Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Labour MP vows not to be silenced in anti-semitism row
The row over Labour's code of conduct on anti-semitism continues to drag on with lawyers for Dame Margaret Hodge yesterday accusing the party of making a “veiled attempt” to silence her after her confrontation with Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism.
The Times reports that Dame Margaret has been told she faces an internal disciplinary investigation after her spat with the Labour leader at which she accused him of being antisemitic.
Hodge denies swearing at Corbyn and cites multiple witnesses who she says can testify to that effect. The paper says that Dame Margaret, who is Jewish and lost family members in the Holocaust, also stands by her actions in confronting Corbyn, saying that he had crossed a “bridge too far”:
“I have always in the past disagreed with the people who have called him an antisemite but, at the end of the day, people have to be judged on what they do and not what they say. They have to be judged on their actions and not their words,” Dame Margaret told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think what has happened over the last months — from failure to respond to antisemitism against Labour Party members, from failure to respond to the massive demonstration, unique demonstration by the Jewish community, culminating in the failure to adopt in full the universally used definition of antisemitism is just a bridge too far.”
She vowed to remain in the Labour party to fight against antisemitism, equating the current row with her battles against the BNP.
“I have been in the party for so long,” she said. “I fought the British National Party, this is all about my identity and my values.
“I could have had time off when I was fighting the BNP [for her Barking seat in 2010] . . . my husband had just died, but it was important to fight. This is the same . . . I will fight from within the Labour Party.”
Dame Margaret said she had received a wave of antisemitic abuse since the clash, including being called a “Zionist bitch” and told she was “under the orders of my paymasters in Israel”.
The former minister said she received a disciplinary letter within 12 hours of speaking to Mr Corbyn.
“Think how long it has taken for the Labour Party to respond at all to any of the allegations of antisemitism,” she added.
The Labour leader has a fight on his hands over the disputed definition of anti-semitism with the Parliamentary Labour Party preferring the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance version. This row is not going to go away soon.
The Times reports that Dame Margaret has been told she faces an internal disciplinary investigation after her spat with the Labour leader at which she accused him of being antisemitic.
Hodge denies swearing at Corbyn and cites multiple witnesses who she says can testify to that effect. The paper says that Dame Margaret, who is Jewish and lost family members in the Holocaust, also stands by her actions in confronting Corbyn, saying that he had crossed a “bridge too far”:
“I have always in the past disagreed with the people who have called him an antisemite but, at the end of the day, people have to be judged on what they do and not what they say. They have to be judged on their actions and not their words,” Dame Margaret told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I think what has happened over the last months — from failure to respond to antisemitism against Labour Party members, from failure to respond to the massive demonstration, unique demonstration by the Jewish community, culminating in the failure to adopt in full the universally used definition of antisemitism is just a bridge too far.”
She vowed to remain in the Labour party to fight against antisemitism, equating the current row with her battles against the BNP.
“I have been in the party for so long,” she said. “I fought the British National Party, this is all about my identity and my values.
“I could have had time off when I was fighting the BNP [for her Barking seat in 2010] . . . my husband had just died, but it was important to fight. This is the same . . . I will fight from within the Labour Party.”
Dame Margaret said she had received a wave of antisemitic abuse since the clash, including being called a “Zionist bitch” and told she was “under the orders of my paymasters in Israel”.
The former minister said she received a disciplinary letter within 12 hours of speaking to Mr Corbyn.
“Think how long it has taken for the Labour Party to respond at all to any of the allegations of antisemitism,” she added.
The Labour leader has a fight on his hands over the disputed definition of anti-semitism with the Parliamentary Labour Party preferring the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance version. This row is not going to go away soon.
