An anti-Israel journalist, who is currently suspended by Labour after calling the Jewish Labour Movement an "Israel embassy proxy", has been denied a press pass to cover the party’s annual conference in Brighton.
Asa Winstanley, who writes for the Electronic Intifada blog, was told last week that his application to attend the event in September had been rejected despite being approved in past years.
However Mr Winstanley, who was suspended from Labour been pending an investigation in March, said he had previously received approval for a pass to the conference in July.
Sharing the email sent to him by Labour’s press office, he tweeted: “Several people have asked me who made the decision to ban me from Labour conference. Here's the entire email below. No reasons given, and signed only "Press Team."”
Mr Winstanley said the party sent him an earlier email in July which approved him for a press pass.
He said: “Labour's new claim now that my application was 'not approved' is totally fictional. My press pass application *was* approved. See the email I was sent by Labour Conference Services.”
A screengrab of the email shows that Mr Winstanley was told that his application had been successful and that he would be sent a pass in September.
Mr Winstanley was suspended from the party after people on social media highlighted the fact he was a party member, which shocked many, given he has repeatedly attacked those warning about the extent of Labour's problem with antisemitism.
After JLM held extraordinary general meetings on whether to disaffiliate from Labour, Mr Winstanley called the group an "Israeli embassy proxy" that had engaged in "shameless sabotage of the party" by submitting a dossier of evidence of Jew-hate in the party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is now investigating.
He also previously attacked the IHRA definition of antisemitism and, once Labour had adopted it, tweeted that "Israel is a racist endevour [sic]" to mock it.
He even attacked Momentum, the pro-Corbyn campaign group, for acknowledging Labour's antisemitism issue, saying it should rename itself "Momentum Friends of Israel".
He accused Joan Ryan, the chair of Labour Friends of Israel who quit the party this year, of "fabricating antisemitism".
Mr Winstanley, who has 27,000 followers on Twitter, was identified as part of a pro-Corbyn "engine room" dismissing allegations of antisemitism.
Antisemitism watchdog the Comunity Security Trust listed Mr Winstanley among 36 accounts driving the online conversation around Jew-hate in Mr Corbyn's party.
