Should she (they) have signed it, or shouldn’t they?
Hardliners attack Rebecca Long Bailey for signing [ censored word]emitism pledge
Henry Zeffman, Political Correspondent
January 21 2020, 12:00pm,
The Times
Politics
Jeremy Corbyn
Labour Party
UK politics
Religion
Rebecca Long Bailey called for independent scrutiny of [ censored word]emitism claims
Rebecca Long Bailey called for independent scrutiny of [ censored word]emitism claims
PAUL ELLIS/AFP
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The leading left-wing candidate to succeed Jeremy Corbyn has been attacked by hardline activists for a commitment to combat [ censored word]emitism in Labour.
Rebecca Long Bailey has signed up to a series of pledges proposed by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. All five leadership candidates have done so.
However, thousands of activists have signed a letter to Ms Long Bailey, the shadow business secretary, attacking the pledges as “an outrageous political interference by an organisation that is overtly hostile to today’s Labour Party and everything it stands for”.
The petition has been promoted by Chris Williamson, the former Labour MP who was suspended for saying the party had been “too apologetic” in the face of [ censored word]emitism accusations. He then stood against Labour at last month’s election, finishing in last place in Derby North with 635 votes.
The board launched the ten pledges this month, saying that the “once rock solid” relationship between Labour and British Jews “has been all but destroyed”. They include commitments to resolve outstanding disciplinary cases, to make the party’s disciplinary process independent and to commit to not readmit prominent figures repeatedly accused of [ censored word]emitism.
Signing up to the pledges, Ms Long Bailey said: “I believe that our processes must be transparent, fully independent and with proper independent scrutiny.”
The letter criticising Ms Long Bailey has been signed by activists including Alexei Sayle, the comedian, and Jackie Walker, who was expelled by Labour last year after a two-year inquiry into [ censored word]emitism.
While all the leadership candidates have signed up, two of the five deputy leadership candidates have refused to support the pledges. Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler, both prominent members of Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, told a hustings this weekend that they would not sign.
Mr Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, said: “I will support the leader in fighting [ censored word]emitism in our party and fighting [ censored word]emitism in society.
“I do believe, obviously, in working with the Board of Deputies in the fight against [ censored word]emitism. I have not signed and won’t be signing the ten pledges however because of some concerns I have. Firstly, I’m concerned about outsourcing our complaints procedure and how that would work in practice, so I think that needs clarifying.”
Ms Butler said she had not signed the pledges because she did not want to “jump the gun” on the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation into Labour.
Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “It beggars belief that after four and a half years of failure on [ censored word]emitism Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler still think that they know better than the Jewish community how to fight this vile prejudice. No other minority would be treated in this way and this sort of thing is the very reason why Labour is being investigated for institutional [ censored word]emitism by the EHRC.
“In the deputy leadership election members now have a clear choice about whether they want to become a credible party of opposition or waste yet more years fighting the Jewish community about who gets to define our oppression.”
