McDonnell pours fuel on row with Hodge

JOHN McDonnell was last night accused of ‘digging himself a hole’ in an anti-Semitism row with a senior Jewish Labour MP.

The Shadow Chancellor claimed Dame Margaret Hodge branded Jeremy Corbyn a racist because she ‘misinterpreted’ the party’s new code of conduct on anti-Semitism.

He said the former minister had ‘harangued’ the Labour leader when she angrily confronted him over his failure to tackle anti-Semitism.

Dame Margaret is now under investigation by Jennie Formby, Labour’s general secretary, for ‘abusive conduct’ and could face disciplinary action.

Mr McDonnell said Dame Margaret’s outburst, in front of MPs in Parliament last week, was ‘out of character’.

‘I realised there was a complete misinterpretation of the code, so I can understand why she was so angry if that’s what she believed this code had done,’ he told Radio 4’s Today programme. ‘I think it’s a complete misunderstanding and we can resolve this amicably and move on.’

He added: ‘Jeremy was deeply upset because, when you have someone haranguing you in that way, of course it’s upsetting. Those sorts of accusations, when he has worked so hard on the issues of antiSemitism and anti-racism.’

But friends of Dame Margaret hit back at Mr McDonnell. One said: ‘He’s digging himself a hole. There was no misunderstanding, and if there was, that would extend to Jewish leaders, most of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the Chief Rabbi.’ Labour’s shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith indicated she felt Dame Margaret was within her rights to raise her concerns as she did.

She said: ‘If she wants to have a very clear word with Jeremy that’s entirely up to her.

‘I’m not aware of any processes by which because somebody speaks to somebody else “in a particular way” we’ve had disciplinary procedures. Normally if we’re speaking about policy, if we’re talking about issues, we can have those discussions.

‘I just can’t see a situation where we discipline people for speaking their minds to each other.’