Back in the fold
MP suspended by Sturgeon for alleged anti-Jewish online remarks still close to team at Westminster
HE was suspended by the SNP after sharing shameful posts comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
But it does not look like Neale Hanvey has been given the cold shoulder since the party reacted to claims of antisemitism that emerged while he was a candidate in last year’s General Election.
The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP – elected as an independent – has sat among Nationalist MPs in the House of Commons since taking up the role in December.
He was also pictured among a crowd of Nationalist MPs staging a protest this month against being blocked from voting on an ‘English only’ NHS bill.
During the general election campaign, Nicola Sturgeon said Jeremy Corbyn had ‘failed to show leadership on antisemitism’.
She was quick to suspend Mr Hanvey in December, when social media posts came to light.
One of those posts compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to Nazi Germany’s massacre of Jews during the Second World War.
The other was a cartoon of Jewish financier George Soros as a puppet-master controlling global leaders –a popular antisemitic trope.
Mr Hanvey admitted at the time that his Israel post was ‘insensitive, upsetting and deeply offensive, and in direct contravention of the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism’. He added: ‘For that I give an unequivocal apology.’
The Scottish Mail on Sunday has learned the party did not trigger a formal investigation until a couple of weeks ago – two months after Mr Hanvey was suspended.
He wants to return to the party, and all four SNP branches in his constituency wrote to the ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) in January asking for him to be reinstated. That was discussed at a subsequent SNP meeting but he remains suspended, and the investigation was triggered.
The inquiry will take two months, so the issue could drag on until April. Last night, the SNP’s opponents and some within the party said this was unacceptable.
Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: ‘The SNP made the correct decision to suspend Neale Hanvey for the antisemitic material he shared.
‘This means nothing, given the fact he sits as an SNP member in all but name, not only voting with the SNP loyally, but fraternising with SNP colleagues.
‘If the SNP is serious about opposing racism in all its forms it should not only suspend Hanvey, but distance him from serving SNP MPs.’
A Scottish Tory spokesman said: ‘It’s pretty obvious that despite Neale Hanvey’s record of antisemitism, he is an SNP MP in all but name. This makes a mockery of the SNP’s claims to oppose all forms of hate-speech. The First Minister’s virtue signalling on antisemitism appears to be nothing more – and hypocritical, too.’
Councillor David Barrett, convener of the Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay SNP branch in Mr Hanvey’s seat, said the investigation has ‘taken too long, but that’s a question for the party’.
He added: ‘It’s right that he be readmitted. These things need to be investigated – you don’t know the motives behind it, the intent behind it.
‘I know Neale well. I know he is not motivated by that. The party has to look.’
During the election campaign, Ms Sturgeon said she hoped Nationalist MPs would prop Mr Corbyn up in power, in a bid to ‘lock Boris Johnson out of Downing Street’. That sparked alarm in the Jewish community, given Labour’s own problems with antisemitism.
Last night, the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) said it had been kept informed about the investigation into Mr Hanvey, and would wait until its outcome before passing judgment.
The group’s Danielle Bett said: ‘I’m comfortable a process is taking place – the outcome is something different.
‘We expect appropriate action to be taken where required.’
An SNP spokesman said: ‘We have been in ongoing discussion with the SCoJeC about the impact of the Neale Hanvey issue, and they are aware that disciplinary matters are progressing.’
‘The SNP should distance him from its serving MPs’