A Jewish Labour councillor has said he was “ejected” for live tweeting a constituency Labour party meeting in West Ham to decide their nomination for leadership.
Joshua Garfield claimed on Twitter that “‘Can I ask Cllr Joshua Garfield to leave the meeting’ got a round of applause and a two-thirds majority so I left without protest!”
He added later that it was an “apt sequel to being kicked out a local Labour FB [Facebook] group for challenging antisemitism last month.”
Mr Garfield is a Newham councillor and the Local Government Officer for the Jewish Labour Movement. He was one of several Labour activists who appeared on the BBC Panorama episode about Labour’s antisemitism crisis last year.
Been ejected from the meeting for live tweeting. Didn’t know it was Chatham House rules! My bad.
— Joshua Garfield 🇪🇺 (@JoshuaGarfield) February 8, 2020
‘Can I ask Cllr Joshua Garfield to leave the meeting’ got a round of applause and a two-thirds majority so I left without protest!
Only sorry I had to go before voting for deputy!
Responding to replies, Mr Garfield said: “If I recall correctly, nobody has ever been ejected from a West Ham meeting – in my time here – for sexist, racist, or homophobic comments before (which many have witnessed).”
However, he also tweeted: “On the surface, this ejection had nothing to do with antisemitism.
“But I think context is important, and there’s little else to explain the hostility and overt jubilation at having me removed.”
At the event held on Saturday night, the West Ham CLP voted to nominate Rebecca Long-Bailey for leader, and Dawn Butler for deputy leader.
The CLP also nominated Jo Bird and Graham Durham for two National Executive Committee positions, despite Ms Bird being suspended for a second time and told she could not stand for the position over previous comments about the "privileging" of antisemitism over other forms of racism and jokes about "Jew process".
West Ham Labour Party have been contacted for comment.
