Protest as Jim Sheridan is made depute leader

The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews has urged Labour to rethink their promotion of Councillor Jim Sheridan.

Marie van der Zyl has written to Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby to complain about Councillor Sheridan being made depute leader of the Labour group at Renfrewshire Council.

The Erskine man replaced Derek Bibby at the group’s recent AGM, following his return from a Labour Party suspension in January for alleged anti-semitic remarks made online.

He said in a Facebook post last August: “For all my adult life I have had the utmost respect and empathy for the Jewish community and their historic suffering.

“No longer due to what they and their Blairite plotters are doing to my party and the long suffering people of Britain who need a radical Labour government.”

Now, the strongly-worded letter from Ms van der Zyl has outlined the ways in which they believe the post was racist.

It adds: “In light of his Facebook posting we consider it bad enough that Mr Sheridan was readmitted to the Labour Party - particularly after he defended his actions – but his subsequent quick promotion to depute leader of Renfrewshire Council’s Labour group, makes the matter even worse.

“The case demonstrates that when Jews express concern about antisemitism in Labour, it perversely seems to result in worsening antisemitism within the Party.

“This vicious cycle can only be stopped by strong leadership. We urge that Mr Sheridan’s promotion be immediately reversed,”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints of anti-semitism extremely seriously and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms. All complaints about antisemitism are fully investigated.”