Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey sacked after sharing article including ‘antisemitic conspiracy theory’ – live
From the Times’ Patrick Maguire
Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire)
I’m told a delegation of left frontbenchers is trying to secure a meeting with Starmer to discuss RLB’s sacking
June 25, 2020
Here is a clip of Sir Keir Starmer explaining why Rebecca Long-Bailey was sacked.
BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics)
“I’ve made it my first priority to tackle anti-Semitism and rebuilding trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority for me,” says Keir Starmer as he sacks Rebecca Long-Bailey for sharing an article containing “anti-Semitic conspiracy theory”https://t.co/Whg4nWTels pic.twitter.com/C89Wud0Jre
June 25, 2020
These are from two of the MPs who left Labour when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, in part because of his record on antisemitism. They are now both, of course, ex-MPs.
From Mike Gapes
Mike Gapes (@MikeGapes)
This is a good day for Labour. Still a long way to go, but congratulations to Keir Starmer for showing decisive leadership.
June 25, 2020
From Joan Ryan
Joan Ryan (@joanryanEnfield)
Good to see @Keir_Starmer keep his word re. tearing antisemitism out by its roots whether it’s shad cab, backbench or ordinary member. No favour no exceptions and no tolerance for antisemitism or any kind of racism.
June 25, 2020
And this is from John Mann, who was also strongly critical of the party’s record on antisemitism when he was an MP and Corbyn was leader. Mann now sits as an independent peer in the House of Lords.
John Mann (@LordJohnMann)
What a change. Leadership. Shocking and appalling slur. Old style conspiracy theory which is both divisive and fabricated. t.co/MImLJqsa7d
June 25, 2020
Dame Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who frequently accused Jeremy Corbyn of being too tolerant on antisemitism, has welcomed the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Margaret Hodge (@margarethodge)
This is what a change in culture looks like.
This is what zero tolerance looks like.
This is what rebuilding trust with the Jewish community looks like. t.co/6QL5wS92GX
June 25, 2020
This is from the Commons all-party parliamentary group on antisemitism, and its co-chairs, Labour’s Catherine McKinnell and the Conservative Andrew Percy.
APPG Antisemitism (@APPGAA)
Statement in response to the sacking of Shadow Education Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, from APPG Against Antisemitism co-chairs Catherine McKinnell MP and Andrew Percy MP pic.twitter.com/VcZTeyH1Y4
June 25, 2020
From the BBC’s Iain Watson
iain watson (@iainjwatson)
labour leadership sources say @RLong_Bailey ‘ was sacked because she would not remove her initial tweet and it was nonsense that @Keir_Starmer had been looking for an excuse to sack her.
June 25, 2020
These are from Jon Lansman, the founder of Momentum, the pro-Corbyn group in the Labour party, which backed Rebecca Long-Bailey for the leadership.
Jon Lansman (@jonlansman)
I retweeted this 5 hours ago without comment in a break in a Labour Party antisemitism panel – my 4th in the last month. In my view there is nothing in what Maxine Peake said that a Labour panel would view as antisemitic. t.co/u3eEoZO1qy
June 25, 2020
Jon Lansman (@jonlansman)
Rebecca is every bit as committed to ending antisemitism in the Labour Party as I am. Her sacking is a reckless over-reaction from someone who promised to end factionalism in the party and political interference in disciplinary matters. Keir has now made these tasks harder
June 25, 2020
The FT’s Jim Pickard says Rebecca Long-Bailey may have read a version of the Maxine Peake interview before it was amended by the Independent.
Jim Pickard (@PickardJE)
one problematic issue with the @RLong_Bailey sacking is that she may have read an earlier version of the Peake interview which (inaccurately) cited Amnesty International, a point that has since been the subject of this pic.twitter.com/gIxCvvqo5s
June 25, 2020
A reader sent me a link to the original.
Jane Samuels (@Jane_Samuels)
I’m surprised the Guardian political blog by @AndrewSparrow has not mentioned the @independent interview with Maxime Peak actually removed the line by Amnesty International. The original published version available here > t.co/vTtUbTHKKBpic.twitter.com/HRVPKmfDoN
June 25, 2020
Sir Keir Starmer said Rebecca Long-Bailey’s decision to share the Independent article undermined his attempts to rebuild relations with the Jewish community, speaking to political journalists in Scotland.
During a short online press conference on Thursday afternoon, arranged to coincide to a “town hall” hustings earlier with Scottish voters, Starmer was asked whether Long-Bailey had admitted she had made a mistake retweeting the Independent interview with Maxine Peak, and had stood down willingly.
Starmer said:
I’m not going into the ins and outs of the various conversations I may have had, interesting though they would be. I’m just very clear about my focus and that is rebuilding trust with the Jewish community. I do not consider sharing that article furthered the course of rebuilding trust with the Jewish community and that’s why I stood Rebecca Long-Bailey down.
He refused to comment when asked whether he believed his former education spokeswoman was antisemitic, quoting instead his previous statement.
I have asked her to step down because she shared that article; I have made it my number one priority to rebuild trust with the Jewish communities. In the interests of rebuilding that trust I have stood her down from the shadow cabinet.
Asked again whether he thought Long-Bailey was antisemitic, he said it was because the Peake interview contained antisemitic conspiracy theories:
I asked Rebecca Long-Bailey to step down from the shadow cabinet for sharing the article. I didn’t do that because she is antisemitic, I did it because she shared the article which has got, in my view, antisemitic conspiracy theories in it.
My primary focus is on rebuilding trust with the Jewish communities. I didn’t think sharing that article was in keeping with that primary objective.
Commenting on Rebecca Long-Bailey’s sacking, Jonathan Goldstein, chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, said:
Today we saw significant action from Sir Keir Starmer in ensuring there is zero tolerance for antisemitism within the Labour party. His actions show he understands the severity and harm that antisemitic conspiracies do to our politics. We welcome this decisive leadership and firm action.
John McDonnell, shadow chancellor when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader, says Rebecca Long-Bailey should not have been sacked. He says it has always been accepted that criticising the activities of Israel is not antisemitism.
Long-Bailey used to work in McDonnell’s shadow Treasury team and he was a strong supporter of her candidature for the Labour leadership.
John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP)
Throughout discussion of antisemitism it’s always been said criticism of practices of Israeli state is not antisemitic. I don’t believe therefore that this article is or @RLong_Bailey should’ve been sacked. I stand in solidarity with her t.co/rhxuKGfFEG
June 25, 2020
Robert Halfon, the Tory MP and a strong supporter of “blue collar conservatism” (ie, the belief that the party has make a strong appeal to the working class), thinks that by sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey, Sir Keir Starmer has shown he is “a force to be reckoned with”.
Robert Halfon MP -Working Hard for Harlow- (@halfon4harlowMP)
Proof that @Keir_Starmer, step by step is de-Corbynising the Labour Party – showing that he is a force to be reckoned with and that no @conservatives can afford to be complacent about his leadership or our strong parliamentary majority👇 t.co/Auk5yfjOQt
June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey has posted a thread on Twitter giving her account of the events leading up to her sacking as shadow education secretary. Here are the main points.
She suggests that Starmer’s office subsequently changed its mind, and demanded the withdrawal of the original tweet. She said she was not willing to do that without being allowed to issue a press statement explaining the clarification.
She says Starmer refused to discuss the matter with her in person before she was dismissed.
She says she intends to continuing supporting the Labour party under Starmer’s leadership.
Here are the tweets.
Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey)
t.co/XyTPHR40Qd I retweeted an interview that my constituent and stalwart Labour Party supporter Maxine Peake gave to the Independent. Its main thrust was anger with the Conservative Government’s handling of the current emergency and a call for Labour Party unity.
June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey)
2.These are sentiments are shared by everyone in our movement and millions of people in our country. I learned that many people were concerned by references to international sharing of training and restraint techniques between police and security forces.
June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey)
t.co/83kCSyj9FG no way was my retweet an intention to endorse every part of that article.
June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey)
4.I wished to acknowledge these concerns and duly issued a clarification of my retweet, with the wording agreed in advance by the Labour Party Leader’s Office, but after posting I was subsequently instructed to take both this agreed clarification and my original retweet down.
June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey)
5.I could not do this in good conscience without the issuing of a press statement of clarification. I had asked to discuss these matters with Keir before agreeing what further action to take, but sadly he had already made his decision.
June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey)
6.I am proud of the policies we have developed within the party from our Green Industrial Revolution to a National Education Service and I will never stop working for the change our communities need to see.
June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey)
7.I am clear that I shall continue to support the Labour Party in Parliament under Keir Starmer’s leadership, to represent the people of Salford and Eccles and work towards a more equal, peaceful and sustainable world.
June 25, 2020
And here is the full statement from the Jewish Labour Movement.
Jewish Labour Movement (@JewishLabour)
Jewish Labour Movement statement in response to Rebecca Long-Bailey’s resignation.
The culture of an organisation is determined by the values of those who lead it.
We welcome Keir Starmer’s actions and hope that the Party, at every level, reflect and learn from this. pic.twitter.com/7M2SDjobEv
June 25, 2020
The Jewish Labour Movement has welcomed Rebecca Long-Bailey’s sacking, Sky’s Aubrey Allegretti reports.
Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti)
Jewish Labour Movement says Rebecca Long-Bailey sacking “should be welcomed”.
National chair @mikekatz: “We have consistently maintained that the pervasive culture of antisemitism, bullying and intimidation can only be tackled by strong and decisive leadership.”
June 25, 2020
This is from Matt Zarb-Cousin, who worked as a media adviser first for Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour leader and then for Rebecca Long-Bailey when she was running for leader (effectively as the candidate of the Corbynite left). Zarb-Cousin is referring to Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal earlier to call for Robert Jenrick to be sacked. (See 11.41am.)
Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb)
Apparently we’re now more willing to sack our own front-benchers than call for the sacking of government front-benchers 🤷🏻♂️
June 25, 2020
From the Sunday Times’ Gabriel Pogrund
Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund)
One LOTO source notes that Long Bailey failed to condemn a member who blamed the “Israeli lobby” for the election defeat during a leadership hustings in February.
“If the Peake thing was an exception we might be having a different conversation.” t.co/KCobWs1P8o
June 25, 2020
This is from Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, welcoming the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies)
.@BoDPres Marie van der Zyl thanks @Keir_Starmer for his swift action after Rebecca Long-Bailey retweeted and praised an article containing an antisemitic conspiracy theory pic.twitter.com/kOjsUwWDp2
June 25, 2020
Here is the passage in the Independent’s interview with Maxine Peake referred to in the Labour statement (see 3.11pm) referencing an “antisemitic conspiracy theory”.
Born in Bolton to a lorry driver father and care worker mother, Peake is strident and expressive; if religion wasn’t anathema to her, she’d be perfect in the pulpit. “Systemic racism is a global issue,” she adds. “The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services.” (A spokesperson for the Israeli police has denied this, stating that “there is no tactic or protocol that calls to put pressure on the neck or airway”.)
As my colleague Peter Walker has reported (see 2.47pm), Rebecca Long-Bailey subsequently posted a tweet saying her tweet sharing the interview was not intended to be an endorsement of everything in it. But the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was “pathetic” that she had not withdrawn the original tweet and apologised.
