Watson talking about “porn” and “white supremacy” would be flagged and blocked at the gate. The problem with that approach is clear. No platforming words and ideas diminishes us all.
What to do? Well, a word from Waleed Aly is worth listening to:
Posted: 16th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians, Tabloids, Technology | Comment
Brexit: ‘traitor’ Tony Blair readies France to invade the UK in 45 minutes
Look out for the air and sea invasion. Tony Blair has been advising France’s President Macron on ways to beat the Brits in Brexit negotiations.
We voted for Brexit but Tony’s a bit ‘whatevs’ on the democracy lark. That Blair has no truck with democracy is something echoed by supporters of Saddam Hussein who voted their man into power on the kind of majority politicians dream of. On 16 October 2002, Saddam polled 100% of the popular vote, eclipsing the 99.96% received in 1995. The first message is clear: be careful what you wish for, dear Remainers, the second referendum might go worse for you. The second message is: a 52% percent approval rating for Brexit is the kind of result that gets Blair on the phone to fighter command. If he goes with form, France should invade the UK in around 45 minutes.
The Telegraph says the storied interventionist told Macron to “hold firm” while events play out in the UK. Blair told him that Parliament may eventually accept a customs union or grant the British public a second referendum on Brexit. So don’t give the sods an inch.
Ukipper Douglas Carswell writes in the Telegraph:
Stop and think about that for a moment. The French government is taking advice on how to deal with our country from someone last elected to public office fourteen years ago. That’s the same year that YouTube started – or two years before the first smartphone appeared.
TREASON! screams the Express. The paper hears “ex-Labour MP George Galloway” take to Twitter to say: “This is treason!” Last month the Express reported: “John Mann brands George Galloway a ‘TRAITOR to Labour.” Is Blair merely the alleged traitor’s alleged traitor? Is Macron Blair’s lovechild?
And vitally: can we start the air, rail and sea blockade with Blair still in Paris?
Posted: 12th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Biased BBC: John McDonnell is Fleabag on BBC News
More questions over the dreaded mainstream media’s treatment of Jeremy Corbyn and his comrades after last night’s BBC News at Ten used an image of shadow chancellor John McDonnell to trail a TV show called Fleabag during a segment on Brexit.
Fleabag is about an angry, confused young woman living in London. As anyone knows, John McDonnell as with Corbyn, is an angry and confused man living in London. Although Labour abhors gender labelling, so McDonnell might well be angry and confused woman living in London after all.
John McDonnell is 68.
Posted: 11th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, TV & Radio | Comment
Corbyn’s Blue Period: Laura Murray, Minted Aristocrats and a £50m Picasso
Gabriel Pogrund has huge news. A scoop! “EXCLUSIVE: The mystery of who sold Picasso’s “Child with a Dove” for £50M in 2013, one of the most expensive artworks ever, is today solved.” Who?! “It was the family of Laura Murray, Corbyn’s top aide, who also gifted her a £1.4m house. By me & @ShippersUnbound.”
A tale of minted former communists, nepotism, huge sums of cash, the randy Spanish goat and the man who would lead the nation. What a story this promises to be. A little aside before we tuck in: Laura Murray us being sued by Rachel Riley, co-presenter of ITV’s Countdown, for alleged libel. Now read on in the Times…
Today it can be revealed that her family was behind the anonymous sale of one of the most expensive artworks in history, Pablo Picasso’s L’Enfant au Pigeon (Child with a Dove), which was sold for £50m in 2013. She also owns a share of a £1.3m north London property transferred to her by her mother, reportedly saving up to £500,000 in inheritance tax.
Murray is the daughter of Andrew Murray, 60, a key Corbyn adviser who comes from Scottish aristocracy and whose grandfather served as the imperial governor of Madras. He left the Communist Party after 40 years in 2016.
Who dares say socialism doesn’t pay? These people sound like a well-stocked elite. If we vote for them, do we all get to be their equals? Bread today – Picasso’s and pricey London pads tomorrow!
The Times adds:
Laura Murray, great-granddaughter of the 2nd Baron Aberconway, an Eton-educated Edwardian industrialist, and Lady Aberconway, his wife, who was bequeathed Picasso’s masterpiece by the art collector rumoured in the family to have been her lover, Samuel Courtauld. The Aberconway family’s decision to pull the work from public display at the Courtauld Gallery in London and put it up for sale through Christie’s, the auction house, in 2012 became a cause célèbre.
Get those Bullingdon Club application forms in the post. Corbyn and chums can yet be saved. If Picasso’s Blue Period is good enough for them, so too is Boris Johnson’s.
The identity of the seller was a mystery at the time, although speculation pointed to the branch of the family that still owns Baron Aberconway’s 5,000-acre estate in north Wales. In fact, the transaction was overseen by Laura Murray’s mother, Susan Michie, an academic, and her uncle, Jonathan Michie, an Oxford economist and university friend of Labour’s communications director, Seumas Milne. Both declined to comment.
But is it a scoop, really? In 2010, the Guardian told us:
The painting came to London in 1924 with Mrs RA Workman who was, along with her husband, a major collector of impressionist and post-impressionist art. She sold it a few years later to Samuel Courtauld, and on his death in 1947 he left it to his friend Lady Aberconway, and it had been in her family ever since.
The facts were known for years. And a quick look at a family tree could trace a line from the toff to the Trots. But the timing of the Times’ report is interesting.
Comment from Murray and the Labour Party features there none.
Posted: 10th, March 2019 | In: Money, Politicians, The Consumer | Comment
Watch Donald Trump call Apple CEO Tim Cook ‘Tim Apple’
Donald Trump capped a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook by referring him as “Tim Apple”. And nobody in the room – not one person – laughed.
Nobody in the room ever laughs. Why is that?
Is this why he named his company Trump, so he could remember what the hell it was called? That question to you Ivanka Trump, daughter of Ivana Trump.
Posted: 7th, March 2019 | In: News, Politicians, Technology | Comment
Jeremy Corbyn ally accused of defending blatant anti-Semitism
More on Jeremy Corbyn and his problem with Jews and anti-semitism in his version of the Labour Party. The Times says an ally of the Labour leader’s blocked the suspension of Labour Party member Kayla Bibby, who posted “an antisemitic image of an alien with the Star of David on its back grasping the Statue of Liberty by the face, suggesting control over the US.” Want to see it? Here it is:
The Times reproduces details from what it says are leaked emails. The exchange goes like this:
Labour complaints official:
“We have received a complaint about Kayla Bibby relating to the attached posts. The most worrying of which being the final one that depicts a monster with the star of David printed on it on the face of the statue of liberty suggesting that jewish people control America. I recommend suspension, can you confirm your view?”
A figure described as a “Corbyn ally”:
“I think it is clear that all the post appear to be directed at Israel, not at Jews. However, there is clearly room for significant misinterpretation, as for example the alien image on post 4 has a blue Star of David, which could be taken as an image representing either Jewish people generally, or the state of Israel specifically. However, the context of the other posts would point to it being anti-Israel, not anti-Jewish. There does not appear to be use of generalised use of antisemitic imagery, but rather these are generally distasteful cartoons about the perceived relationship [of] Israel and the US. The first post did concern me, and the language of “Israeli agent” should be subject of the warning, but given that it was closely based on a news story from a mainstream publication, I don’t think it is more widely actionable.”
Zero tolerance to anti-Semitism was what was promised.
Wes Streeting, a Labour MP, goes on the record: “I don’t see how anyone could objectively look upon this grotesque image and fail to conclude that this is racist, antisemitic filth of the highest order. Not only is it worthy of the Nazis, it literally features on a far-right website.”
A Labour party spokesperson is quoted: “This is a malicious, selective briefing from a disgruntled former employee. It is a deeply unfair attack on staff working in good faith to apply the Party rule book to individual cases and progress complaints through the party’s disciplinary processes.”
Can it be that a vote for the Labour Party is a vote for Jew hatred?
Posted: 6th, March 2019 | In: News, Politicians | Comment
Ilan Omar: the Left knows a Muslim woman can’t be an anti-Semite
Ilhan Omar is the Somali-American elected to a seat in the US congress. She is noticeable by her hijab, a rare sight in Congress. This Democrat is also making headlines for her problem with Jews.
She’s not a far-Right anti-Semite. No tattooed knuckles, Swastika and bone head for her. Omar’s little problem is that she keeps casting Jews as things less worthy than the rest of society, things outside the civilised norm. She says “Israel has hypnotised the world” for its “evil doings”. She says US politicians defend Israel because “It’s all about the Benjamins” paid by the American Israel Political Action Committee to blind the world to that age-old unique Jewish barbarity.
This is about Jews and their kabbalistic rites. Jews and their money. Jews and their control of world affairs. Jews cannot be trusted. Jews can never be patriots. Jews are always something other. Never trust a Jew.
Alerted to such blatant anti-semitism – I believe they’re called tropes – and pressured by leading members in her party to apologise – Omar realised her error. She offered an apology or sorts in which she cast herself as the victim and embarked on a familiar journey away from ignorance.
And then she took a turn back to her old path. “It’s all about the Benjamins,” shouted a member of her fan club as she attended a meet and greet at a Washington DC book store. Omar did not slap the commenter down. She smiled. And then she told the throng: “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country”.
Got that? Pledge allegiance to the US flag and you’re pledging allegiance to Israel and those pesky Jews. That’s not a long-standing alliance. It is, dear readers, a Jewish conspiracy. Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke branded the US federal government the ZOG (Zionist-Occupied Government). But Omar’s nothing like that white, Christian man.
She dug down. Omar replied to a tweet from Representative Nita Lowey of New York, “should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress.”
To Omar’s side at the book store sat her fellow Muslim congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib. She once opined that American political supporters of Israel “forgot what country they represent”. To see Israel as an ally is to be a traitor to the USA. Anti-Semitic much? No! Perish the thought. “A lot of our Jewish colleagues, a lot of constituents, a lot of our allies, go to thinking that everything we say about Israel to be anti-Semitic because we are Muslim,” says Omar.
You see. She can’t be an anti-Semite because she’s a Muslim woman. Everyone on the enlightened, colour-blind Left knows that.
Posted: 5th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Jeremy Corbyn and the egging: what really happened
John Murphy, the man accused of assaulting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, has been talking. He tells the Guido Fawkes blog:
“Yesterday I squished an egg on Jeremy Corbyn’s head. I look forward to coming to parliament to meet with Mr Corbyn. He has invited Hamas and IRA so I am sure he will be happy to invite a harmless egg thrower like me. My one request? That he respect the referendum result. The suffragettes believed that if you reject democratic rights, civil disobedience is acceptable. Jeremy Corbyn and hundreds of other MPs are seeking to deny the democratic rights of most of our country, so I believe that makes civil disobedience egg-ceptable.”
Yep. “Squished”. There is no footage of the incident. Corbyn was “unharmed” says the BBC. And if Murphy claims it was a “squished” egg, can we argue otherwise? Yes, because how the egg made contact with Corbyn has been the matter of much heated debate.
“The Labour leader was visiting a mosque in north London when the egg was thrown at him on Sunday” – BBC
Corbyn was “punched” with an egg:
The egg was “fisted” in the Guardian:
The Labour MP Jess Phillips tweeted after the Corbyn incident: “Acts of violence against politicians, loses your argument, lessens your cause and demeans our democracy. It’s also just horrid. Don’t do it. If you don’t agree with him raise your voice not your fists.”
The “punched” egg might have contained a knife:
The Scottish Daily Record says Corbyn was “pelted” with a “thrown” egg.
The Metro says: “A man has been arrested after hitting Jeremy Corbyn with an egg.”
What egg? Show me the egg!
Sky News says the egg was “placed” on Corbyn’s head.
It’ll all come out in court, of course – and in the wash, should Corbyn have an eggy stain to remove.
Posted: 5th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
When Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and Barry Gardiner wanted to ban Keith Flint
On 08 December 1997, Jeremy Corbyn wanted to ban us from knowing about a song by The Prodigy. The groups’ frontman Keith Flint has died too soon at the age of just 49. The early day motion to ban the mesmeric, relentless Smack My Bitch Up went:
That this House expresses its disgust and outrage at the advertising billboard campaign to promote a record album entitled Smack my Bitch Up; and urges the recording company to withdraw this advertisement immediately.
Of the 41 people who wanted music banned, the following are notable:
Where are they now? Yep – ‘Disgusted of Westminster’ are threatening to lead the country.
Spotter: Keith Flint, the last punk
Posted: 4th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, Music, News, Politicians | Comment
Labour’s Anti-Semitism: Rachel Riley sues Jeremy Corbyn staffer for libel
More now on the egg that was “tossed”, “pelted”, thrown” and smashed down on Jeremy Corbyn’s head with a clenched “fist“. After much debate on the nature of how the egg came into contact with the Labour leader’s bonce, and that’s before we get into the nature of Big-Endians and Little-Endians, know that the matter has ended in legal action for three people. John Murphy will answer the charge of assault by beating at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 19 March. And Countdown presenter Rachel Riley has instructed Mark Lewis to pursue a libel claim against Corbyn’s well-blooded staffer Laura Murray, reports the Jewish Chronicle.
After Corbyn was allegedly assaulted by someone who reportedly “broke” an egg over his head, Murray tweeted: “Today Jeremy Corbyn went to his local mosque for visit my mosque day, and was attacked by a Brexiteer. Rachel Riley tweets that Corbyn deserves to be violently attacked because he is a Nazi. This woman is as dangerous as she is stupid. Nobody should engage with her. Ever.” Don’t bother looking it up. Murray has paused / deleted her account. But there is a screengrab of the allegedly libellous tweet:
That comment was a reaction to Riley triggering Owen Jones, the insufferably smug Guardian columnist and Corbyn lickspittle who had previously tweeted in reaction to another egging – an egg was aimed at BNP leader Nick Griffin: “I think sound life advice is, if you don’t want eggs thrown at you, don’t be a Nazi. Seems fair to me.” After Corbyn’s egging, Riley added the bon mots “good advice”.
Called out for his hypocrisy, Jones went for the pile on:
Nasty stuff. And given Labour’s “institutional racism” against Jews, deeply worrying, too. The Telegraph reports on another angle to this farago:
The daughter of one of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest allies has been transferred to the Labour party’s complaints team, despite launching an online attack on anti-Semitism campaigner Rachel Riley. Laura Murray, an aide in Mr Corbyn’s office, has been moved to help process anti-Semitism cases faster.
She is the daughter of Andrew Murray, chief of staff to Unite union leader Len McCluskey.
Louise Ellman, the Labour MP, said the appointment “puts a major question mark on whether the people running this organisation understand the concerns.”
Are those investigations fair and proper? The FT says Lord Falconer, a lord chancellor under Tony Blair’s administration invited by Labour to review their approach to anti-semitism in the party, wants to see all emails about the issue and how they are stores. The paper hears insiders say Falconer’s demand “could potentially reveal political interference from advisers to Jeremy Corbyn, the party leader, or the use of non-party email accounts”. Expect to read more on gutters and moral compasses.
But Riley is no pushover:
Rachel Riley is a Jew. Labour has a problem with Jews.
And so to court. In he meanwhile, the curate has a point:
Posted: 4th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Jeremy Corbyn egged; John Murphy charged with assault by beating; Brexit not Islam
John Murphy from Barnet has been arrested and charged with assault by beating. It’s alleged he egged Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as he and the shadow home secretary Diane Abbott visited the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London as part of My Mosque Day, when people are invited to step inside a local mosque.
Mr Murphy will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on 19 March. At least then we’ll find out what happened. There is, lamentably, no video of the incident. The BBC says an egg was thrown at Corbyn and Mr Murphy is 31. The Times says Murphy is 41 and that the eggs “was pressed down on his [Corbyn’s] head rather than thrown”. CNN says Corbyn was “pelted with an egg”.
Play it down or talk it up? Or maybe just tell it like it is?
“Mr Corbyn got a warm welcome when he was round the corner at the Finsbury Park Mosque,” said Jon Craig. “But then he came here, to the Muslim Welfare Centre, with [shadow home secretary] Diane Abbott. While he was here in an upstairs room, a protester – a pro-Brexit protester we understand, according to eyewitnesses – placed an egg on his head.” PA reported that the attacker was overheard to say “when you vote you get what you vote for”.
It’s about Brexit not Islam.
And was Corbyn in the Mosque or not in the Mosque? Sky says he wasn’t. The Independent agrees: “Corbyn egg attack: Man charged over ‘assault’ outside London mosque.” But the Guardian says Corbyn was inside:
The Labour leader was unharmed and left the mosque with a police escort at about 6.30pm. Corbyn’s alleged attacker, who was not a regular visitor to the mosque, had been waiting inside the building.
Pick a prejudice and run with it:
An MP joins in:
As ever, Jews are dragged into it:
Jeremy Corbyn: enemy of the people?
Blame the media for this eggy smear? Now, when’s Easter..?
Posted: 4th, March 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Stacey Dooley grandstanding for Comic Relief is celebrity colonialism for a good cause
Labour MP David Lammy says “the world does not need any more white saviours”. He’s taken offence at the picture Stacey Dooley posted on instagram (see above) of her trip to Uganda with BBC’s Comic Relief.
Think not of the grandstanding, but of the good causes it helps.
Amen.
Lammy says “the image she wants to promote is her as heroine and black child as victim”. When she told him he could always go there himself, he replied: “This isn’t personal and I don’t question your good motives.” Which is precisely the opposite of what he did.
Previously in celebrity colonialism:
Previously at the Labour Party conference:
Fact: The West knows best.
Posted: 28th, February 2019 | In: Celebrities, Politicians, TV & Radio | Comment
Chris Williamson suspended: ‘We’re not anti-Semitic’ but white privileged Jews have it easy, says Labour
It’s a “hateful new low” says the Mail in the paper’s take on Chris Williamson, the Labour MP suspended for comments about the party’s handling of anti-Semitism. Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, opined to a group of Jeremy Corbyn supporters that the party had “given too much ground” in the face of criticism over anti-semitism. He now “deeply regrets” his thoughts. He is “determined” to clear his name. He is aghast and affronted that anyone could believe he was “minimising the cancer of anti-Semitism”.
We know Williamson’s views that fighting racism has its limits when you’re dealing with the Jew hatred rife in Labour ranks because the Yorkshire Post broadcast footage of him telling activists Labour had been “too apologetic” over anti-Semitism and was being “demonised as a racist, bigoted party”. The audience applauds.
Williamson then does as all MPs must: he takes to Twitter to issue an apology built on a sympathetic backstory. He reminds us that there are “very few cases” of Jew hatred within Labour. Not so. There are many.
Too little, too late, says the BBC.
The suspension of Chris Williamson was relatively swift, but not swift enough to suggest there has been a sea-change in dealing with the problems of anti-Semitism in the party.
The initial briefing from sources close to the Labour leadership was that Chris Williamson needed to apologise, withdraw his comments and be subject to an investigation into “his pattern of behaviour”.
If he had also been suspended at this stage, it would have been a clearer signal that the leadership were imposing their avowed policy of “zero tolerance” on the issue.But it wasn’t until Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson, its reviewer of anti-Semitism cases Lord Falconer, and some of the party’s prominent Jewish MPs intervened that the suspension took place.
The Mail does the numbers: “38 moderate MPs pressed for Mr Williamson’s removal in a letter.” Yep. Just 38. And one of them wasn’t Corbyn, who “is believed to have intervened personally to block his suspension”.
Why do they appear to have it in for Jews? Make a list. And now riding at the top is the line that Jews are white and privileged. It’s got legs.
The Jewish Chronicle has more:
Labour MP Chris Williamson described the parliamentarians who marched in solidarity with Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth at an antisemitism hearing against a black activist who was later expelled by the party as “white privileged,” the JC can reveal.
In a recording obtained by the JC, the Derby North MP repeatedly attempted to portray the hearing into the black activist Marc Wadsworth, who was expelled by Labour for bringing the party into disrepute, as an example of “white people trying to shout down a black guy.”
MPs including Luciana Berger, Dame Margaret Hodge and Jess Philips were photographed walking with Ms Smeeth ahead of last year’s hearing into Mr Wadsworth’s conduct.
Mr Williamson compared it to a film that dramatises the KKK’s murder of civil rights activists, saying: “It looked like a scene out of Mississippi Burning. It was disgraceful, absolutely despicable in my opinion.”
In the Left’s sad game of identity politics, Jews always come off worse. Sure there’s the Holocaust, say the enlightened and righteous. But with your Jew wealth, Jew power, Jew influence, Jew barbarism and support for Israel, a country cast by the hard Left as Nazism’s bastard child, you Jews don’t deserve it. In the hunt for victims and victimhood, Jews have been pushed back to their age-old societal position of being the nadir of humanity, a people whose only redeeming feature would be self-hatred and guilt.
The old anti-Semites never went away. But now they can blend in with the knowing and good.
Posted: 28th, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
What Anti-Semitism? Corbyn wants second EU referendum; Labour betrays working class voters; Thornberry removes Labour Brexit from ballot
“The last Party leader to do exactly the opposite to his manifesto promise was Nick Clegg. Remind me, where is he now?” wonders John Mann, although the question might be rhetorical. Clegg is earning shedloads of money doing PR at Facebook. Mann is using Clegg to aim a barb at Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who’s now campaigning for a second EU referendum.
Corbyn wants us to vote on the soft “Tory Brexit” guffed out by Theresa May or his “Labour Brexit”, details of which remains vague. Trouble is that members of Corbyn’s front Cabinet want it to be a choice between May’s deal and Remain. So are Labour campaigning for Remain or Brexit? Why would Labour want a referendum without its own ideas on the ballot?
“If we can’t get our deal through,” says shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, “…then anything else would be a disastrous Tory Brexit and we would ask for the public to be able to have a vote on that. We would have a referendum on whatever deal may or may not pass through parliament, and we would be saying to people, ‘Do you want this? Or do you want to Remain?’”
Labour MP Caroline Flint is confused. She tweets: “Labour in danger of overturning an election promise to respect the 2016 Referendum result. We can’t ignore millions of Labour Leave voters. There are Labour MPs like me who will not support a second ref. @jeremycorbyn give us a free vote so Labour MPs can keep their promises.”
Is this about preventing more deserters to The Independent Group (TIG) which supports a second referendum? MPs who resigned from Labour to join TIG also condemned the party as “institutionally racist”. Labour is making it all about Brexit in an effort to bury the racism rife in its ranks. Shameful stuff.
Ian Austin, one of the Labour MPS who quit to join TIG, tells the Times: “The thing that I find really upsetting is that there are people who would never have thought about this stuff… for whom it would never be an issue, but because they think Jeremy is this wonderful decent guy, fought racism all his life or whatever, they can’t believe it’s true. So they end up defending the indefensible and some of them get sucked into this poison out of a desire to defend him.”
And on Corbyn’s attitude towards Jews, the people he others, Austin adds: “I can’t look into his heart and see what’s in there. But I know he has definitely done and said things that are antisemitic. What do we normally call people who say or do things that are racist?”
As for what it means for Labour, the single word answer is “goodbye”. Research shows us that 61 per cent of Labour constituencies voted Leave. Less well off voters – ‘those in social housing, those with no formal education and those earning below £1,200 a month’ – were the three groups most likely to back Brexit. But no matter. The daughter of an international lawyer and Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations (Emily Thornberry) knows what’s best for you.
Vote now and vote often. Well, so they used to say. If MPs deny Brexit, why bother voting at all?
Posted: 26th, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Brexit stole my disabled child: a mother’s story that went viral gets corrected
The story went big. The Guardian comment piece about a mother and her disabled son remaining in the UK post Brexit gained more than 16,000 shares. “People didn’t vote leave for my son to be separated from his mother,” floats the headline about an article by Anna Maria Tuckett. Not that without a People’s Vote we can know for certain if she’s right. But let’s hear her out and assume most of us don’t approve of the State wrenching a mother from her disabled child. “I’m a full-time carer for my disabled son,” Tuckett adds. “What will happen if I’m denied settled status in the UK and have to return to Poland?”
The question might be rhetorical. If it’s not, you may care to without answering until the full facts are known. Happily, after publication and the story going viral, the Guardian bothered to check it:
This update was added on 20 February 2019: In wake of publication of this article, the home office challenged the accuracy of several assertions in the piece. Some amendments were made, and are explained in the footnote below; the following statement from a home office spokesperson is also being inserted here: “The basis of this article is fundamentally wrong. We have made clear that EU citizens will not be refused status under the EU Settlement Scheme because, for example, they are economically inactive. The application only has three key steps – to prove your identity, to prove that you are living here, and to declare any criminal convictions.” Information on funding for help to apply has been included in the footnote.]
FOOTNOTE:
• Anna Maria Tuckett is a former journalist, writer and full-time carer
• This article was amended on 19 and 20 February 2019 to clarify who warned the author she was “unlikely to qualify for citizenship”: in this case, friends and migration think tanks, as distinct from any government official (no residence application having yet been made, as the story later says). A subheading has been corrected because it wrongly stated that UK settled status could be denied “because” the author is a home-based carer. A paragraph has been deleted because it incorrectly quoted the home secretary, Sajid Javid, as saying EU citizens seeking to stay in Britain would have to prove they have been “assets” to the British economy. A home office statement added that: “We have made up to £9 million of funding available to voluntary and community sector organisations to help us reach more vulnerable or at-risk EU citizens and their family members directly to help them get the status they need.”
To recap: can we have a second read?
Posted: 23rd, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Breaking News for Labour, Corbyn and Guardian-reading anti-Semites: not all Jews agree about Israel, films or Chinese food
Over 200 Jewish members and supporters of the Labour party must be pleased to see their letter urging us to support Labour and Jeremy Corbyn has been published in the Guardian. Others will also be chuffed. The list should save time for anyone gathering names.
In 2003, the Observer (the Guardian on Sunday) published a column by Richard Ingrams in which he made the “suggestion” that anyone defending the Israeli government should declare whether or not he is a Jew lest the fair fine-minds mistake them for a Catholic, Muslim or of the Papist-Quaker babble. “I have developed a habit when confronted by letters to the editor in support of the Israeli government to look at the signature to see if the writer has a Jewish name,” wrote Ingrams. “If so, I tend not to read it.”
Jews are clever, you see. They are the only peoples for whom being called clever is an insult. It doesn’t mean you did well at maths, although some do, it is a cleverness built on cunning and duplicity say their judges defending the proles from their innate gullibility. The Jew will hide their true self to trick you into agreeing with their views. Best they identify themselves from the off so that their opinions can be fully known without the need to consider the argument’s merits and flaws.
Not only are you, dear reader, too thick to think for yourself, but the Jew is not to be trusted, their thoughts must not taken at face value. Know a Jew and know their thinking. Declare you names and number, Jews.
But no two Jews are exactly alike. We disagree over films, telly and if Chinese food is better for the soul than chicken soup? Some Jews think Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is “institutionally racist” and that he is an antisemite. The Jewish Chronicle newspaper told its readers in late 2018: “More than 85 per cent of British Jews think Jeremy Corbyn is antisemitic.” Other Jews, as signatories to today’s letter in the Guardian state, think “the Labour party under the progressive leadership of Jeremy Corbyn is a crucial ally in the fight against bigotry and reaction”. They “urge all who wish to see an end to bigotry and racism, and who seek a more just society, to give their support to the Labour party.”
You see? When you ascribe views and loyalties to people on the basis of their religion or ethnicity you narrow your field of vision. You paint them as something other than the norm.
The letter made me wonder. Did Jews write the letter after asking themselves two things: when did you become something exceptional and desperate to prove yourselves loyal to the country? And what role did Jeremy Corbyn play in your thinking?
Take your time, Jews. Corbyn has invited Hamas for tea, shared platforms with anti-Semites, liked a mural depicting hook-nosed bankers running the world, been present but not participating as a wreath was laid to the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics massacre but he knows you Jews need schooling. He laid out his two paths for improvement as he bemoaned the activities of Zionists: “One is that they don’t want to study history, and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they don’t understand English irony either. I think they need two lessons, which we can help them with.”
It’s between them and us. Are you one of the knowing or the strange? Now vote.
Posted: 21st, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
‘We’re fu**ed’: Labour split press conference gets X-rated voiceover
Seven Labour MPs announced their split from the party in a press conference. Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey, announced their decision to a packed room. The microphones picked up a running commentary: ‘We’re fucked”:
Posted: 18th, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Labour is racist to the core: three cheers for the Magnificent 7 – Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey
Yes! A vote for Labour is a vote for Jew hatred. Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey did the right thing. Fuck you, Jew haters. Just fuck you!
The above are the MPs have resigned from the Labour Party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit and anti-Semitism. They took a stand.
Ms Berger says Labour is institutionally anti-Semitic. She became “embarrassed and ashamed” to stay. Hurrah! Where are the rest of you?
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn says he’s “disappointed”. Balls. He’s chuffed. He can now look to replace them with some loyalists less sensitive to his myopia.h
The Magnificent 7 will sit in Parliament as the Independent group.
Note: For the past few years I’ve seen the growth of antisemitism first hand – the violence (yeah – I got in a fight); the casual Jew hatred; the mainstreaming of racism (I believe they’re called ‘tropes’ – rich Jew; powerful Jew; bloodthirsty Jew; barbaric Jew; disloyal Jew); and the shameful acquiescence to it in politics, society, over a pint, among ‘friends’, and at school, where a child told one of my own as she pushed her from a group that Jews were not allowed the play; Jews were not allowed to her house; Jews could not come to the party. The school did NOTHING. And not one parent would go on the record and back us up when we complained. Shame on you all.
Posted: 18th, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Ilhan Omar singles out those ‘evil’ Jews who owe allegiance to a foreign power
Ilhan Omar has done her bit to prove that the far Right doesn’t have a monopoly on antisemitism (see: Corbyn J). Omar, one of just two Muslim women in the US Congress and a Somali refugee, posited the considered and not in the least bit racist view that support for Israel among her fellow politicians was fueled by money from a pro-Israel lobby group.
Ms Omar represents the state of Minnesota. But, as with so many on the Left, her narrow thoughts are dominated by Jews. She tweeted: “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” That’s a reference to $100 bills, which feature an image of Benjamin Franklin (not a Jew). A kind heart on Twitter asked her who she thought was behind US politicians’ support of Israel.
Ms Omar was quick to the punch. “AIPAC!,” she exclaimed, a reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat speaker of the House, express an opinion: “Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologise for these hurtful comments,”
Eliot Engel, Democrat chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, called it “shocking to hear a member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of ‘Jewish money.'”
Ms Omar, 37, instantly resigned. No. Of course not. She muttered: “My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.”
Not as a whole. What was her intention, then? To claim American Jews owe allegiance to foreign power?
She added: “We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologise.”
It’s not her. It’s you. The sympathetic backstory; the call to look to yourself; the non-denial detail. It’s all there in a few mealy-mouthed words.
And this is the same Omar who backs the censorious BDS movement. Omar who said Israel “has hypnotised the world”, and that Israel was uniquely “evil”. Those comments were made in 2012. They did not stop her becoming an elected representative. Why? Because to most people, Jew hatred doesn’t matter.
It’s back. And its rife.
Posted: 12th, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Labour: ‘What Antisemitism crisis?’; Corbyn’s 12 apostles get busted
The Labour antisemitism “crisis” – which isn’t – appears on just one front page. The Daily Telegraph leads with the “Labour antisemitism crisis”. But not one of the Corbyn cronies running Labour thinks Jew hatred in it ranks is a crisis. They see it as an issue, bigger than dog poo on the pavements but smaller than getting the trains to run on time and keeping Diane Abbott off the telly.
At a recent meeting of the Labour party – one so important that the party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, didn’t bother to attend; and neither did Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby, who instead wrote a letter saying how she thinks Jew hatred is wrong. She says that as a result of hundreds of instances of antisemitism in the party – some of which were probably investigated by a crack team of party loyalists [insert small number here] – 12 members were kicked out. Kick out JC’s apostles. Raus! To the trains!
PS: Odd that the only national newspaper at the vanguard of sticking up for Jews caught once again in the maw of rising antisemitism is the Telegraph. This is how the paper responded to one recent complaint:
This article [HYPERLINKED] of 26 September published in Telegraph Travel originally stated that only Cuba, North Korea and Iran do not have a central bank owned or controlled by the Rothschild family. We accept that this is an anti-Semitic trope, although it was not included by the writer with anti-Semitic intent. We obviously accept that it was inaccurate and offensive, however, and we are very sorry that it found its way into our output. It has been redacted from the article.
Antisemitism – you’re never more than a click away from the stuff.
Posted: 12th, February 2019 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Only fools, Corbyn’s cronies and bigots believe Labour on antisemitism
From hundreds of cases of antisemitism in the Labour Party, Labour General Secretary Jennie Formby says 12 members were kicked out. Says Labour MP Ruth Smeeth:
This isn’t over yet. Nobody is going to force me out of this party to stop me carrying on this fight. We know of thousands of cases that have been submitted where nothing seems to have been done. Believe you me we are going to carry on fighting this. The PLP is united on this… One of my friends [Labour MP Luciana Berger] who is heavily pregnant is having to go through this day in day out and it’s simply not good enough.“
This is the email sent to all Labour MPs ahead of a meeting on Monday night. Formby was not at the meeting. Jeremy Corbyn was not at the meeting. Maybe he didn’t look closely enough at the invite:
Further to our meeting on February 4, as promised, here is a further update of the progress we have made in relation to action against antisemitism.
At the PLP meeting, I emphasised that I totally reject the suggestion that the existence of antisemitism in our party is a smear. I have seen hard evidence of it and that is why I have been so determined to do whatever is possible to eliminate it from the party. It is also the reason why I made it a priority to implement robust procedures to deal with it whenever it is identified.
I made the point that, whilst I cannot guarantee to totally eradicate it as we have new members joining every day, I can guarantee that we now have robust procedures to deal with it whenever it is identified. I also talked about the importance of education in challenging attitudes as a key element in tackling antisemitism.
It is clearly of the utmost importance that everyone feels welcome in our party and we must ensure that includes all members of our Jewish communities. In addition to the formal steps that are being taken in terms of procedures, I am continuing to work with Regional Directors and staff across our party to do all we can to make CLP and other meetings safe, welcoming and comradely.
A key issue highlighted in the PLP motion relates to the release of statistics. The NEC has previously been clear that statistics on disciplinary matters should remain confidential and not be published. This is in line with our policy about not publishing other party statistics. However, I took that request very seriously, and considered how it could be disclosed in an open and straightforward way, so that it was not misinterpreted or misused for other purposes by the Party’s political rivals.I therefore proposed to the PLP that the three NEC representatives who are directly elected by the PLP would be invited to examine the statistics on an ‘open book’ basis and to monitor them regularly thereafter. In this way, they would be able to give clear analysis to the PLP, whom they represent, on whether or not they believe we are making sufficient progress.
The three representatives concerned, George Howarth, Margaret Beckett and Shabana Mahmood, have impeccable credentials and are completely trusted by the PLP. This was therefore a genuine attempt to give the PLP confidence that there was oversight by people whom they trust to be independent and honest in their assessment of the situation.
However, the PLP rejected this proposal. In view of the importance of rebuilding trust with Jewish communities, after the meeting, I consulted NEC officers to get their permission to publish data. I pushed hard to get their agreement to do so. I will set out the data in this letter.
The PLP requested information in relation to staffing numbers. The Governance and Legal Unit (GLU) experienced a high level of sickness last year, followed by several staff leaving the party. This caused capacity issues and whilst we covered some of this by seconding junior barristers and solicitors, I am pleased that we have now completed the process of replacing those who have left. In addition, we have invested funding in the GLU so that the number of staff dealing with investigations will increase from five to eleven staff.
Now turning to the data.
Before April 2018, there was no consistent and comprehensive system for recording and processing cases of antisemitism . Therefore, this data shows complaints received in the period April 2018 to the last antisemitism panels held in January 2019 and represents a snapshot of the current situation.
Over 30% of complaints received by the Party are related to non-Labour Party members. For complaint ‘dossiers’ that have been submitted, this figure almost doubles up to 60%.
Many of the complaints refer to social media posts that are up to 8 years old. One specific case reported recently, a complaint was made about someone who died in 2016.
Every complaint that is reported as antisemitism is recorded as that, irrespective of the evidence, in line with the Macpherson principle. Where no further action is taken, it therefore does not mean that people have been ‘let off’, it is an indication that there was not sufficient evidence to continue an investigation of the case as an antisemitic incident.
In the period described above:
433 complaints received were not about party members
Of those who were party members
96 members were immediately suspended
146 received a reminder of conduct**
220 cases did not have sufficient evidence of a breach of party rules to proceed with an investigation
211 were issued with a Notice of Investigation
**A reminder of conduct is a first written warning and as agreed at January’s NEC meeting, these warnings will now only be issued by the antisemitism panels, supported by special counsel.
Of the cases who were issued with a Notice of Investigation or suspension, there have been 96 NEC Antisemitism Disputes Panel decisions
42 members referred to National Constitutional Committee (NCC)
16 members issued with a formal NEC warning
6 members’ cases were referred for further investigation
25 members issued with ‘reminder of conduct’
7 members’ cases were closed as the full evidence suggested no further action should be takenOf the remaining number of cases which are either under a Notice of Investigation or suspension, 44 left the Party after being presented with the evidence in their case, and the remainder are either still under active investigation as having only been more recently received, or are cases where the investigation revealed evidence that meant the case could not be pursued further.
Of the 42 members referred to the NCC, which is an independent quasi-judicial body, 5 members left the party, leaving 37 cases for NCC review.
The following 18 NCC decisions have been made:
12 members were expelled
6 received sanctions
The remainder are awaiting completion of the case
Throughout this period, the NEC working groups, together with the GLU team, continued to work on the reform of antisemitism and disciplinary procedures. We will continue to monitor and develop our procedures.
Additionally, the PLP asked how often NEC officers and/or the General Secretary have used delegated powers to make decisions on antisemitism disputes. I can confirm this never happens as the reforms to NEC procedures mean that all substantive decisions are taken by NEC Antisemitism Disputes Panels.Following the NEC adoption of the IHRA definition and the 11 associated examples, I contacted the Board of Deputies, CST, JLC and JLM to ask whether they now felt able to re-engage with us to continue consultation on our Code of Conduct.
More recently, I have had private meetings with individuals from several Jewish community organisations to explore how to bring that about. As has been reported, direct engagement with us does not currently appear to be an option for some organisations. I very much hope this will change as I remain absolutely committed to engaging and working together with Jewish community organisations at all times. In particular, I am keen to discuss with them the vitally important issue of education of members, and educational materials for all members to enable them to recognise and challenge antisemitism wherever it arises.
I hope and trust our transparency as demonstrated here and our determination to succeed will allow this to happen.
Labour has a little problem. But it won’t look at the cause. Just why is Labour obsessed with Jews?
But one Labour MP told PoliticsHome: “The stain of anti-semitism and bullying is alive and well in Corbyn’s party and as long as he continues to turn a blind eye to what is going on the worse it’s going to get. He’s allowed the Labour party to become a culture of intolerance and bullying and he should be ashamed.”
“One has to wonder why you have a problem with the world’s only Jewish nation-state,” asks LBC.
The Guardian can’t hide the issue:
The party revealed the figures in an email to MPs, and suggested no earlier figures could be compiled because there was “no consistent and comprehensive system for recording and processing cases of antisemitism”. However, the party’s former general secretary Iain McNicol disputed that claim in a private meeting with Labour MPs on Monday night, saying such a system had been in place.
Whoops!
Posted: 11th, February 2019 | In: News, Politicians | Comment
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
