Labour candidate withdraws over Holocaust comparison

THE front-runner to succeed Heidi Alexander as a Labour MP has withdrawn her candidacy after it emerged that she compared the treatment of Palestinians to “Nazi persecution” on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Phyll Opoku-gyimah, a trade union official and supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, claimed that the Israel-palestine conflict should be considered alongside the extermination of more than six million Jews during the Holocaust.

The Daily Telegraph understands that she was one of several candidates due to be shortlisted by senior Labour officials for the forthcoming Lewisham East by-election, which was triggered last week after Ms Alexander quit to join City Hall as the London deputy mayor for transport.

The decision to impose a shortlist of candidates on the local party had enraged Labour members in Lewisham, who claimed that the National Executive Committee had been engaged in a “stitch-up”. It has since emerged that Ms Opoku-gyimah claimed on Holocaust Memorial Day last year that the treatment of the “Palestinian” should also be remembered alongside other genocides, including “in Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda and Darfur.”

She was also found to have hired Josh Rivers – who had to resign as the Gay Times editor for making anti-semitic comments – as a member of UK Black Pride. Mr Rivers faced condemnation last year after it emerged that he had claimed that “Jews are gross” and that Judaism was the only religion which contained the letters “ew”. He also asked why an actor had been cast as “The Jew” in a production, adding: “I wonder if they cast that guy ... because of that f------ ridiculously large honker of a nose”.

Withdrawing her candidacy yesterday, Ms Opoku-gyimah claimed she was pulling out due to an “unexpected family situation”. Mr Corbyn’s office declined to comment.