Baroness Chakrabarti, who led an investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party, has said she was unaware the party had dropped an inquiry into Jew-hate allegations against students at Oxford University.
Asked today what she thought of the decision made by Labour’s National Executive Committee on Tuesday, the Shadow Attorney General asked: “What did the NEC decide?”
The peer’s own inquiry last summer had taken submissions from students who experienced antisemitism on campuses across the country.
But she said she had no knowledge of the NEC’s move to drop the case against those accused of hatred at Oxford University Labour Club (OULC), 24 hours after the news broke.
OULC members were said to have discussed Zionists rigging British elections, and allegedly said European attacks on Jews were justified because of Gaza.
In an interview with the JC after her report was published, Baroness Chakrabarti said it was hearing from students about their experiences of antisemitism which she found “most upsetting” and moved her “to tears”.
At the time, she said: "It is just not fair. You are away from home for the first time, you are feeling awkward and vulnerable. The last thing you want to feel challenged about is your political credentials because you have a Jewish-sounding surname.
"When those children spoke to me about how it upset their parents and grandparents, it reminded me of the 1970s and 1980s in London when the National Front was prevalent."
As part of her report, published in June, Baroness Chakrabarti made 20 recommendations aimed at helping Labour "lead by example" on tackling antisemitism.
She said slurs including "Zio" had no place in the party's discourse and said the phrase was regularly cited by witnesses who provided her with evidence.
Labour members "should resist the use of Hitler, Nazi and Holocaust metaphors, distortions and comparisons in debates about Israel-Palestine in particular", she found, and also warned against minimising the Holocaust or attempting to blur responsibility for it.
She added it was incumbent on the NEC to back the procedural changes she outlined.
