Labour’s civil war over ‘bullying’ of Jewish MP
No confidence vote bid is abandoned after backlash
A LABOUR bid to force a vote of no confidence in a prominent Jewish MP was dropped last night following a backlash against the party leadership.
Amid mounting pressure, Liverpool Wavertree constituency party announced it was abandoning a censure vote against Luciana Berger, who has led the campaign against anti-Semitism in the party.
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson last night wrote to the party’s generalsecretary Jennie Formby demanding the suspension of the local branch.
Mr Watson wrote: ‘It is clear to me that Luciana Berger is being bullied. This behaviour by her local party is intolerable.’ The decision to drop the move against Miss Berger, who is heavily pregnant, followed a backlash against the party leadership.
John McDonnell was branded ‘a disgrace’ after suggesting she could avoid a vote of no confidence if she pledged loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn.
Miss Berger, parliamentary chairwoman of the Jewish Labour Movement, has been a prominent critic of Mr Corbyn over his failure to tackle the party’s anti-Semitism crisis and his handling of Brexit.
She has refused to rule out leaving the Labour party, citing Mr Corbyn’s policy on Brexit as a factor. She admitted on ITV’s Peston show that there was ‘ a disaffection with the lack of leadership we’re seeing on all sides’.
On Monday, she criticised the Labour leadership after they refused to publish details of how many cases of anti-Semitism they were investigating. And she described comments by the party’s general secretary Jennie Formby that it was impossible to eradicate anti- Semitism from Labour as ‘not acceptable’.
Mr McDonnell yesterday refused to condemn the now- cancelled vote against Miss Berger, saying she needed to distance herself from media reports suggesting she could quit Labour to help form a new party.
He said: ‘If people are saying “look, we are expressing a vote of no confidence because Luciana has stood up and exposed antiSemitism in our party”, that would be completely wrong and, of course, we would say that is not right.’ He also said she needed to be ‘clear’ that she is not ‘ jumping ship’ to support another party. Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, blasted Mr McDonnell’s comments in a message on Twitter, writing: ‘Demanding loyalty from Luciana Berger rather than addressing the racism in your party? What a disgrace. Take responsibility, John McDonnell, and deal with the racism in your own party. What has Labour become?’
Former Labour minister Ian Austin condemned Mr McDonnell’s intervention, saying: ‘ It’s like something out of the Soviet Union’s show trials where people were let off if they confessed their disloyalty and shouted “Long Live Stalin”.’ Former Labour leader Ed Miliband also spoke out in support of Miss Berger, praising her as a ‘powerful advocate’ on mental health and against anti-Semitism.
Veteran Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman last night welcomed the climb down, but warned: ‘This has been a disgraceful episode - the party has been shamed.’ Dame Louise said the Labour leadership must now step up efforts to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis engulfing the party. Labour last night stressed that Mr Corbyn is ‘committed’ to tackling anti-Semitism ‘in all forms’.
And a source close to the Labour leadership last night said dropping the vote of no confidence was ‘the right decision’ – suggesting that Mr Corbyn himself may have intervened to prevent the incident causing wider damage to the party’s battered image.