Controversial councillor who joked about “Jew process” and was expelled from Labour Party now joins Greens
A controversial councillor infamous for joking about “Jew process” and who was expelled from the Labour Party has now been welcomed to the Green Party.
Jo Bird, who re-joined the Labour Party in 2015 when Jeremy Corbyn was running for the Party’s leadership, has a long history of controversy relating to Jews, including renaming ‘due process’ in the Labour Party as “Jew process”, for which she was suspended; supporting the expelled Labour activist Marc Wadsworth, who was thrown out of the Party after a confrontation with Jewish then-MP Ruth Smeeth; and worrying about the “privileging of racism against Jews, over and above — as more worthy of resources than other forms of racism.”
Elected to Wirral Council in August 2018, Cllr Bird is a member of Jewish Voice for Labour, the antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation, and she has described Labour’s institutional antisemitism as based on mere “accusations, witch-huntery and allegations without evidence”.
Cllr Bird appears to have been expelled from the Labour Party for her association with the proscribed antisemitism-denial group, Labour Against the Witchhunt. Cllr Bird said on Facebook: “I’m delighted to say that the Labour Party have expelled me today. They say its [sic] for speaking at a meeting (more than three years ago) and signing a petition (early 2020) – organised by Labour Against the Witchthunt, which they banned only four months ago. I’m not free from the Labour Party’s hostile environment, where Jewish people like me are 31 times more likely to be investigated for talking about the racism we face.” She concluded by stating that “this racist Labour party is so different to the Party I joined in 2015. The Labour Party is dying as a vehicle for social justice.”
Cllr Pat Cleary, who leads the now six-strong contingent of Green councillors on Wirral Council, said in a statement this week that “hardworking people like Jo are very welcome in the Green Party.”
The move comes just after Campaign Against Antisemitism published new polling that shows that a majority of British Jews believe that the Green Party is too tolerant of antisemitism, making it only the second party, after Labour, to cross that threshold.
Recently, the controversial former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was denied membership of the Green Party, while inflammatory former Deputy Leader, Shahrar Ali, was dropped as the Party’s Spokesperson for Policing and Domestic Safety, but not over allegations of antisemitism, which have dogged him in the past.
Campaign Against Antisemitism has extensively documented alleged antisemitism among officers of the Green Party of England and Wales, including the Party’s former Equalities and Diversity Coordinator who now holds the International Coordinator portfolio, on which the Green Party has failed to act.
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.
