Update 9pm: Liverpool Wavertree MP Paula Barker has told the JC she has been 'assured' the motion will not be voted on
A local Labour branch that was accused of bullying Luciana Berger before she quit the party is to debate whether to affiliate to the controversial Jewish Voice For Labour (JVL).
Angry local Labour members contacted the JC after being sent the motion, which is to be discussed at a meeting of Liverpool Wavertree Constituency Labour Party (CLP) and calls for affiliation to the fringe, pro-Corbyn group “at the earliest opportunity”.
CLPs have caused anger by affiliating to JVL, which has been accused of minimising antisemitism in the party.
It has been seen as a snub to the Jewish Labour Movement, which has been affiliated to Labour since 1920 and outspoken about anti-Jewish racism its members have faced within the party.
The full motion says: “Wavertree CLP agrees to affiliate to the socialist and anti-racist organisation Jewish Voice For Labour at the earliest opportunity.”
The CLP came under fire shortly for proposing a no-confidence motion in Ms Berger as its MP last February.
Then Labour deputy leader Tom Watson called for the party to suspend the Wavertree CLP and accused it of "bullying".
He said: "What's happening to [Ms Berger] is completely unacceptable."
Ms Berger quit Labour shortly afterwards citing antisemitism and bullying and was replaced by Paula Barker in last month’s General Election.
Responding to the JC, Ms Barker said: "I have been assured that no such vote will be taken at tomorrow night’s Constituency Labour Party meeting in Wavertree.”
In the wake of Ms Berger's resignation, the JC revealed that the then CLP chair, Dr Alex Scott-Samuel, had appeared on the Richie Allen Show, which was broadcast on conspiracy theorist David Icke's website.
On the programme, Dr Scott-Samuel promoted a Rothschild conspiracy theory, saying: "The Rothschild family are behind a lot of the neo-liberal influence in the UK and the US".
Wavertree CLP later issued a statement defending the no-confidence motion against Ms Berger, which said Dr Scott-Samuel was "himself Jewish and the suggestion the CLP executive is in any way party to bullying and antisemitism is a slanderous accusation".
Another Wavertree CLP member, Roy Bentham, was forced to apologise in 2017 after releasing a statement that said Ms Berger was “answerable to us.”
