Field quits ‘racist’ Labour
by JASON BEATTIE FRANK Field has resigned the Labour whip in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s botched handling of the party’s anti-Semitism crisis.
The veteran MP for Birkenhead also hit out at a culture of “bullying and thuggery” and said Labour were “increasingly seen as a racist party”. He will sit as an independent Labour member.
Branding Corbyn a “force for anti-Semitism in British politics” in a letter to chief whip Nick Brown, he wrote: “Britain fought World War II to banish these views from our politics but that effort is now under huge internal attack.
“The leadership is doing nothing substantive to address this erosion of our core values. It saddens me to say we are increasingly seen as a racist party. This issue alone compels me to resign the whip.
“The second reason is a culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation now reigns.”
Work and pensions committee chairman Field added: “At best, failure to act on complaints about thuggish conduct demonstrates a wilful denial. At worst, it serves to legitimise bullying.”
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson said: “It is a major wake-up call. We cannot afford to lose people of such weight and stature.”
Field said he had acted to try “to ensure things change”. He said: “I have not spoken to anybody else. I’m not part of any plot and I expect Jeremy to lead us into the general election.” by JAMES MULHOLLAND A SECURITY supervisor at a luxury hotel chased three armed robbers moments after having a gun pointed at him for the second time, a court heard yesterday.
Euan Wishart, 36, drove after a getaway car which was being used by thieves who stole Rolex watches worth more than £500,000 from a shop at Gleneagles Hotel.
He told the High Court in Edinburgh that he chased after the robbers – despite one of the thieves repeatedly pointing a weapon at him.
Describing the moment one of the raiders aimed a gun at him for the first time, the former police officer said: “He said something along the lines of, and you must excuse my language, ‘F**k off, call the police and I will kill you’.”
However, Euan said he continued to monitor the thieves and drove behind the getaway car when it left hotel grounds.
He was giving evidence on the third day of proceedings against Richard Fleming, 42, of London.
Fleming denies being part of the team who carried out the robbery at the Mappin & Webb boutique store at Gleneagles Hotel on June 27 last year.
At court yesterday, Euan told jurors he was working at the hotel when he became aware that Mappin & Webb was being robbed.
He said: “All three robbers were male. They were smashing up the display cabinets in the shop with red-handled hammers.
“They were wearing Morphstyle suits – one-piece suits which covered their faces.”
Euan said he returned to a nearby office to check whether a colleague was phoning the police.
He said that shortly afterwards, two robbers “pushed” past him.
He said the third member of the team then threatened him with a gun.
When prosecutor Jane Farquharson asked him whether he recognised the accent of the robber who made the threat, Euan replied: “It was certainly Scottish but given there was a gun pointing at me, my complete focus was on that rather than the accent. But it was definitely Scottish.”
Euan said he followed the armed robbers outside the hotel. He said he was trying to get the registration plate of the Audi car which they got into.
Euan added that the man with the gun then lowered a window of the car and threatened him for a second time.
He added: “He was pointing the firearm at me. He said, ‘F**k off. Follow us and I will kill you’ or, ‘Follow us and you’re dead’, that sort of thing.
“I put my hands up to show