A PROMINENT Scottish member of Labour’s ruling body has withdrawn her support for a left-wing colleague who ranted about Jewish “Trump fanatics” at a party meeting.
Rhea Wolfson, who has been a victim of anti-Semitism, said she made a “mistake” in backing Peter Willsman’s re-election to Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
Mr Willsman, an ally of Jeremy Corbyn, was secretly taped at a July 17 NEC attacking those criticising the Labour leader on anti-Semitism.
In a recording leaked to the Jewish Chronicle, he said: “Some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump – they are Trump fanatics and all the rest of it. I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up duff information without any evidence at all.”
Despite sitting on an internal disputes panel, Mr Willsman also said he had never seen anti-Semitism in the party and was “amazed” when others at the NEC said they had.
The recording sparked another day of bitter recriminations within Labour, with potentially dangerous splits emerging at the very top of the party over the anti-Semitism row.
Deputy leader Tom Watson said Mr Willsman – who escaped disciplinary procedure after apologising for his comments – was “a loudmouthed bully”, adding: “He disgusts me.”
It was also reported that Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Mr Corbyn’s closest ally, had challenged him over his handling of the crisis.
Senior figures fear the toxic issue could now overshadow the party’s autumn conference in Liverpool.
Former Labour minister Yvette Cooper said Mr Willsman should abandon his re-election bid to the NEC after his “appalling” remarks.
Jewish leaders also questioned why Mr Willsman was not disciplined, despite complaints about his tirade.
Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin, who face being disciplined for criticising Mr Corbyn over the row, today become honorary patrons of the Campaign Against Semitism, just as it asks the Equality Commission to investigate Labour and Mr Corbyn.
Campaign chair Gideon Falter claimed Labour was now “institutionally anti-Semitic”.
Ms Wolfson, Labour’s Westminster candidate in Livingston, this week wrote an article describing the NEC of July 17 as “constructive and thoughtful” and omitted Mr Willsman.
After criticism by party colleagues, she told the Herald: “When you have 40 people working together with good intentions, one person doesn’t undermine that. I definitely appreciate now how it looks like an omission but it wasn’t intentional. It was trying to represent the bulk of our meeting. I was vocal in the meeting. I was unhappy with his comments. I don’t think he should now be supported to run for re-election. He should face internal disciplinary processes.”
Labour also launched a probe into a Shrewsbury councillor who shared a Facebook post comparing Israel’s PM to Hitler and suspended Fife councillor Mary Lockhart for suggesting Israel’s Mossad may be plotting against Mr Corbyn.
The party said it was committed to tackling anti-Semitism.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here