Former Labour shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has joined members currently suspended by the party at a protest event in support of Jeremy Corbyn.
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP was a speaker at Sunday’s gathering in London Fields, Hackney, which was attended by Jewish Voice for Labour officials Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi and Jonathan Rosenhead, one of whom is suspended by Labour, while the other is under investigation.
Ms Abbott also posed for a succession of photographs at the protest, where a banner stating “Jeremy Is The Beating Heart of Labour” was unveiled.
While the high-profile MP wore a protective facemask as she delivered her speech, she was pictured standing in front of the banner without one – with Ms Wimborne-Idrissi and Mr Rosenhead behind her.
It is not clear from the photo whether social distancing guidance was being observed.
Ms Wimborne-Idrissi, JLV’s co-founder, was suspended earlier this month after the JC revealed her statements to a meeting of the Chingford and Woodford Green Labour Party, of which she is vice-chair, which included expressing support for claims antisemitism has been “weaponised”.
She was seen holding an official JVL banner at Sunday’s protest and listening as Ms Abbot spoke.
Mr Rosenhead, another senior JVL official, is one of seven Labour activists currently suing the party over investigations into their alleged conduct.
The chair of Labour’s Hoxton West branch, Mr Rosenhead was told he was being investigated in May over allegations including claims of antisemitism.
Also attending the ‘Solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn Sunday Stroll’ event was Craig Parr, the Hackney South Labour activist who is under investigation for comments about the Board of Deputies, and Heather Mendick, who had also claimed antisemitism allegations had been “weaponised.”
Mr Parr, who is the partner of Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville, has tweeted that the Board of Deputies would “choose to replace” outgoing general secretary Jennie Formby in May. Labour confirmed they had launched an investigation into his comments.
In April Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had reprimanded Ms Abbott after the JC revealed she took part in another meeting, held online, with some of the most notorious figures in Labour’s antisemitism crisis.
Mr Corbyn is still suspended as a Labour MP after his intervention over the EHRC report, for which he is yet to properly apologise for.
The JC has contacted the Labour Party and Ms Abbott for comment over her involvement in Sunday’s protest.
