Nazi comparison was 'inflammatory', Board of Deputies tells Jewish Labour backer

Labour donor Michael Foster has been criticised by the Board of Deputies for comparing Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters to “stormtroopers”.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday last weekend, Mr Foster – whose family has donated more than £400,000 to the party – slammed the Labour leader’s allies for threatening and intimidating opponents.

The retired Jewish businessman said he had been denounced for “plotting to falsely use the accusation of antisemitism” as part of a right-wing “conspiracy” to undermine Mr Corbyn.

He added: “The ancient racist rhetoric is that Jews don’t act alone, the malevolent Jew always conspires”.

Mr Foster made the comments after losing his High Court battle to prevent Mr Corbyn running in the Labour leadership contest without first gaining the support of the party’s MPs.

He said that the court had handed a victory to “Corbyn and his Sturm Abteilung (stormtroopers)”.

Today Marie van der Zyl, vice president of the Board of Deputies, spoke out against the language used by Mr Foster.

She said: “We have often made the point that Nazi and Holocaust comparisons are inflammatory and should be avoided in political discourse. The same is true in this case.”

Nevertheless, Ms van der Zyl went on to suggest that the sentiments expressed by Mr Foster are echoed within the wider Jewish community.

She added: “Many in the community are deeply concerned at some of the language and behaviour being exhibited by some members of the Labour Party. The Party certainly has a very steep hill to climb if it is to regain the community’s trust after the integrity of the Chakrabarti inquiry has been so called in to question.”

In the article, Mr Foster went on to say that he had been accused by Corbyn’s supporters of trying to smear them with false claims of antisemitism.

He wrote: “If you are like me, a Jewish donor to Labour, you are smeared as a Blairite conspirator, plotting to falsely use the accusation of antisemitism to damage the Left.

“Corbyn and his leadership team have no respect for others and worse, no respect for the rule of law.”

Thousands of Mr Corbyn’s supporters have hit back by launching an online petition calling for Mr Foster to be expelled from the party.

A statement on the campaigning site 38 Degrees, reads: “The Labour Party NEC has already stated that it will expel any member who uses insults or threats to other members during the course of the Leadership election. This article in the Daily Mail is incredibly insulting and distressing by comparing those who support Jeremy Corbyn as Nazi Stormtroopers.”

In his article Mr Foster welcomed Friday’s Appeal Court decision to allow Labour’s National Executive Committee to block 130,000 new party members from voting in the leadership contest as a triumph for democracy.

Mr Foster, who ran as a Labour candidate in the 2015 general election, said Owen Smith, Mr Corbyn’s rival for the leadership, had a real chance of winning September’s vote. Should he do so, it would spell the end for the hard left “bullies”, he believed.

Meanwhile, Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) has called on a Labour MP to clarify whether he described Zionism as “the enemy of peace”.

The group has written to Richard Burgon MP to ask whether he was “misreported” in an article published in the Daily Mail last week.

Labour’s justice spokesman is alleged to have made the comments by the newspaper, though no details were given as to when and where he made them.

Today Joan Ryan MP, LFI chair, sent a letter to Mr Burgon stating: “I assume that you have been misreported and made no such comments. I would appreciate it, therefore, if you were able to assure me that you are seeking a correction from the Daily Mail, making clear that you did not express these views and do not hold them.”

Ms Ryan went on to make reference to the Chakrabarti Report, which made clear the dangers of ill-informed references to Zionism.

She then went on to include a detailed explanation of Zionism, as well as LFI’s support for a two-state solution.

She added: “I hope that you agree with me that fostering links with, and supporting, progressive forces in an important task for an internationalist party such as the Labour Party and one that parliamentarians should be encouraged to engage with.”

Mr Burgon's office has been contacted for a comment.