Only after Israel caveat blocked
subject to further consultation as part of its ‘democracy review’. After Monday’s NEC election result it has become clear that Labour’s ruling body will become even more left-leaning — with moderate figures such as Anne Black and Eddie Izzard voted off. Peter Willsman, exposed by the JC over his comments claiming ‘70 rabbis’ had made false allegations of antisemitism in the UK, was also voted back on.
Jewish Momentum organiser Ms Wolfson has also moved off the NEC after being selected to stand as Labour’s candidate in Livingstone. And Momentum founder Jon Lansman has also come under sustained attack from the far-left over claims he failed to back Mr Corbyn at Tuesday’s meeting.
When Mr Corbyn was elected leader in 2015 many of those on the 41-member NEC were hostile to him, but it is now dominated by his supporters.
Some in the community were surprised when the Board of Deputies released a warm statement on Tuesday evening suggesting Labour’s “decision to adopt the IHRA definition is very long overdue. It can only be the beginning. Action is what matters.”
The Jewish Leadership Council later amended their own initial friendly statement to one suggesting Mr Corbyn had “shamefully“tried to undermine the IHRA definition by adding a new clause.
Several Jewish and moderate Labour MPs said they believed the Board in particular had been “tactically naïve” with their statement — which was immediing ately seized upon by some members of the Parliamentary Labour Party as a sign that the community was ready to back down in its fight with Mr Corbyn.
Also on Tuesday, Cressida Dick, the head of the Metropolitan Police, confirmed that her officers would investigate a leaked dossier detailing alleged cases of antisemitism in the Labour Party after a senior police officer warned they constituted hate crimes.
The dossier, obtained by LBC, contained 45 cases of members accused of antisemitism, nearly half of which were deemed to be race-hate incidents, according to Mak Chishty, a former hate crime investigator for the Met.
In a further sign of the Labour leadership’s failure to get to grips with the crisis, the advanced agenda for Wednesday’s shadow cabinet meeting showed there was no plan to discuss the issue or the IHRA code then either.
On Sunday, Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger had called for Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet to hold a crisis meet- on what she described as the “sickening summer of antisemitism”.
On Wednesday in a vote of the Parliamentary Labour Party, 205 MPs backed implementation of the internationally recognised code.
Only eight opposed the emergency ballot which had been tabled by Dame Louise Ellman.
One Labour MP said: “This is the clearest signal that we won’t bow to Jeremy Corbyn’s continued attempts to antagonise the Jewish community.
“The only way to rebuild trust between Labour and our allies in the Jewish community is by showing we recognise the need for measures like this definition with all its examples.
“There can be no ifs, buts or caveats. Mr Corbyn must change his stance.”
The huge majority in favour of the emergency motion showed there was continued anger amongst Labour MPs over yesterday’s NEC decision to adopt IHRA but also include a so-called “free speech caveat”.
Before MPs broke for the summer recess, two stormy meetings of Labour’s PLP had seen near unanimous calls from MPs to “do right for the Jewish community” and adopt the full antisemtism code.
Wednesday’s vote showed that there was still massive support to take on Mr Corbyn over the issue.
The ‘freedom of expression’ clause totally undermines the other examples the party has supposedly just adopted.’ We made it clear: pass the IHRA definition in full – no caveats, no compromises... The NEC have just failed the most basic test’