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Margaret Hodge accuses Jeremy Corbyn of misleading her over his office's role in Labour antisemitism cases
Jewish MP writes to party leader: 'Either you have intentionally misled me or your staff have been misleading you'
March 5, 2019 09:34
Jewish MP writes to party leader: 'Either you have intentionally misled me or your staff have been misleading you'
March 5, 2019 09:34Jewish Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge has accused Jeremy Corbyn of misleading her when he said his office was not involved in any of the party's disciplinary processes in antisemitism cases.
In a letter to the Labour leader expressing fresh concerns, she wrote: "Either you have intentionally misled me or your staff have been misleading you.”
Dame Margaret wrote in response to an Observer report on Sunday that claimed internal documents showed senior Labour figures last year opposed recommendations to suspend several activists accused of antisemitism.
She said she was "bewildered" by the report, saying it "contradicts what you told me to my face last week".
Last week Corbyn reassured me categorically that his office never intervened in antisemitism complaints. @ObserverUK whistleblower account clearly shows Corbyn’s office have intervened. Either Corbyn has intentionally misled me or his staff have misled him. Full letter below pic.twitter.com/gUR6LvJ3QW
— Margaret Hodge (@margarethodge) March 5, 2019
Referring to a discussion she had with Mr Corbyn, she said: "I distinctly remember it being said that it would be appalling if staff in the Leader's Office intervened or had a role in complaints.
"I was given categorical assurances that this does not happen and has never happened.
"However, it is clear from the whistle-blower’s account [in the Observer] that your staff did intervene and have had a direct role in complaints."
Appearing on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme on Tuesday, Dame Margaret said Mr Corbyn gave her "absolute, copper-bottomed undertakings that there was no interference in the complaints process by his inner circle, by his top team".
She said "a whole number of his top team, not just one person, lots of them" were involved in decisions about individual complaints, adding: "They interfere and they lower the sanctions. People aren't suspended, they're just given a warning letter.
"What is so awful about this is that Jeremy always proclaims zero tolerance of antisemitism. When it comes to the actual cases, if they're his mates he doesn't demonstrate zero tolerance."
She added she had seen "so much evidence" of political interference, adding: "Trust in him is gone."
Labour claimed it was "categorically untrue" to suggest that staff in the leader's office overturned recommendations in cases.
A Labour spokesman said: "Any suggestion that staff in the Leaders' Office overturned recommendations on individual cases is categorically untrue."
Dame Margaret also condemned the party's intention to appoint Tony Blair's ex-flatmate Lord Falconer as its antisemitism surveillance commissioner - saying the peer is "not independent".
She claimed Lord Falconer, who was Lord Chancellor under Mr Blair, had "bombarded" her last summer with demands she apologise over a confrontation with Mr Corbyn, in which she called him "an antisemitic racist" to his face.
She told Today: "I was absolutely bombarded by telephone calls from Charlie Falconer, they were not about the rights and wrongs of the case, they were all about trying to force me to give an apology. He’s not independent."
Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor under Tony Blair whom the party wants to appoint to review how the party handles antisemitism, has been told he can trawl through old Labour emails if he agrees to the role.
He is believed to want outside solicitors to help conduct the investigation and is waiting for general secretary Jennie Formby to approve this.
If he goes ahead with the role, Lord Falconer will be keen to explore contact with the Jewish communal organisations over attempting to resolve the antisemitism crisis.
