Activist Jackie Walker expelled by Labour for 'prejudicial' and 'grossly detrimental' comments

A Labour spokesperson said: "The National Constitutional Committee (NCC) has found that the charges of breaches of Party rules by Jackie Walker have been proven.

"The National Constitutional Committee consequently determined that the sanction for this breach of the rules is expulsion from Labour Party membership."

In a statement, the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council and the CST: “The hearing took far too long to happen. It made the right decision, but nobody wins in this latest ugly case of disreputable behaviour.”

Jewish Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said: "The expulsion of Jackie Walker today is welcomed. But it should not have taken well over two years for the party to get here. This is not what an efficient or effective complaints system looks like.”

Wednesday's decision failed to win over leading Jewish campaigners - even though Labour sources told the JC the charges against Ms Walker had included conduct deemed to be antisemitic.

JLM which helped bring the case against Ms Walker, said the evidence was overwhelming but that, because of Labour’s failure to act for so long, “Ms Walker and others have been key to perpetuating a culture of denial and obfuscation."

“She was free to make a mockery of the party's processes because she was a political ally of the leadership, NEC members and had support from MPs,” added a JLM spokesman.

“Our members will be expected to be grateful. Instead, they'll be angry it took so long, and angry that many people will want to say this is 'job done' on antisemitism in the party.”

The NCC - Labour’s highest disciplinary panel - considered three charges against Ms Walker, including repeated comments made or shared by her, including suggesting Jewish MPs were under the control of Israel.

Ms Walker refused to present a defence to the charges of "prejudicial and grossly detrimental" and staged a bizarre walk-out stunt on the first day along with her witnesses, claiming she had been prevented from speaking at the start.

But a party spokesperson dismissed her "incorrect and misleading" claims, saying: "The procedures ensure due process and fair hearing, including the opportunity for individuals to fully state their case at their hearing.

"The process is the same for everyone and the order of the events is clearly explained to those involved in advance."

Party rules allow defendants to speak at hearings but only after the case against them has been presented.

Ms Walker wrote on Facebook that Labour would be "hearing from my solicitor".

Ms Walker was first suspended in May 2016 over her slave trade comments and then allowed to return to the party, only to be suspended again in October of that year.

Following her second suspension, Ms Walker’s case became a key rallying point for Labour Against The Witchhunt, which has campaigned against the expulsion of other activists on allegations involving antisemitism including Tony Greenstein and Marc Wadsworth.

Ms Walker is also a senior figure in the fringe, pro-Jeremy Corbyn Jewish Voice For Labour group, which was set up in 2017 to defend Mr Corbyn against antisemitism allegations.

A number of prominent left-wing activists have defended her, including film director Ken Loach, who said she should be allowed to play a significant role in the party, and Noam Chomsky who said: "I wholeheartedly support the right of anyone to criticise Israel without being branded antisemitic."

Labour MP Chris Williamson, now himself suspended by the party, and Ken Livingstone, who resigned over his repeated references to Hitler and Zionism, were also prominent supporters of Ms Walker’s cause.

Ms Walker initially sparked complaints after she wrote on Facebook in February 2016: “Millions more Africans were killed in the African holocaust and their oppression continues today on a global scale in a way it doesn’t for Jews… and many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade which is of course why there were so many early synagogues in the Caribbean.”

In May 2016, the JC also raised Ms Walker’s comments about the “African holocaust” with Labour.

Ms Walker who desribed herself as being of mixed African and Jewish descent again posted on Facebook again linking the current antisemitism crisis to black slavery.

She also said it was a “lie” to suggest there was a “major problem with antisemitism in the Labour Party”.

Her second suspension came after she was filmed at a JLM training event at Labour's annual conference, saying Holocaust Memorial Day should include other genocides, which it already does.

“In terms of Holocaust Day, wouldn’t it be wonderful if Holocaust Day was open to all people who experienced Holocaust?” Walker was heard telling people at the event.

Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates all victims of the Nazi Holocaust and other genocides, including the atrocities in Bosnia and Rwanda.

Walker said that was not how she viewed the event. “In practice, it’s not actually circulated and advertised as such,” she said. “I was looking for information and I still haven’t heard a definition of antisemitism that I can work with."

At the same event Walker questioned why Jewish schools needed particular security to protect themselves from possible attack.

Ms Walker was removed as vice chair of Momentum. She went on to launch many attacks against its founder Jon Lansman, even though he initially tried to defend her against allegations she had been antisemitic.

During her suspension, Ms Walker performed in a one-woman show about her experience, The Lynching and was later the subject of a film called The Political Lynching of Jackie Walker.