Starmer stands up to hard-Left
Labour leader won’t reinstate Corbynite rival he sacked in anti-Semitism storm
Sir Keir Starmer faced down his hard-Left critics yesterday over the Corbynite rival he sacked in an anti-Semitism row.
The Labour leader held a conference call with the Socialist Campaign Group, who urged him to give rebecca Long-Bailey her job back.
She was dismissed on Thursday after retweeting an online interview with actress Maxine Peake which included an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
But Sir Keir refused to reinstate her and would not even promise to replace her as shadow education secretary with someone from the left of the party.
He said: ‘We engaged in, for about an hour, a discussion but my mind is made up on this.’
it came as the storm threatened to plunge Labour into civil war once again, as revealed in yesterday’s Daily Mail.
Hard-Left figures such as union baron Len McCluskey and Momentum founder Jon Lansman condemned the sacking. A petition urging Sir Keir to reinstate Miss Long-Bailey had garnered more than 10,000 signatures yesterday.
Following the conference call with the Labour leader, the
Socialist Campaign Group said there had been a ‘significant disagreement’. it said it had also raised the issue of the freedom of party members to speak out on israel.
‘The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs made it clear that rebecca Long-Bailey should not have been sacked and should be reinstated,’ the statement said.
‘The imminent annexation of the West Bank by israel’s government was discussed and the need for the Labour Party, MPs, party members and supporters to speak out against it and human rights abuses.’ Jeremy Corbyn took part in the meeting and urged Sir Keir to continue to take a tough line on the annexation of Palestinian territory, the Guardian reported.
He also urged him to meet hard-Left group Jewish Voice for Labour, which supported him when he faced claims of failing to tackle antiSemitism during his leadership.
Earlier Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, welcomed the dismissal of Miss Long-Bailey.
Speaking to BBC radio 4’s Today programme, she said: ‘i think it’s an awful situation and rebecca Long--
Bailey’s response was pathetic. As someone who aspired to be an education secretary she would be expected to read and understand materials, and... she should be fully aware of what she was saying.
‘Keir Starmer has made a very good start on tackling antiSemitism in the party.
‘We had a meeting with him only last Friday and we have made it clear that we judge what he does, what his actions are.
‘And in this case, he’s absolutely acted decisively and has taken very swift action and it’s very reassuring to the Jewish community.’
But Mr Lansman, founder of the pro- Corbyn Momentum group, called on Sir Keir to build trust with the left of the party.
He said: ‘Keir wanted to include the other candidates from the leadership election... which was quite right, but what he’s now done is sacked the leading left opponent in that election.
‘And in order to unite the party he’s got to build trust, across the party, trust from the left.’