McDonnell backs party general secretary in row with Watson
SHADOW CHANCELLOR John McDonnell has backed Labour’s general secretary in her war of words with deputy leader Tom Watson over how to handle antiSemitism.
The row between Labour’s senior official Jennie Formby and Mr Watson exploded when she accused the deputy leader of “unacceptable” behaviour by asking MPs to forward anti-Semitism complaints to him as well as the party.
Mr McDonnell told the BBC: “What Jennie is concerned about is anyone setting up a parallel system of dealing with cases.
“That wouldn’t be right. This has got to be dealt with by the party itself.
“That’s why we need ... clarity from Tom, really. There is no problem about asking for information about progress on individual cases if you’ve reported them.”
He added: “What you don’t want is individual politicians in particular getting involved in setting up some form of parallel process.
“By all means feed your views in. By all means try and improve the process. But let the party officials get on with it.”
Mr Watson hit back at Ms Formby’s comments on Friday, stating he had acted because of a “complete loss of trust” in the party over how complaints were being handled. Mr McDonnell also rejected suggestions that Labour is institutionally anti-Semitic, although he acknowledged there is “clearly” a “problem” within the party.
The Shadow Chancellor said a “tiny number” of members have been involved in some form of anti-Semitism and argued this has to be eradicated.
He also noted the party needs to react quicker in dealing with anti-Semitic allegations, adding on some occasions it needs to be “more ruthless”.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Since becoming general secretary, Jennie Formby has made procedures for dealing with complaints about anti-Semitism more robust. Staff in the investigations team have always led on investigations and recommendations on individual cases. Any suggestion that staff in the Leaders’ Office opposed recommendations on individual cases is categorically untrue.”
This issue has got to be dealt with by the party itself.
John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor