Labour Party MP, Dan Carden, Shadow International Development Secretary, reportedly changed lyrics of Beatles song “Hey Jude” to “Hey Jews”

Labour Party MP, Dan Carden, the Shadow International Development Secretary, reportedly changed the lyrics of the iconic Beatles song “Hey Jude” to “Hey Jews” on a late-night bus journey last year.

BuzzFeed News revealed that Mr Carden, the MP for Liverpool Walton, who was a Junior Shadow Minister at the time, allegedly repeatedly sang the chorus of “Hey Jude”, replacing the word “Jude” with “Jews” while on a “raucous” private bus trip back to London from Cheltenham Festival on the evening of Thursday 15th March 2018. When the chorus reached the word “Jude”, Mr Carden reportedly chanted at the top of his voice: “Jews, Jews, Jews.”

Alex Wickham, the Senior Political Correspondent at BuzzFeed News, was seated behind Mr Carden on the bus trip. He said that other Labour MPs and MPs from other parties were also on the bus.

The Sunday Times has reportedly obtained WhatsApp messages that appear to corroborate claims he sang “Hey Jews.”

Mr Carden’s spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that he would never “intentionally” engage in racist or antisemitic behaviour.

Jeremy Corbyn was asked about the incident on a visit to Leeds. He said: “Dan Carden has emphatically denied that. It is an awful story and if it’s true it is utterly and totally unacceptable. I am looking into it.”

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.”