Anger over Manson as MP prospect

The prospect of Ms Manson standing as a candidate in a constituency in which one in five voters are Jewish has infuriated many in the local party.

An advert for Thursday evening’s event with Mr McDonnell even featured the claim that Ms Manson was the “future prospective parliamentary candidate” for Labour in Finchley and Golders Green.

The JC has learned that a well-respected figure within the community who has political experience at a local level has been “sounded out” about standing for selection as a Jewish Labour candidate who will openly challenge the anti-Zionist views of Ms Manson.

Labour bosses are believed to be delaying the announcement about the Finchley and Golders Green shortlist until after the Hendon and Chipping Barnet selections in a bid to stop a long-running war-of-words breaking out between Jewish party activists and pro-Corbyn supporters.

Ms Manson’s campaign to win the selection contest was further hindered after the JC revealed she had received a written warning from Labour about her conduct at a Finchley and Golders Green Constituency Labour Party meeting in July in which she compared Section 28 legislation, which prohibited the promotion of homosexuality in schools, to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The letter sent by Labour’s complaints team to Ms Manson reminds her of the conduct expected of members and warns that any repeat of such behaviour might result in disciplinary action.

After the July meeting, local Labour member Luisa Attfield had tweeted: “As a Jewish lesbian I am offended and as person with a brain it’s a baseless comparison.”

JVL tried to row back, writing on Twitter that Ms Manson had “compared the chilling effects on free speech of thought of S28 and the IHRA”.

But Councillor Arjun Mittra responded: “This is a lie. I was in the room. She compared IHRA to section 28. You are back-pedalling because you know the mask has slipped.”

On Twitter, Ms Attfield was called a “lying lesbian” and Cllr Mittra was called an “uncle Tom” by Tony Greenstein, a former Labour member who has used antisemitic slurs such as “Zio”.

Mr Greenstein was expelled from the party earlier this year but spoke at JVL’s event at Labour conference in Liverpool last month.

Mr Greenstein is also among those to have contributed towards a crowdfunding campaign supporting Ms Manson’s bid to be an MP. A gofundme.com page launched to ‘Make Jenny Manson A Labour MP’ includes a donation from Mr Greenstein and one from Fred Leplat — who was expelled from the Labour Party earlier this year over membership of a separate far-left organisation.

When asked about her written warning, Ms Manson said: “There are no disciplinary procedures against me. It is a breach of data protection to leak information about any confidential correspondence between the party and its members.”

Mr McDonnell defended his decision to appear alongside her at a “head-to-head” conversation event on Thursday saying: “Jenny is a good friend and I am fulfilling a longstanding commitment I gave her to offer her my support in seeking selection as a candidate.”

In Hendon, Mike Katz, the Jewish Labour Movement’s national chair, will learn if he has been picked again as the candidate to represent Labour in the next general election after he narrowly failed to unseat Conservative incumbent Matthew Offord in 2017.

But Mr Katz, who has earned a reputation for openly challenging antisemitism in the party, faces competition from two other Jewish candidates — David Pinto-Duschinsky and Michael Desmond — alongside three other candidates from outside the community.

“I’ve been outspoken on antisemitism wherever it occurs in society,” said Mr Katz, who has earned the backing of London Mayor Sadiq Khan for his campaign. So I’m uniquely placed to rebuild trust with the community. We know the damage the Tories have done in Hendon but winning the seat back won’t be easy.

“Thanks to last year’s campaign, I believe I can give us the best chance to get the job done.”

But Mr Desmond, currently a councillor in Hackney who has stood twice for Parliament in a safe Tory seat and Jewish Labour Movement member, insisted: “I believe I can win Hendon, a critical marginal, by mending fences with the Jewish community and inspiring the young and aspirational to vote against Foodbank Britain for a fairer, more caring society.

“I will meet Jeremy Corbyn and try to restore relations with the Israeli Labour Party and encourage him to join me in a visit to Yad Vashem. Labour needs to take an even-handed approach, encouraging a two-state solution and acting on the emotional distress many Jewish voters who feel politically homeless have experienced.”

Mr Pinto-Duschinsky, who previously stood against former chancellor George Osborne in his Tatton constituency, is also a JLM member. He told the JC “Hendon deserves so much better than its absentee MP, who spends more time pushing for a hard Brexit that will leave us all worse off than helping his constituents. I have the strongest experience to deliver for Hendon in parliament and be a powerful advocate for our community.

“I’m proud to be Jewish, will stand up to antisemitism wherever it is found and will work hard to rebuild the community’s trust. Fighting prejudice in all its forms will be my highest calling.”

Meanwhile in Chipping Barnet, Emma Whysall, another JLM member, will be hoping to land the selection once again after coming up just 353 votes short of toppling the sitting Tory MP Theresa Villiers at the 2017 general election.

Ms Whysall told the JC: “I am a passionate advocate for the values I hold, whether it be anti-racism or as an unrepentant remainer.

“Recently the Labour Party’s strong historical bond with the Jewish community has become strained. A bond built on shared ideals of social justice and fighting inequality. Many in the Jewish community found the Labour Party a natural home.

“These ideals make me Labour. They are the shared values of the Labour movement I want to express in Chipping Barnet. They made me stand with the Jewish community in Parliament Square in March, to speak out against antisemitism in my party and in the wider community.”

But challenging her for selection in Chipping Barnet is left-wing candidate Holly Kal-Weiss, a Finchley Reform synagogue member who said she was “proud” to be standing for Labour “under the Corbyn-McDonnell leadership”.

She added: “I am standing in Chipping Barnet to give all residents a voice, to fight child poverty, to build truly affordable housing and fight the outsourcing of our public services, our NHS and our schools. These values are deeply embedded in Jewish tradition.

“I am a socialist and a Jew, a proud member of Finchley Reform Synagogue for the last 25 years and proud to be standing for Labour under the Corbyn-McDonnell leadership.”