How Corbyn’s aide rushed to back members in dock over anti-Semitism
‘Time to stop apologising’
AN ALLY of Jeremy Corbyn sought to block the suspension of a Labour member who claimed Zionists controlled the party’s ruling body, saying she was ‘not engaging in anti-Semitism’.
The member also shared Rothschild conspiracy theories, posts claiming a Jewish MP was funded by the ‘Israel lobby’, and claims anti-Semitism allegations were part of a ‘witch hunt’.
She accused Labour Friends of Israel of being funded by Zionists to ‘label criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism’.
Leaked emails reveal that Labour’s head of compliance Thomas Gardiner overruled a junior official who had recommended the member be suspended.
He said no action should be taken against her at all because she merely viewed anti- Semitism allegations as politically-motivated rather than ‘engaging in anti-Semitism’ herself.
Mr Gardiner also sought to delay the suspension of a member who shared a post accusing Jewish people of ‘eating the organs of their enemies’. He said there should be no suspension until it was found whether his disability had left him vulnerable.
And he tried to block the immediate suspension of a member who accused Jewish MPs of ‘not reining in their killers in the Middle East’. The member wrote that Blairites opposing Mr Corbyn were assisted by the ‘Jewish brigade’.
The Daily Mail has seen a raft of emails showing Mr Gardiner overruling the recommendations of his junior official.
In one shocking case, he concluded a picture of an alien bearing the Star of David choking the Statue of Liberty was not anti-Semitic.
He also said a member should not be suspended even though they suggested Jews were in league with the Freemasons.
Another member who wrote of ‘Zionist infiltrators in the Labour Party stirring trouble that doesn’t exist’ deserved the same treatment because it ‘could not be proved’ the comment was aimed at MP Luciana Berger.
The emails revealed Mr Gardiner suggested a Jewish member should face investigation after he complained publicly of a member using the word ‘Zio’.
Mr Gardiner, a councillor in Camden, north London, and former adviser to Labour chairman Ian Lavery, was brought in as head of the party’s compliance unit last spring. The appointment caused a scandal after it emerged he had put forward a motion in his local party to argue: ‘The factional use which a few within the party have tried to make of antiSemitism has been wrong and has been counter-productive in dealing with the problem.’
Under the party’s disciplinary structure at the time, Labour’s head office made recommendations on whether people should be suspended. These recommendations were then passed to the National Compliance Committee for a final decision.
Mr Gardiner downgraded his junior’s recommendation to suspend one member who wrote: ‘The Blairite/political Zionist- controlled NEC [National Executive Committee] is still unjustly removing people from the party.’
She also shared a tweet saying it was ‘time to stop apologising about anti-Semitism and call this out as a witch-hunt’.
In response, Mr Gardiner wrote: ‘No action. It is evident... this is a Jewish member who views anti-Semitism allegations as politically-motivated, not someone engaging in antiSemitism themselves.’
Labour said: ‘This is a malicious, selective briefing from a disgruntled former employee. It is a deeply unfair attack on staff working in good faith to apply the party rule book to individual cases and progress complaints through the disciplinary process.’
Last night the Jewish Labour Movement agreed at a meeting to ‘stay and fight’ in the party.