The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Police probe Labour anti-Semitism dossier
Party members are alleged to have made anti-Jewish social media posts and comments
A criminal investigation has been launched into allegations of anti-Semitic hate crimes within the Labour Party.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said it “appears there may have been crime committed” after being passed a dossier.
Fife Councillor Mary Lockhart was suspended by Labour after suggesting Jewish newspapers criticising the party’s position on anti-Semitism may be working on behalf of the Israeli secret service in a Facebook post.
Sources in the Scottish party said it was unclear if her case was part of the dossier.
UK Labour has not been contacted by the police but said it is ready to co-operate with the investigation.
Deputy leader Tom Watson said the Scotland Yard announcement was “thoroughly depressing” but “sadly I’m not surprised”.
LBC received an internal Labour dossier detailing 45 cases involving messages posted by party members on social media, including one which read: “We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all.”
It passed the documents to Ms Dick
“
There is a deeply embedded culture of antiSemitism in parts of the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn has done close to nothing to address it
after she gave an interview to the station on September 4.
The Met chief said the Labour Party itself was not under investigation.
Before LBC passed the dossier to Scotland Yard, it showed the contents to former senior police officer Mak Chishty, who said that 17 instances should have been reported to the police for investigation, and another four were potential race hate crimes.
Labour has been engulfed by bitter divisions over its handling of antiSemitism.
Jeremy Corbyn has faced intense criticism over his response to claims about prejudice against Jews in the party.
But some of his supporters have claimed the issue has been used as a way to attack the Labour leader.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “A criminal investigation has commenced into some of the allegations within the documentation.
“Early investigative advice is being sought from the Crown Prosecution Service.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “The Labour Party has a robust system for investigating complaints of alleged breaches of Labour Party rules by its members.
“Where someone feels they have been a victim of crime, they should report it to the police in the usual way.”
Amanda Bowman, vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “This comes as no surprise to us.
“There is a deeply embedded culture of anti-Semitism in parts of the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn has done close to nothing to address it, to the extent that some cases may now even meet a criminal threshold.”