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Senior Cabinet minister hopes 'action will be taken' against Tory MP who attended far-right meeting
Daniel Kawczynski has dismissed criticism for attending conference but party colleagues express concern
February 5, 2020 18:24
Daniel Kawczynski has dismissed criticism for attending conference but party colleagues express concern
February 5, 2020 18:24A senior Cabinet minister has told the JC they are “hopeful of action being taken” against a Conservative MP who spoke at a conference in Rome this week alongside European far-right speakers.
Daniel Kawczynski, the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, was among the 22 speakers to appear at the National Conservatism conference.
Participants at the two-day event included Marion Marechal, the niece of National Rally (formerly Front National) president Marine Le Pen, Hermann Tertsch, an MEP for the Spanish Vox party and Mattias Karlsson, former leader of the far-right Swedish Democrats.
Other more mainstream speakers included Hungary's nationalist PM Viktor Orban, Italy's populist leader Matteo Salvini, and a Polish MEP from the Law and Justice Party.
Conservative MP Andrew Percy, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, attacked Mr Kawczynski’s decision to attend the conference as “wholly inappropriate”.
It is understood that Mr Percy, who is Jewish, was one of a number of Conservative MPs who have raised Mr Kawczynski’s conduct with Tory party whips.
Mr Percy said he had written to “Daniel last week asking him not to attend, given the presence of politicians from the far right”.
Nicola Richards, Tory MP for West Bromwich East, told the JC she was "concerned to learn this has happened".
Mr Kawczynski described reaction to his attendance as “hysterical” and claimed he had gained approval to attend the conference in advance from the whips.
On Wednesday a Conservative spokesperson confirmed that the whips were considering what action to be taken against the Polish-born MP for Shrewsbury, who has regularly used Commons speeches to attack those who claim his native country is in denial about its role in the Holocaust.
They are likely to ask him to attend a formal interview before deciding on what action to take.
Mr Kawczynski said Mr Orban, who has been prime minister of Hungary since 2010 and Mr Salvini, a former deputy prime minister of Italy, "represent serious ideas and concerns, some of which are shared by many citizens of the UK".
He added:” "Perhaps those criticising the event should take a more inquisitive approach rather than simply attacking its existence and maligning elected politicians from other countries who are due to speak. If so, they might discover why the vast majority of Europeans feel more loyalty to their own countries than the abstract idea of a federal European super-state."
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl also criticised his attendance, saying: “Mr Kawczynski’s defence, that ‘it is only common sense to talk with parties and politicians that are either leading their respective countries, or will perhaps take power in the next few years’, is a specious one, for the simple reason that the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham is not any sort of government representative.
"If the Conservative Party fails to discipline Mr Kawczynski, it runs the serious risk of the public assuming that they share his views on association with such people.”
Chief Executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, Danny Stone, said: "In all our work with parliamentarians, we have found that concerns about antisemitism are most successfully addressed when taken on by MPs in their own party.
"Conservative parliamentarians should follow the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, Andrew Percy's lead in raising their concerns with the party."
Labour called for the Tory MP to lose the whip and said it was "disgraceful" that he was associating with "antisemites, Islamophobes and homophobes".
Dame Margaret Hodge MP, parliamentary chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said: "No member of Parliament should be attending a conference packed full of racists, homophobes and Islamophobes.
“If Daniel Kawczynski attends this conference then he must have the whip removed. There can be no place for these hateful views in our Parliament.”
JLM confirmed it had sent a letter to Mark Spencer, the Conservative Chief Whip, signed by its national chair Mike Katz, Dame Margaret, and Labour MP Alex Sobel, calling for him to take action.
