JVL’s Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi’s suspension from Labour Party is inexplicably lifted
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi has claimed that her suspension from the Labour Party has been lifted.
Ms Wimborne-Idrissi is the Media Officer of Jewish Voice for Labour, an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation. She was also previously the Vice-Chair of Chingford and Woodford Green Constituency Labour Party (CLP) before reportedly being removed earlier this year.
She was suspended from the Party, it is believed, following a rebellious meeting of her CLP late last year.
Ms Wimborne-Idrissi reports that a panel of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee has lifted her suspension but given her a “reminder of conduct”, which will remain on her Party record for twelve months. She described this sanction as “explicit threats to keep our heads down and stay in line – simply not acceptable in a party that claims to represent values of democracy, justice and freedom.”
In reality, the reminder of conduct is a slap on the wrist, and we agree with Ms Wimborne-Idrissi that it is an unacceptable outcome to the investigation into her conduct. However, we consider that much more stringent sanctions would have been appropriate for her and Jewish Voice for Labour.
Ms Wimborne-Idrissi reveals that one of the testimonials in her defence was provided by the controversial actress Miriam Margolyes, who has, for example, previously claimed that former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn was “forced” to resign due to “a conspiracy within the Party motivated from Israel”.
Ms Wimborne-Idrissi recently lost the first stage of a libel lawsuit brought by John Ware, the maker of the BBC Panorama documentary “Is Labour Antisemitic”.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Jewish Voice for Labour is an antisemitism-denial group and sham Jewish representative organisation. To give one of its leaders a mere ‘reminder of conduct’ is a slap on the wrist and entirely the wrong message to send to a faction that has no place in the Labour Party if it wants to return to its anti-racist roots.”
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.
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.
