LABOUR DROPS IAN AUSTIN INVESTIGATION
LABOUR HAS dropped an investigation into the MP Ian Austin over comments he made to the party’s chairman about its failure to adopt the internationally recognised definition of antisemitism, the JC can reveal.
Mr Austin, who is the adopted child of a Jewish refugee, was informed this week in a letter sent to him by Labour’s general secretary that he is no longer the subject of a probe into allegedly abusive conduct.
The Dudley North MP had admitted getting into a “heated discussion” with chairman Ian Lavery outside the Commons on July 18 over Labour’s failure to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
Party General Secretary Jennie Formby wrote to him saying the party had closed its investigation and that no further action would be taken.
Mr Austin told the JC: “I make no apologies for being upset about antisemitism — I think every Labour Party member ought to be angry about racism and the failure to deal with it properly, but I did not scream abuse as was alleged, so I am pleased the Labour Party have dropped its threat to hold an investigation.
“Frankly, they should never have threatened this in the first place. The way this whole issue has been handled is unacceptable and the time it has taken is appalling.”
The incident followed Dame Margaret Hodge’s now infamous confrontation with Jeremy Corbyn in which she branded him an “antisemite” and a “racist” in the House of Commons chamber.
Complaints were made against Mr Austin by Mr Lavery, pro-Corbyn MP Chris Williamson, and — informally— Mr Corbyn.
Mr Austin told the JC he got into an “emotional, heated discussion” with Mr Lavery shortly after Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) rejected the IHRA definition on July 17 in favour of its own version, which omitted crucial examples of how criticising Israel can stray into Jew-hatred. He confirmed he told the chairman Labour was “becoming a sewer” under Mr Corbyn.
Mr Austin said he had berated the party chairman after Mr Lavery suggested he could not influence the decision as he was not himself a member of the NEC. “I told him I thought the NEC decision was a disgrace,” said Mr Austin. “He said, ‘I’m not on the NEC’ and I said, ‘But you are chair of the party.’
“It was that sort of discussion. The account that suggests I swore in his face is not true. I did not swear at him.”
In August, Mr Austin’s lawyers wrote a letter saying that the high-profile investigation has “plainly been designed to silence our client for his legitimate, honestly-held criticisms of Mr Corbyn’s failure to address the scourge of antisemitism in the Labour Party.”
Labour dropped the case against Dame Margaret that same month after letters of complaint from her lawyers.
On Tuesday, Mr Austin said: “One of the reasons I joined Labour as a teenager in Dudley 35 years ago was to fight racism. I believe that just as passionately now and I will not be deterred from speaking out about antisemitism and racism in the Labour Party.
“The priority ought to be dealing with the outstanding cases of antisemitism and doing everything it can to win back the trust of the Jewish community, not investigating people like me.”
Labour Friends of Israel Director Jennifer Gerber said: “Ian Austin should never have been subjected to this spurious investigation in the first place. It’s a sad reflection on Labour’s warped priorities.”