New Labour peer in anti-semitic row
AN ACTIVIST who has been given a peerage by Jeremy Corbyn once protested against the suspension of several Labour members over anti-semitic comments, it emerged yesterday.
Martha Osamor signed a letter to Iain Mcnicol, the former Labour general secretary, in 2016 claiming they had been victims of a “somewhat hysterical atmosphere which has been allowed to develop”, likening it to the “Salem witch trials”.
The letter also backed Ken Livingstone, the former Labour London mayor who is still suspended for his comments about the Nazis, and criticised John Mann, a moderate Labour MP, for branding him a “liar and Nazi apologist”.
Ms Osamor also once criticised police over the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985 and campaigned about the treatment of the family of Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by armed officers in Tottenham in 2011, triggering more disturbances in the area
Anti-semitism campaigners said the Labour leader had sent the Jewish community a “two-fingered salute” by nominating Ms Osamor for a peerage. A spokesman for the Campaign against Anti-semitism said: “Mr Corbyn has sent an unmistakable signal to those in the Jewish community who still harboured some hope that he might change.”
In a statement last night Ms Osamor said: “I am and always have been implacably opposed to anti-semitism and have spent my life as an anti-racist campaigner. As Jeremy has said clearly, raising concerns about anti-semitism is not a smear. I welcome Jennie Formby’s ... actions as Labour’s new general secretary to ensure there is no place for anti-semitism in the Labour Party.”
The other new Labour peers are Mr Mcnicol, who quit in February amid claims he had been forced out by allies of Mr Corbyn, and Pauline Bryan, the former chairman of the Scottish Labour Campaign for Socialism.
Ms Bryan reportedly signed a socialist manifesto in 2015 which supported a federal republic of Britain and the abolition of “the monarchy and House of Lords”. The appointments breach a commitment made by Mr Corbyn not to make any more members of the Lords.
Nine Tory peers are created including Catherine Meyer, a personal friend of Theresa May, the Prime Minister. She is the founder of the charity Action Against Abduction.
Others include Sir Alan Haselhurst, the former deputy Commons Speaker, former ministers Sir Edward Garnier, a former solicitor general, and Sir John Randall, a former Tory MP who is now an environment adviser in No10. The other Tory peers are former Cabinet ministers Sir Eric Pickles and Peter Lilley, and Andrew Tyrie, former chairman of the Treasury select committee, along with Amanda Sater, a deputy Tory Party chairman, and Diana Barran, founder of the charity Safe Lives.