‘They will be held to account’
As the Labour anti-semitism row deepens, union baron threatens five MPS who challenged Corbyn on the issue
JEREMY CORBYN’S closest union ally last night warned five “Corbyn-hater” Labour MPS that they would be “held to account” after he accused them of whipping up a row over anti-semitism to “smear” the Labour leader.
The intervention from Len Mccluskey, the Unite general secretary, threatens to turn the growing anti-semitism row within Labour into a civil war just a week before the local elections.
Mr Mccluskey said Wes Streeting, John Woodcock, Neil Coyle, Chris Leslie and Ian Austin had used anti-semitism to “toxify” the party. He was accused of deliberately making them targets for abuse at a time when their colleagues have been subjected to death and rape threats for speaking out on the issue.
Labour is investigating 90 cases of alleged anti-semitism by its members, and has suspended 20 members in the past fortnight. Mr Corbyn has said he is committed to tackling anti-semitism but Mr Mccluskey’s comments will undermine the Labour leader’s attempt to change the narrative.
Mr Streeting issued a defiant response, saying that “no abuse, intimidation or threats of deselection will prevent me from voicing the concerns of Jewish constituents about anti-semitism in the Labour Party”.
Ruth Smeeth, a Jewish MP, was given a human shield of 40 Labour colleagues yesterday to protect her from far-left activists as she attended a disciplinary hearing over an incident in which she was the alleged victim of anti-semitic abuse.
And today The Daily Telegraph discloses that a senior member of the shadow cabinet has called on Mr Corbyn to expel Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, from the party as he faces a second investigation into comments in which he linked the Nazis to Zionism. Mr Livingstone’s two-year suspension from the party ends tomorrow, but he will immediately be subject to a second suspension pending the outcome of the inquiry into fresh complaints made about him of “deliberate and offensive behaviour towards the Jewish community”.
Mr Mccluskey made his comments in an article for New Statesman magazine. He accused Avi Gabbay, the leader of the Israeli Labor Party, of committing a “disgusting libel” on Mr Corbyn when he severed ties with the Labour leader over his alleged hostility towards the Jewish community. Unite has given £11million to Labour since Mr Corbyn became leader, making it the party’s biggest financial backer.
Turning to the Labour MPS, Mr Mccluskey wrote: “MPS such as Chris Leslie, Neil Coyle (my own MP), John Woodcock, Wes Streeting, Ian Austin, and others, have become a dismal chorus whose every dirge makes winning a Labour government more difficult.
“Promiscuous critics must expect to be criticised, and those who wish to hold Corbyn to account can expect to be held to account themselves.”
Asked if Mr Mccluskey had made him and his colleagues targets for fresh abuse, Mr Woodcock told The Daily
Telegraph: “I’m sure it is very deliberately his intention, and it will underline people’s conclusions about how he operates. Nothing is going to stop us from trying to rid the Labour Party of the abhorrence of anti-semitism.”
Mr Coyle accused Mr Mccluskey of undermining Labour efforts to tackle anti-semitism by claiming it “doesn’t exist”, while Mr Austin said: “He should be complaining about the people responsible for anti-semitism, not the people who are calling it out.”
Mr Austin was one of the MPS who spoke out in a debate on anti-semitism in the Commons last week, during which Labour MPS accused Mr Corbyn of a “betrayal” of Jews and told him: “Enough is enough.”
Ms Smeeth yesterday gave evidence to a disciplinary hearing against Marc Wadsworth, a Corbyn supporter and Momentum activist, whom she accuses of making anti-semitic comments about her in 2016. As she arrived for the hearing, she was heckled by demonstrators from Labour Against The Witch-hunt, who accused her of being part of a “conspiracy”.
‘He should be complaining about the people responsible for antisemitism, not those calling it out’
‘I look with disgust at the behaviour of the Corbyn-hater MPS’
SHE had been advised to “slip in through the back entrance” to avoid angry members of the far-left lying in wait for her, such is the level of abuse that Jewish Labour MPS can now expect for taking a stand against antisemitism in their party.
Ruth Smeeth refused to be cowed, insisting on using the front door as she attended a disciplinary hearing to give evidence against a Labour activist alleged to have abused her.
However, in a month when Labour MPS have spoken of death threats, rape threats and dead birds sent to them in the post, her colleagues decided she should not take any chances.
As Ms Smeeth walked from Parliament to the hearing of Labour’s National Constitutional Committee at a nearby conference venue, up to 40 Labour MPS and peers formed a human shield to protect her as she ran the gauntlet.
The sight of prominent Labour names such as Luciana Berger, Jess Phillips and Lord Dubs acting as mind- ers for Ms Smeeth provided the most graphic illustration to date of the poi- sonous divide that is threatening to engulf Jeremy Corbyn’s party.
Wes Streeting, the Labour MP, described it as “an appalling state of affairs”.
Ms Smeeth was there to give evidence against Marc Wadsworth, a suspended party member who, two years ago, stood up in the middle of a press conference on Labour anti-semitism and accused Ms Smeeth of “working hand in hand” with the media to undermine Mr Corbyn.
The exchange, which took place at the launch of Labour’s Chakrabarti report in 2016, resulted in Ms Smeeth leaving the press conference in tears.
As she arrived for the hearing, Ms Smeeth found two dozen demonstrators from Labour Against the Witchhunt – a far-left fringe group – waiting for her.
Waving banners saying “Hands off Marc Wadsworth” and “Stop the Labour purge”, the protesters jeered and shouted over Ms Smeeth and her colleagues as they attempted to speak to reporters gathered outside.
They were joined by Tony Greenstein, an anti-israel campaigner who was ousted from Labour earlier this year for reportedly abusive online behaviour. Stepping aside from the protest, Mr Greenstein wagged his finger at a television camera and declared: “Israel should cease to exist. It is an apartheid state. The people should live there but the state should go.”
Others used the opportunity to attack Ms Smeeth’s character, with one, a black rights activist, saying she was a paid agent of US intelligence agencies and part of a conspiracy.
Another accused Ms Smeeth of using her “privilege” to bring the charges against Mr Wadsworth.
Meanwhile, tempers among Ms Smeeth’s allies boiled over when it emerged that, unbeknown to them, Chris Williamson, a fellow Labour MP, had already arrived at the venue to give evidence in support of Mr Wadsworth.
Before the hearing began, Mr Wadsworth said: “I’m confident, as I’m not guilty. Based on the facts, this hearing, if it’s fair, I will be exonerated. I’m totally and utterly opposed to anti-semitism, to all forms of bigotry, including anti-black racism and Islamophobia.”
The hearing is expected to reach a decision today