Labour candidate ‘spread Jew hatred online’
Party says it is investigating women’s officer who shared post comparing Jewish MP to Goebbels
A LABOUR council candidate shared a post online that compared a veteran Jewish MP to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Elaine Lightfoot, who is due to stand in West Devon next month, has been accused of spreading “pernicious Jewhatred” after she shared a social media post suggesting Dame Margaret Hodge had used “lying techniques” developed by the Nazis.
The post, published last August, went on to accuse Labour MPS who had spoken out over anti-semitism of being “apologists for the Israeli government”.
It continued: “Margaret Hodge and her fellow Blairite MPS are trying to destroy your democratic rights by using propaganda distortion lying techniques the Nazi chief propagandist Goebbels used.”
Last night, Dame Margaret, who lost relatives in the Holocaust, demanded Ms Lightfoot’s “immediate suspension”, adding that she “should not be allowed to stand in the name of my party”. She told The Telegraph: “The fact that she is being allowed to stand as a candidate beggars belief. It is disgusting. She should have been vetted .... a quick glance at her social media would have told all.”
Ms Lightfoot, a women’s officer in her local Labour branch, is described in a campaign poster on her Facebook page as “friendly and approachable” and someone who “believes strongly” in protecting the “vulnerable”.
However, this newspaper has obtained a Facebook post shared by Ms Lightfoot in July 2016, which accused Labour MP Angela Eagle of being a “bankers b----” who is “owned by the Zionists”. The post, published shortly after Ms Eagle announced a leadership challenge against Jeremy Corbyn, ended “thanks, but we’ll keep Corbyn”.
Three weeks later, Ms Lightfoot shared a photo posted by David Icke, the conspiracist, which displayed a picture of the Prince of Wales standing alongside Sir Evelyn Robert Adrian de Rothschild, a British financier, captioned “where the real power lies”.
Last night Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said the disclosures were “yet another example of pernicious Jewhatred being spread on social media”.
“That a candidate for the Labour Party would share such gross and offensive racist material beggars belief,” she added. “You have to ask why this is happening so frequently and when the Labour Party will ... put a stop to it.”
Ms Lightfoot was unavailable to comment last night despite repeated attempts to contact her.
A Labour source confirmed the party was investigating her posts “as a matter of urgency”. The process of suspending her was understood to be under way.
A party spokesman said it took “all complaints of anti-semitism extremely seriously and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it .... all complaints are fully investigated in line with our rules and ... any appropriate disciplinary action is taken”.