Jewish Labour Movement issues warning to members about intimidation & bullying

 

This is anti-bullying week and the Labour Party is demanding that the full report into Priti Patel's behaviour is published in full. At the same tie Gordon Brown has made it clear to Jeremy Corbyn that if he wishes to return to the party he has to issue a full apology for allowing the rise of antisemitism and the alienation of the Jewish Community from the Labour Party.

This morning I received a disturbing message from the Jewish Labour Movement which shows that the behaviour of Corbyn's supporters is a major concern:

We are alarmed of the growing level of harassment and intimidation taking place within Party structures, which seeks to further diminish and deny the scale and impact of anti-Jewish prejudice. These have taken the format of motions condemning the Party’s actions in responding to the EHRC and subsequent events. In some cases, local Party officers have defied instructions by the General Secretary and allowed incompetent business to be discussed, or to continue to issue statements which undermine the Party’s ability to respond to the EHRC and create additional liabilities for the Party.

Since our decision to refer the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2018, we have taken a consistent position that the Labour Party’s disciplinary processes are broken. The EHRC’s report provided categorical evidence of discriminatory unlawful acts against Jewish members. The Party must publish an improvement plan by 10 December and if it fails to act on its commitments, JLM will not hesitate in urging the EHRC to use its statutory and legal powers to obtain relief from discrimination via the courts.

This weeks' events have demonstrated that many of the lessons from the experiences of Jewish members over the last five years are yet to be learnt, and that the recommendations of the EHRC’s report have been ignored by the parts of the Party responsible for overseeing their implementation.

Until yesterday, JLM Officers were in regular formal dialogue with the Labour Party on a programme of engagement ahead of the creation of the Party’s improvement plan. This is now under review as we reassess our confidence in the existing structures. We have made clear to the Party that amongst other measures, we expect and anticipate:

• an immediate confirmation and timetable for the implementation of the independent process for handling disciplinary complaints relating to antisemitism.
• a suspension of NEC Antisemitism Disputes Panels hearing new cases for action or referral. We anticipate that all new complaints should be determined by an independent process.
• accountability for the findings of discriminatory unlawful acts committed by the Labour Party against Jewish members, including but not limited to individual actions against those responsible for exposing the Labour Party to significant liabilities, which are prejudicial and grossly detrimental to the Party’s interests.
• the immediate implementation of a code of conduct and register of political and sensitive interests for Agents of the Party, including members of the National Executive Committee, to be operational no later than the NEC Away Day on the 24th of November.

The battle against antisemitism and frankly intolerance and bullying in general remains a major task for decent Labour Party members. The far/hard left has turned large sections of the party into places where dissent, discussion and tolerance of differing viewpoints from their own is pushed aside. 

The time has come to reclaim the Labour Party in light of the EHRC Report and institute major reforms. At the same time party rules against those in breach of the constitution by various entryist groups is implemented and the party is made into a mainstream politcal party.

The old broad church has been broken ironically by the so-called left who now call for "unity" after not just driving out huge numbers of moderate members and alienating a whole lot more as "red Tories" or worse. The time has come for the party to grow a pair and deal with the real problems that exist within the Labour Party.

Join the Jewish Labour Movement: www.jewishlabour.uk