Labour frontbencher, Laura Pidcock, reportedly uses words from Jesus Christ’s crucifixion to describe critics of Jeremy Corbyn at her campaign launch
Laura Pidcock, the Labour Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights, who is tipped to become Labour’s new Deputy Leader, reportedly used words from Jesus Christ’s crucifixion to describe critics of Jeremy Corbyn at her campaign launch.
Ms Pidcock, who was elected the MP for North West Durham in 2017, said: “I know we are on the path towards justice. And I know because Jeremy Corbyn might become PM they will throw everything at us. They will say some really hurtful things. Forgive them. For they know not what they do.”
Ms Pidcock’s final sentence is a line spoken by Jesus before he was crucified, according to the New Testament, and some have observed that it has also been used to stir up religious hatred against Jews in bygone centuries.
Ms Pidcock’s spokesperson rejected these criticisms and told the JC: “Laura said a well known and often quoted verse from the bible at her campaign launch. Any suggestion that her doing so was antisemitic is absurd and defamatory.”
The suggestion that condemnations of Mr Corbyn for his character or views — including his antisemitism — might be neutralised in this fashion is concerning.
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.”