Labour candidate in ‘anti-Semitism’ row
By-election hopeful shared controversial tweets
ABIRMINGHAM Labour council candidate is facing calls to step down just hours after being appointed amid allegations she shared “anti-Semitic” and “anti-Israel” posts on social media.
Alison Gove-Humphries, a keen supporter of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was selected by local party members to stand for election in Hall Green this May.
But now she is accused of sharing anti-Semitic posts on her Facebook account – one accusing Israel of selling oil smuggled from ISIS territories and another saying that Israel “manufactured” last year’s Labour Party anti-Semitism row and inquiry.
Mrs Gove-Humphries denied she was anti-Semetic and said she merely shared the posts without comment. She said the posts were taken out of context and she had now deactivated her Facebook account.
But Labour councillor Barry Henley (Brandwood) said: “These posts are unpleasant stuff. She is not suitable to be a candidate until she is fully investigated by the regional Labour Party.
“As a Jewish member of the Labour Party I shall be writing to them and asking for an investigation.”
Mrs Gove-Humphries launched a second Facebook account in the last few days with posts showing Labour councillors and activists, including leader John Clancy, out on the campaign trail over the weekend.
The by-election was prompted by the resignation of Sam Burden from the council last week due to work commitments. The seat is a target for both the Tories and Liberal Democratss who see Labour as vulnerable.
There was a controversial inquiry into anti-Semitism last year, following the exposure of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and the high profile suspensions of former London mayor Ken Livingstone and Bradford MP Naz Shah.
Two leading Birmingham councillors were also disciplined for antiIsraeli comments or social media posts.
Former cabinet member for equalities Cllr Waseem Zaffar was criticised for comments at a pro-Palestine rally in 2014 – although his otherwise strong stance on antiSemitism saw him warned by the Party.
Scrutiny committee chairman Zafar Iqbal apologised for sharing Jewish conspiracy material on his page – although he said he had no idea how they got there.
The West Midlands Labour Party declined to comment.
These posts are unpleasant stuff. She is not suitable to be a candidate until she is fully investigated. Councillor Barry Henley
ANOTHER week, another Labour Party crisis – and this time entirely of their own making.
Only last month the many online exaggerations of UKIP leader Paul Nuttall (that he played professional football and that he lost close friends at Hillsborough among them), and the sexist abuse of TV’s Loose Women on social media a few years ago by Labour MP Gareth Snell, were a running theme throughout the Stoke-on-Trent by-election.
So it defies belief that anyone gets anywhere near a party political candidacy without first having their social media and online profiles exhaustively trawled for embarrassing or incriminating content.
While some minor parties perhaps lack the manpower or ability to do this, Labour in the West Midlands clearly does not.
It must be equally frustrating for Labour activists that opponents have relatively quickly uncovered the sharing of anti-Semitic Jewish conspiracy theories by the Hall Green council by-election candidate Alison Gove-Humphries.
They are clearly against stated Labour Party principles and policies.
And it is doubly troubling that the Labour hierarchy seems incapable of swiftly dealing with such matters and condemning such views.
This is especially so since a Birmingham Labour Party panel is meeting to shortlist and approve candidates for the all-up council elections in 2018.
I wonder if any more individuals with worrying views will slip through the net.
I’VE spent a lot of time recently covering the run-up to the West Midlands mayoral election The general response is: “Why are we getting a mayor? We didn’t ask or vote for it.”
It seems that the spate of referendums since 2010 – on EU membership, city mayors and the voting system – have given people the impression we live in a direct democracy.
Actually the people have voted for the metro mayor system – they just don’t realise.
First, there was a vote for city mayors in Birmingham and Coventry in 2012 – in which the people voted ‘no’.
But these were directly elected mayors to replace council leaders chosen by elected councillors to run council services as they do in Liverpool and Leicester for example.
Those largely anonymous council leaders who ‘the people’ enthusiastically endorsed in 2012 then voted last year to adopt the metro mayor system to run their combined authority in return for extra funding from Government.
The other side of the coin is that the Government put the metro or city region mayors on the table. This was in their 2015 election manifesto which won the day. So again a majority of MPs backing metro mayors won seats in Parliament.
Therefore the people have voted for it, twice.
MANY organisations rightly block staff access to the internet on their work computers – whether it’s to stop them whiling the day away on social media, accessing filthy or extreme websites, or even stop them shopping while on the clock.
But surely Birmingham’s politicians need to keep up with local affairs and find out what is going on in the world.
So it came as a bit of a surprise to Councillor Mike Leddy that he was greeted with a message saying the website he had requested was “in a prohibited category”. The website in question was that of our sister title: www.birminghammail.co.uk “They’ll let me look at the Daily Mail online but not our own Birmingham Mail. It’s ridiculous,” he said. There was no word on whether the Post’s own website was blocked... but we like to think not!
AFTER five years in bed with the Tories in Government and now making overtures about progressive alliances to centre left Labour members you could forgive Lib Dems for having a bit of an identity crisis.
Clearly they are a confused bunch if their latest election leaflet being posted through letterboxes in Hall Green is anything to go by.
Last time we looked Beverley Nielsen was the Liberal Democrat candidate – but the leaflets give three reasons to back her as West Midlands LABOUR mayor.
We know Labour’s Siôn Simon is not necessarily popular with all wings of his party, particularly the Jeremy Corbyn fan club.
So either this is the embarrassing printing blunder it looks like... or a subtle overture to disaffected Labour supporters.