Izzard warns Labour must eradicate anti-semitism
● Top Labour staff in Facebook groups with Holocaust deniers ● Shadow cabinet figure voices ‘real alarm’ at impact on party
Labour must “repair the damage” caused by the ongoing row over its response to anti-semitism, the comedian Eddie Izzard has warned.
His remarks came as new revelations put further pressure on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, with the party trying to distance itself from a series of pro-corbyn social media groups after an investigation found content which contained hundreds of messages promoting Holocaust denial and hate towards Jews.
Mr Izzard, who has taken a place on the party’s national executive committee, said Labour would have to “make amends” to the Jewish community and deal firmly with anti-semitism.
Comedian Eddie Izzard has warned Labour must “repair the damage” caused by the ongoing row over its response to anti-semitism as new revelations put further pressure on party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour moved to distance itself from a series of pro-corbyn social media groups after an investigation found they contained hundreds of mes- sages promoting Holocaust denial and hate towards Jews.
Shadow digital minister Liam Byrne admitted there was “real alarm” at the scale of the problem.
Mr Izzard, who has taken a place on the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) following the resignation of a Corbyn ally accused of ignoring anti-semitism, said Labour needed to “make amends” to the Jewish community.
He said the issue had to be dealt with “for the good of the people Labour seeks to represent”.
Mr Izzard’s appointment to the NEC followed the resignation of Christine Shawcroft, who quit amid criticism of her opposition to the suspension of a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial.
As the runner-up when she was elected last year, Mr Izzard now automatically takes her place.
“This is a very important time for the Labour Party and we must stamp out completely the stain of anti-semitism from a minority of members. It has no place in our party,” Mr Izzard said.
“We must make amends and repair the damage with the Jewish community as Jeremy Corbyn has promised to do.”
Mr Byrne said Mr Corbyn now needed to make good his promise to Jewish leaders to tackle the issue, pointing to the backlog of around 70 cases of anti-semitism still to be dealt with.
He echoed deputy leader Tom Watson in highlighting the case of former London mayor Ken Livingstone – a long-time ally of the Labour leader who remains suspended over comments suggesting Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s.
“I personally do not think that Mr Corbyn is an antisemite, I don’t think he has an anti-semitic bone in his body,” Mr Byrne told the BBC’S The World This Weekend.
“But the reality is now that we need action and not simply words.
“We have got a lot of disciplinary cases stacking up. Mr Livingstone is at the top of that queue.”
An investigation into 20 of the biggest pro-corbyn Facebook groups by a national newspaper had uncovered routine attacks on Jewish people, including Holocaust denial.
Twelve senior staff working for Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell were reported to be members of the groups, which contained more than 2,000 racist, anti-semitic, misogynistic, violent and abusive messages.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “These groups are not run by the Labour Party or officially connected to the party in any way.
“The Labour Party is committed to challenging and campaigning against antisemitism in all its forms. Any complaints of anti-semitism are taken extremely seriously.
“These are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action taken.” One of Labour’s biggest private donors has launched a bitter attack on the party’s failure to deal with antisemitism under Jeremy Corbyn.
Sir David Garrard, who has donated about £1.5 million since 2003, said he had now left the party, having seen it fail to respond to “the most blatant acts of anti-semitism”.
He donated to Labour under its previous three leaders.
Sir David spoke of his disillusionment with the party under Mr Corbyn.
“I have watched with dismay and foreboding the manner in which the leadership has, in my view, over the last two years, conducted itself ” he said.
“I consider that it has sup-
Top Labour party donor Sir David Garrard quits over failure to deal with antisemitism allegations
By ANGUS HOWARTH
ported and endorsed the most blatant acts of anti-semitism.
“And yet it has failed to expel many of those who have engaged in the grossest derogatory fantasies about Jewish/zionist conspiracies – and Jewish characterisations and accusations, which conjure up the very kind of antisemitic attacks that led to such unbearable consequences for innocent millions in the past.”
Sir David added: “So there no longer exists a party which even pretends to maintain and promote the principles and the integrity of what always was, to me, the Labour party.
“On the contrary, I have been witnessing, since Mr Corbyn became leader, a philosophical and a political policy which espouses, in nearly every respect, the very antithesis of the great party under whose reputation and under whose flag, it now seeks to fly and where so many other Jews were once so proud to stand.”
The attacks came as the senior Labour official at the centre of another row over antisemitism row said she was stepping down from the party’s ruling body.
Christine Shawcroft, a leftwing supporter of Mr Corbyn, said her presence on the national executive committee (NEC) had become a “distraction” and she was resigning with immediate effect.
Ms Shawcroft had already quit as chairwoman of the party’s disputes panel after it emerged she had opposed the suspension of a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial.
She had been under intense pressure to give up her seat on the NEC as well, with many MPS furious after she claimed in a Facebook posting that the row was being “stirred up to attack Jeremy, as we all know”.
Ms Shawcroft said: “It is clear that my continued membership of the NEC has become a distraction for the party and an excuse for endless intrusive media harassment”
Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is a regular target for abuse, said she and her staff had gone to the police over incidents involving leftwingers, including one email urging her to kill herself.
“Where people indulge in illegal racist activity I will always use the full force of the law to pursue a prosecution,” she said. “I will continue to do that even when they are people from the left.”