Shameful Labour ( cont)
As storm grows over Corbyn ally accused of singing ‘Hey Jews’, more sinister cases emerge
A LABOUR shadow minister faced mounting pressure last night over claims he sang an anti-Semitic version of the Beatles song Hey Jude on a raucous coach trip.
Dan Carden allegedly sang each verse with the words ‘Hey Jews’ on a chartered bus full of Labour MPs and journalists last year.
He denied the allegations following initial claims on Saturday – but now a second witness has handed over WhatsApp messages that appeared to corroborate the claims. Messages passed to The Sunday Times claimed Mr Carden had drunkenly sung ‘nasty’, ‘antiSemitic and homophobic’ songs.
The second witness, who asked to be anonymous, supported the claims with mobile phone messages chronicling the bus journey.
Development spokesman Mr Carden, 33, is said to have sung the offensive lyrics while on a private bus to London from the Cheltenham races in March last year.
In response to initial claims about the incident, he said: ‘I have been categorical in my denial about allegations relating to a coach trip some 20 months ago. This was a coach full of journalists and MPs. If anyone genuinely believed any anti-Semitic behaviour had taken place, they would’ve had a moral responsibility to report it immediately.’
He added: ‘I stand by my record as an anti-racist campaigner. I would never be part of any behaviour that undermines my commitment to fighting racism in all its forms.’ The messages also allege the Labour frontbencher, who is seeking to be re-elected as the MP for Liverpool Walton, and two others sang ‘we hate the gays’. Former Labour whip Conor McGinn, 35, is said to have repeatedly described a male Labour colleague who had slumped on to him on the coach while sleeping as a ‘poof’.
The claims emerged as a string of Labour’s election candidates were caught up in controversy. After a dismal week, Jeremy Corbyn campaigned at the weekend for an election hopeful accused of comparing celebrating the death of Tony Blair to that of Adolf Hitler.
The comments by Jane Aitchison, the candidate for Pudsey, West Yorkshire, came as she tried to defend another Labour hopeful, Zarah Sultana – who posted online that she would ‘celebrate’ the deaths of Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s PM. She has apologised for the 2015 message.
In a further blow for Labour, a Jewish former gulag prisoner yesterday said Mr Corbyn’s stance on Israel and Zionists was reminiscent of the anti-Semitic rhetoric adopted by Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Natan Sharansky, 71, who went on to become Israel’s deputy prime minister, said he was concerned that anti- Semitism has moved from the ‘ extremes’ of Britain to ‘the mainstream’.
Mr Sharansky, who was sent to a Soviet labour camp after being denied permission to leave for Israel, told The Sunday Telegraph that Mr Corbyn’s ‘ extreme antiZionism’ was ‘almost impossible to differ sometimes from antiSemitism’. He said he hears ‘all the time’ from British Jews preparing to move due to concerns about a future Corbyn-led government.
The Labour leader vowed to investigate the claims about Mr Carden, which were published on the Buzzfeed news website.
He said the allegations were ‘totally unacceptable’ if true.