General Secretary's comment branded 'an utter disgrace', with one Labour MP saying: 'We seem to have gone from zero tolerance to zero concern.'
February 4, 2019 20:05
A furious row erupted at Monday's meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party after MPs unanimously passed a motion expressing "dismay" at the party leadership's failure to tackle its antisemitism crisis.
The party's General Secretary Jennie Formby was berated over her performance in eradicating Jew-hate after high-profile cases of antisemitism were recently dropped and the backlog over disciplinary cases grew.
After the motion was passed, Ms Formby spoke to say it was “impossible to eradicate” antisemitism and it would be “dishonest to claim to be able to do so”.
One MP later remarked caustically: "We seem to have gone from zero tolerance to zero concern."
Labour sources later attempted to play down the significance of Ms Formby's remarks, suggesting she was saying it was impossible to eradicate antisemitism without good procedures and education.
The 11-point motion - which demanded that Jeremy Corbyn and the leadership answer a series of questions on the current state of Labour's disciplinary process - was passed without any opposition from any of the MPs and Peers present.
Labour leader Mr Corbyn was not in attendance - but general secretary Ms Formby was inside the room.
Around 150 MPs and Peers were present, including shadow chancellor John McDonnell, party chairman Ian Lavery, Harriet Harman and Yvette Cooper.
Jewish Labour MPs later told the JC they were buoyed and pleased by their colleagues' support for the continued fight against antisemitism in the party.
Backbenchers set next Monday as a deadline to reveal how many Labour officials are investigating complaints; the names of bodies lined up to provide members with antisemitism training; and how many members who have been through the disciplinary process are waiting to start such training.
But Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth later confirmed Ms Formby was “refusing to give us a written report” as demanded by the PLP motion.
Describing Ms Formby's address as "platitudinous, dismissive and far from acceptable", Ilford North MP Wes Streeting said: “In not giving us data, she’s ruled out any possibility of Jewish members and Jewish constituents having confidence in the Labour Party’s ability to tackle it.”
A letter sent by Ms Formby ahead of the meeting in which she said she was "proud" of the way she had dealt with the problem since becoming general secretary last April only served to further inflame tensions.
In a response that infuriated parliamentarians, Ms Formby told MPs she was only answerable to Labour's ruling body the National Executive Committee (NEC) and not them.
Several MPs later told the JC that they felt Ms Formby's conduct inside the meeting was "an utter disgrace."
One said the meeting left them feeling "worse than before" about the Labour leadership's ability and determination to tackle its long-running issue with Jew-hate.
After MPs called for "greater transparency" over the way Mr Corbyn's party tackled antisemitism, Ms Formby told them: "“ don’t answer to the PLP, I answer to the NEC.”
Veteran MP Dame Margaret Hodge left the meeting saying: "If you want to get rid of the cancer of antisemitism in the Labour Party you have to have complete transparency and she’s refusing to do that.”
Speaking afterwards, MP Luciana Berger said: “If we are serious about contending with the stain of antisemitism within the Labour Party then we must get a proper response to all of these questions.
“There is a community in this country that are hurting and we have a responsibility as a party to root this out.
“One antisemite in our ranks is one too many.”
The 11-point motion also asked which Jewish community organisations have been consulted on the party's still un-reviewed Code of Practice on Jew-hate, and what the timetable is for completion of this process.
Questions were also asked over which people or organisations have been commissioned to provide antisemitism training to members who must complete it as a sanction, when this training will be finalised and when it will be rolled out.
The motion also demanded the party disclose whether all members of its governing body, the NEC, who sit on the antisemitism Disputes Panel have completed antisemitism training.
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell proposed the motion, which was seconded by Ms Smeeth.
Ms McKinnell had earlier revealed she felt compelled to act after a meeting with the local Jewish community last October, in which she said she “made a solemn pledge that evening that I would do everything in my power to see this issue properly addressed”.
Commenting on the motion, Jonathan Goldstein, Chair of the JLC, and Marie van der Zyl, President of the Board of Deputies, said in a joint statement: “We welcome the decision of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) this evening to set a deadline to hold Jeremy Corbyn to account over antisemitism.
"Since our meeting with him on 24 April 2018, the party has not taken the necessary actions to rid itself of this racism.
"His lack of leadership has been extremely disappointing. We hope the PLP’s motion will push Labour to finally put in place the recommendations we discussed with Mr Corbyn. If he is truly against antisemitism this is an opportunity to prove it, once and for all.”
Meanwhile the Jewish Labour Movement attacked Ms Formby's earlier letter to all Labour MPs, in which she said she was committed to implementing a "world class" education programme on antisemitism.
The JLM said: "We reject entirely the suggestion, made for the second time by the Labour Party, that it knows better than the Jewish community what counts as "world class" ways to combat antisemitism."
