UK’s PM May says Labour ‘betrayed’ Jewish community by failing to expel Livingstone
100 of Labour’s 229 MPs slam lenient treatment of ex-London mayor who insists Hitler was initially a Zionist
More than 100 Labour MPs slammed their own party Thursday for failing to expel former London mayor Ken Livingstone over his claims that Hitler initially supported Zionism and other allegedly anti-Semitic comments. And Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May weighed in, asserting that Labour’s decision merely to suspend Livingstone for a year betrayed the Jewish community and showed that Labour had left the political mainstream.
Tuesday’s decision by a Labour disciplinary committee not to suspend the inflammatory politician was castigated as “incomprehensible” by Labour’s deputy leader, slammed by other MPs and the current London mayor, and protested by British Jewish leaders including the chief rabbi.
More than 100 out of 229 Labour MPs signed a statement saying the decision was a betrayal of the party’s values and was “not done in our name.”
Current London Mayor Sadiq Khan, also of Labour, added to growing calls Thursday for Livingstone’s expulsion. Saying there should be no place for Livingstone in Labour, Khan said in a radio interview: “I think some of his views were anti-Semitic. Whether he is or not is a different issue.”
And May weighed in, saying her opposition rivals had plunged to new lows. Labour had “revealed the depths to which it has now sunk, betraying the Jewish community in our country by letting Ken Livingstone off the hook,” she said in a party campaign speech. She said Labour showed itself to have moved a long way from Britain’s common, center ground.
The disarray comes ahead of the May 4 local authority elections in Britain, with Labour trailing badly in opinion polls.
Livingstone, 71, was suspended in April last year after saying on a radio show that when Hitler won power in Germany in the early 1930s, “his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.”
On Tuesday, a party commission formally suspended him for two years backdated to last April, during which time he cannot stand in parliamentary or local authority elections — which he was not seeking to do.
An unrepentant Livingstone, who was London’s mayor from 2000 to 2008, insisted he had not brought the party into disrepute, which he said was the chief reason behind his suspension.
“Should someone be disciplined for stating a historical truth?” he asked. “You can’t apologize for telling the truth.”
Livingstone said he believed the commission decided to suspend him because they thought they could not win a threatened judicial review if they expelled him.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said Labour had failed Britain’s Jews. “This was a chance for the Labour Party to show that it would not tolerate willful and unapologetic baiting of the Jewish community,” he said. “The party has yet again failed to show that it is sufficiently serious about tackling the scourge of anti-Semitism.”
The Livingstone row overshadowed the launch of Labour’s local elections campaign.
Livingstone is a long-time ally of fellow veteran leftist Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, and claims restive Labour MPs were trying to undermine Corbyn by attacking him.
Corbyn — a bitter critic of Israel’s policies regarding the Palestinians who once referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends” — declared Wednesday that the matter was not closed, and would now be discussed by the party’s national leadership.
In unusually harsh comments for a close political ally, Corbyn said, “Ken Livingstone’s comments have been grossly insensitive, and he has caused deep offense and hurt to the Jewish community.”
“It is deeply disappointing that, despite his long record of standing up to racism, Ken has failed to acknowledge or apologize for the hurt he has caused,” Corbyn noted. “Many people are understandably upset that he has continued to make offensive remarks which could open him to further disciplinary action.”
“Since initiating the disciplinary process, I have not interfered with it and respect the independence of the party’s disciplinary bodies. But Ken’s subsequent comments and actions will now be considered by the National Executive Committee after representations from party members.”
Last week, Livingstone caused fresh uproar by claiming that German Zionists received assistance from the SS and were close collaborators of the Nazi regime.
After the disciplinary committee’s verdict, Livingstone refused to apologize for his remarks and on Wednesday, he announced on Facebook that he would be challenging the decision, arguing that the disciplinary process was “not in accord with natural justice.”
More than 30 left-wing Jews had written to the party’s National Executive Committee not to take action against Livingstone, saying, “As Jews, we are appalled that such a serious issue as antisemitism is being used in this cynical and manipulative way.”
However, mainstream Jewish groups and some Labour parliamentarians slammed the suspension decision for not going far enough, with the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, saying it was “incomprehensible” that Livingstone was not expelled.
The conservative Daily Telegraph, which makes no bones about its dislike for Corbyn’s Labour, published a collection of tweets by Labour MPs who were critical of the suspension decision.
Labour peer Lord Levy told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that he was “very upset with the party’s attitude,” adding, “I do not believe there has been a zero tolerance policy towards anti-Semitism.”
Labour’s shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti, who authored a controversial probe (branded a whitewash by UK Jewish leaders) into anti-Semitism within Labour last year, was quoted by the Daily Telegraph saying, “Ken Livingstone was fairly and rightly found guilty of bringing the Labour Party into disrepute. The punishment of suspension was thought inadequate by some members of both the Labour Party and the Jewish community that Livingstone has so offended.”
“However, his remarks since yesterday’s decision have overtaken those arguments. I am horrified by Ken Livingstone’s lack of contrition and repeated offence which could be potential grounds for further investigation by the party.
“In the meantime I can only implore Mr Livingstone to maintain a silence and to please stop further damaging community relations, the party to which he has given so much of his life and himself.”
Ken Livingstone not expelled from Labour Party. Impossible for many British Jews to consider voting Labour under Corbyn's leadership.
— Danny Cohen (@DannyCohen) April 4, 2017
Danny Cohen, former director of BBC Television, tweeted that Holocaust deniers would celebrate the Ken Livingstone decision.
“Impossible for many British Jews to consider voting Labour under Corbyn’s leadership,” he further wrote.
The Times of Israel Community.