Identified, the hard-Left supporters who brought hatred to Armistice Day
A FORMER Labour activist has been exposed as a pro-Palestine marcher carrying a swastika.
Kate Varnfield, 66, was pictured on Armistice Saturday in London with a placard showing the Star of David and the Nazi symbol above the words: ‘No British politician should be a “friend of Israel”.’
On the same day Oliver Eagleton, a 26-year-old Jeremy Corbyn follower, was seen leading a crowd that mobbed Michael Gove.
He pursued the Levelling Up Secretary through Victoria Station with fellow activists, some of whom jostled with police.
The photograph of Mrs Varnfield went viral over the weekend, prompting the Metropolitan Police to appeal for help in identifying her.
The Mail can reveal she is a former Labour activist who once accused the party leadership of acting like the Third Reich.
The therapist was at the protest with her husband, Terry, who insisted the signs had been ‘taken out of context’ and were a a reference to a 1970s UFO religion. He said: ‘The symbol used is the Raelism religion symbol, a combination of both the Star of David and the Swastika but meaning peace and love.’
Mrs Varnfield joined the Eastbourne Constituency Labour Party around the time that Mr Corbyn became party leader but left after 18 months. When confronted by the Mail, Mr Eagleton criticised those he said falsely claimed to back free speech and condemned ‘politicians enabling [Israel’s] genocidal war’ – an apparent reference to Mr Gove.
The New Statesman columnist wrote a Sir Keir Starmer biography last year claiming he had sabotaged his predecessor Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
And he has referred to the October 7 atrocities in Israel as the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ – the name given to the attacks by Hamas.
His father, also Terry, is a Marxist academic and was a lecturer at the same Oxford college, Wadham, his son later attended.
Yesterday British Transport Police arrested three men for an alleged racially aggravated altercation with pro-Palestine activists at Waterloo Station.
They include amateur football club secretary Kevin Sweeney, 61, of West Molesey, Surrey, as well as a 57-year-old from Surbiton in south London and a 33-year-old from Christchurch in Dorset.