Ex-MP suspended in anti-Semitism row
A FORMER MP has been suspended by Scottish Labour after launching a bitter social media rant about the Jewish community ‘and their Blairite plotters’.
On Facebook, Jim Sheridan wrote that he had lost ‘respect and empathy’ for the Jewish people.
Labour has been embroiled in an anti-Semitism row for weeks. Jeremy Corbyn has faced criticism over pictures of him holding a wreath at a Tunisian cemetery, where terror leaders linked to the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre are buried.
The comments by Mr Sheridan, who was MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North for 14 years until losing the seat in 2015, mean the row has now taken hold in Scottish Labour. On Friday, he wrote: ‘For all my adult life I have had the utmost respect and empathy for the Jewish community and their historic suffering. No longer due to what they and their Blairite plotters are doing to my party.’
East Renfrewshire Tory MP Paul Masterton said: ‘This is an appalling suggestion which unmasks just how deeply the problem of anti-Semitism runs in the Labour Party. It would have been bad enough had these been said in the heat of the moment. The fact he stands by them in the cold light of day makes it all the more disgraceful.’ It is understood Mr Sheridan has been suspended by his party. A Scottish Labour spokesman said: ‘We take all complaints of anti-Semitism extremely seriously. All complaints about anti-Semitism are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.’