Concerns raised over prospect of Cllr Noah Tucker being reinstated to the Labour Party in March, despite history of troubling comments leading to his brief suspension
Concerns have been raised over the prospect of Cllr Noah Tucker being reinstated to the Labour Party in March, despite his history of troubling comments which led to his suspension in September 2020, and further reported comments since.
The Haringey councillor was exposed last year as having told Tottenham’s Constituency Labour Party to drop a “zero-tolerance” clause from an antisemitism motion that it was debating, and is Cllr Tucker is reported to have suggested that Israel was somehow to blame for the racist killing of George Floyd, which is a popular antisemitic conspiracy theory. He has also defended the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson.
It was also recently reported by On London that Cllr Tucker may have opined on a group chat that “The purging will be outsourced to people nominated by the BoD,” by which he meant suspensions of Labour members over antisemitism will be “outsourced” to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a leading Jewish communal organisation. He reportedly also lamented the failure of the pro-Corbyn pressure group Momentum to “oppose the centrists on Brexit and antisemitism.” Other concerning pronouncements were also reported.
Cllr Tucker reportedly said at the time of his suspension: “I am an opponent of racism in all its forms including antisemitism. Social media posts have been collated, including selective editing, seemingly in a malicious attempt to falsely associate me with antisemitism. States and organisations which engage politically are legitimately subjects of discussion and criticism. I am confident that a fair process by the Labour Party will reinstate me soon to full membership.”
It is not believed that Haringey Council itself has taken any action against Cllr Tucker, despite having adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Something is rotten in the London Borough of Haringey. This one Labour-dominated local authority has seen a Council Leader step down in protest at Labour’s antisemitism, another councillor withdraw as a parliamentary candidate over antisemitism, two further councillors suspended by the Labour Party over antisemitism, and Jewish councillors complain of being the targets of antisemitism or having their identity give rise to prejudice by fellow local Party members.
“Under previous leadership, Haringey adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism. Not only must Labour investigate the local Party in the borough, but the Council itself must now launch its own investigations and take action against the offenders. This disgraceful state of affairs is totally unacceptable.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism recently lodged a complaint against Mr Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
