Law firm questions ‘fairness’ of probe after spat

LABOUR HAS made a “veiled attempt to silence” a Jewish MP after a confrontation with Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism, lawyers have suggested.

Law firm Mishcon de Reya questioned the “fairness and legitimacy” of a disciplinary investigation launched into Dame Margaret Hodge after a spat with the Labour leader and said the party had failed to set out what she is accused of.

It comes as Mr Corbyn faces fresh pressure from Labour’s MPs and peers over the party’s policy on dealing with prejudice against Jews.

The Parliamentary Labour Party is set to debate an emergency call to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) full definition of anti-Semitism.

Labour launched an investigation into Dame Margaret after she confronted Mr Corbyn in the Commons about problems tackling anti-Jewish sentiment in the party. The MP was reported to have called him an “anti-Semite and a racist”, but in the legal letter she denied having sworn at the party leader.

“This is vehemently denied, and our client is aware of multiple witnesses who can testify that she did not swear,” the letter states.

“Any allegation that our client was abusive is false.”

Dame Margaret, who lost family members in the Holocaust, again stood by her actions in confronting Mr Corbyn, however, saying the current row had been a “bridge too far”.

She told BBC Radio 4’s programme: “I have always in the past disagreed with the people who have called him an antiSemite but, at the end of the day, people have to be judged on what they do and not what they say. They have to be judged on their actions and not their words.

“I think what has happened over the last months – from failure to respond to anti-Semitism against Labour Party members, from failure to respond to the massive demonstration, unique demonstration by the Jewish community, culminating in the failure to adopt in full the universally used definition of antiSemitism is just a bridge too far.”

Dame Margaret said she had received a wave of anti-Semitic abuse since the clash.