Labour did discuss Shami peerage before race report
JErEMy corbyn did discuss giving Shami chakrabarti a peerage before she was asked to write a report into antiSemitism that was condemned as a whitewash, labour admits.
the labour leader’s office said his team discussed the possibility of nominating the civil liberties activist for the honour in March.
this was a month before it was announced that she would be compiling a report into the accusations of anti-Semitism that had dogged the party.
But labour insisted the former director of the campaign group liberty was not told she was being nominated for a peerage until after she had written the report, which was widely criticised by Jewish groups.
the news came as labour’s former education spokesman tristram Hunt told BBc radio 4’s Westminster Hour: ‘I can’t tell you how pained so many labour MPs and labour members are at the virus of anti-Semitism which seems to be infecting the party.
‘Shami had a real opportunity to confront it and address it – and that was a missed opportunity.
‘the labour Party’s relationship with the Jewish community is in real crisis and any hint of some kind of transactional deal with Shami and the leader’s office will only cause further distrust.’
fellow labour MP Wes Streeting said: ‘It would best if we could have complete clarity from Jeremy’s office and Shami chakrabarti about when discussions about a peerage took place. the credibility of the independence of the report has been shot to pieces.’
a labour spokesman confirmed that Mr corbyn and his team discussed giving Baroness chakrabarti a peerage in March, and that her name was added to a longlist before the report was commissioned in april.
But the Daily telegraph said labour sources suggested she was aware that her name had been listed before agreeing to conduct the anti-Semitism inquiry, which she denies.
the spokesman for Mr corbyn rejected this version of events, insisting that the offer of a peerage was made only after the publication of her report.
Baroness chakrabarti’s peerage was officially announced in David cameron’s resignation honours list in July.