John McDonnell falsely claims Ian Austin’s criticism of Labour antisemitism and Jeremy Corbyn was because he’s “employed by the Tories”

Campaign Against Antisemitism is disgusted at suggestions by Labour frontbencher John McDonnell that Ian Austin, who quit the Labour Party over antisemitism and recently gave a series of interviews criticising the Labour leader over antisemitism and extremism, did so because he is “employed by the Tories”.

Mr Austin, who is the adopted son of a Holocaust survivor and an honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism, is a Government trade envoy to Israel, a cross-party, unpaid, voluntary position unconnected to the Conservative Party. Last week he gave a series of interviews in which he claimed that Labour is “poisoned by anti-Jewish racism”.

Mr McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “What else do you expect him to do in an election campaign when employed by the Tories? You speak on behalf of the Tories. That’s what this was about this morning.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism deplores the suggestion that Mr Austin’s concerns about antisemitism in the Labour Party are motivated by greed or desire for money.

On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

In recent months, thirteen MPs and three peers have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.

Over 57,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”