Racism storm: Labour drops Hodge inquiry
LABOUR last night dropped the threat of disciplinary action against Dame Margaret Hodge for confronting Jeremy Corbyn about anti-Semitism.
In a humiliating U-turn the party leadership backed down after the MP’s lawyers threatened to take Labour to court unless it cancelled its investigation.
Dame Margaret, who is herself Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, had faced action after she accused Mr Corbyn in person of being viewed as an anti-Semite over his failure to handle the crisis.
Labour MPs including deputy leader Tom Watson and John McDonnell, the Shadow Cancellor, have in recent days urged Mr Corbyn to abandon the inquiry into Dame Margaret’s behaviour.
Critics said the decision to target Dame Margaret and another MP, Ian Austin,
‘Not serious about tackling racism’
while doing little to investigate actual anti-Semitism among Labour members proved the leadership was not serious about tackling racism in the party.
Last night Labour said the case against Mr Austin – who also lost family in the Holocaust – is still being considered.
Yesterday Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby wrote to Dame Margaret to tell her no action had been taken after the MP wrote to the chief whip ‘expressing regret’ for her conduct.
But Dame Margaret denied she had apologised and her lawyers accused Miss Formby of ‘misrepresentations’ by claiming she expressed regret.
She also called on Labour to adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antiSemitism to rebuild trust.