Even when Lord Mann has something to celebrate – he’s just been reappointed independent government adviser on antisemitism by a fifth successive prime minister in as many years – it’s always greeted in the non-nonsense Yorkshire style for which he is famous.
“I’m happy if the Jewish community and the prime minister want me to do the job,” he says, matter of factly.
Pleasantries done, we get down to business. And when it comes to the problem of racism against Jews, he does not pull his punches.
“There is a kind of extremism, which isn’t violent, doesn’t break the law, but is able to break democracy,” he says, “the soft underbelly of extremism.
“It’s the biggest single problem impacting the Jewish community. And it manifests in people organising to remove Jewish people from positions of influence or from jobs simply because they’re vocal in expressing themselves.
“That’s incredibly dangerous and insidious. And it’s a growing problem.
“There are names that your readers will know, who have been badly impacted by this. But people don’t want to go public. Because it’s their reputation at stake.
“And it’s been done in a vicious, insidious way. And it’s my intention to break the organisations and the operations doing this.”
He gives an example – without naming names – of someone at the top of their profession having to change their job because of the atmosphere at their place of employment.
A second example follows of a person who “lost their job because of fake allegations made against them on an organised basis, with a pile-on directed to their employer, trying to get rid of them”.
He adds: “That kind of thing is going on routinely.”
While Mann says he will name the individuals and organisations involved “in time”, he warns that that the targeting of individuals was taking place in both the private and public sectors.
He adds: “The only expressions we’ve seen of it are in elections. But that is the thin end of the wedge. It is far more insidious than that.”
His biggest criticism of the previous government is that “key people in government didn’t understand how the extremism was really working in this country”.
Mann is also concerned that not enough people from within the Jewish community are speaking up or coming forward with their experiences of intimidation. He says: “I can think of one that happened five years ago in a university. I only found out about it in the last six months. And that was a major incident.”
He says he could understand the instinct of families not to put themselves or others on the front pages, adding that it was “healthy”.
However, he says: “The dilemma for me is people like me need to know more about what is going on. Because these are not isolated incidents. That’s the whole point.”
This targeted hounding of British Jews is at the top of Mann’s in-tray.
“I’m far more concerned about this, than some extremist wandering around with a banner in central London.”
He says the police have listened to some concerns surrounding the marches, which now often remain in Hyde Park rather than causing more disruption in central London. But, he says, the police could have used existing laws more effectively. Police do have powers that could have been used to either move people along or to get people or groups to take offensive banners down, he says. While the extremists he speaks about have been “emboldened” by the violence unleashed by Hamas on October 7, Mann says he is determined not to back down: “It’s my intention to break the organisations and the operations doing this.”
Will the new Labour government back his plans? “There are no indications at all that barriers will be put in front of me. If they are, I’ll knock them down.”
Despite the fact he has retaken the Labour whip in the House of Lords, Mann, who was Labour MP for Bassetlaw in the East Midlands between 2001-2019 and sat in the House of Lords as an independent until May this year, says “there’re no free passes for the Labour government on antisemitism”.
A former chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism, he is also going to have a dialogue with government about using harassment laws rather than “the really complex malicious communications law” when it comes to online antisemitism.
“Under the harassment laws, if you commit the same harassment twice, you can be cautioned.” Proper application of harassment laws online could be “a game-changer” in Lord Mann’s view. He is also critical of what he describes as “generic, everything together” equalities anti-racism training, saying “it doesn’t work”. Instead, he says, the two-hour training model he uses to educate the world of football about antisemitism, would work with newly qualified teachers, NHS Trusts and other public sector bodies. “We can get through the basics, challenge people, get them thinking and show them what to look for and how it can apply to their role,” he says.
“Now, that doesn’t give you every possibility, but it gives you all the basics on antisemitism. Where does it come from? How does it manifest? What are the bits that you might not even have thought about?
“And it has been transformative for some people.”
