Jon Lansman has attacked a newspaper story that claimed one of Jeremy Corbyn’s advisers blocked the suspension of a member who was later arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred – calling it “erroneous”.
Laura Murray, a 30-year-old aide who works in the Labour leader’s office, was reported by the Sunday Times to have overruled a recommendation by party officials to suspend 72-year-old Patricia Sheerin last year.
The paper published leaked emails in which Ms Murray said Ms Sheerin, who had posted on Facebook claims that Israel was behind Isis, was not reffering to "Jews or Jewishness".
Ms Sheerin, from South London, was one of three party members questioned by Scotland Yard earlier this month on suspicion of “publishing or distributing material likely to stir up racial hatred”.
Mr Lansman, the Jewish founder of left-wing campaign group Momentum, criticised the story on Sunday, arguing that police had reviewed “new material… that Labour didn’t have” before arresting Ms Sheerin.
He tweeted: “The decision to charge Patricia Sheerin was based on different, more serious, material, to what Labour and [the Leader of the Opposition] reviewed.
“So the basis of this article - to criticise Labour / LOTO for not immediately suspending someone who was later charged by the police - is erroneous. They were reviewing different material and therefore cannot be compared. The original material wasn’t nearly as serious.
“Laura Murray’s done more than anyone I know (including the disgruntled ex-staffer who’s leaking these emails) to tackle antisemitism in the party.”
Mr Lansman also argued that Ms Murray was under greater scrutiny than Brandon Lewis, the chairman of the Conservative Party, in a reference to allegations of Islamophobia in the party.
