Slow pace of change ‘frustrates’ Jewish member

A JEWISH member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee has said she is “frustrated” with the pace of action in dealing with allegations of anti-Semitism in the party.

But Rhea Wolfson says she expects the process to speed up with the arrival of new general secretary Jennie Formby, who has been told by party leader Jeremy Corbyn to make the issue her number one priority.

Ex-Commons Speaker Lord Martin called for a special oneday conference of members to address the problem and demonstrate the party’s abhorrence of anti-Semitism.

The former Labour MP said: “If you ran a restaurant, and it was dirty and there were cockroaches, you wouldn’t get away with saying ‘the restaurant down the road is dirty and has cockroaches too’. You would be expected to sort out the problem.”

And new NEC member Eddie Izzard said: “We must make amends and repair the damage with the Jewish community as Jeremy Corbyn has promised to do.”

Labour has moved to distance itself from a series of pro-Corbyn social media groups after an investigation by The Sunday Times found they contained hundreds of violent and abusive messages.

Mr Corbyn himself deleted his personal Facebook page – although his “official” page remains active.

A party spokesman challenged reports in The Times that more than 17,000 members had left Labour since the start of the year.

“Labour’s membership is well over half a million and in fine health,” said the spokesman. “The latest data have been misrepresented in this story.”

Ms Wolfson, who represents constituency Labour parties on the NEC, said: “Action has been taken. I am frustrated by the pace of action, as I know a lot of people are.”