Labour’s Chris Williamson MP looks set to be support act for suspended activist Jackie Walker’s show denying her antisemitism, in defiance of Fiona Onasanya MP who pulled out
Two Labour MPs are currently billed as support acts for a political show by disgraced former Momentum Vice-Chair Jackie Walker, who is currently suspended by the Labour Party over antisemitism allegations. However, one of the MPs has now said that they will not appear.
Ms Walker’s show, The Lynching, is her attempt to put across her side of the story, explaining her views and justifying the comments that have led to her becoming such a controversial figure, such as her appalling lie that Jews were the “chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade”. The show’s tagline is “To oppose Israel is not to be antisemitic”, despite the fact that Israel is not mentioned in any of the comments that led to her being suspended by Labour twice.
According to flyers advertising the show at Peterborough’s Afro Caribbean Millennium Centre, Labour MPs Chris Williamson and Fiona Onasanya were due to speak, but Ms Onasanya has now tweeted: “There have been concerns pertaining to an event in Peterborough on Saturday. For the avoidance of doubt, I am vehemently opposed to antisemitism and was invited to speak out against racism, but will not be attending.”
The other MP, Chris Williamson, is seems more likely to speak though. According to Ms Walker, Mr Williamson has said that Mr Walker’s suspension was “disgraceful”, and he recently attended another event with her and her fellow suspended Labour member Marc Wadsworth. Various social media posts suggest that they are close.
In 2016 we called on the Labour Party to investigate his comments appearing to suggest that “brutal” Israelis were responsible for antisemitism in the UK, but instead he was selected to run for parliament and Jeremy Corbyn has appointed him to the Shadow Cabinet. He has since referred to allegations of antisemitism within the Labour Party as “proxy wars and bulls***”, saying the allegations were just a smear campaign against Mr Corbyn. Campaign Against Antisemitism called on Mr Williamson to apologise for his comments however to date we have not received a response. He has also endorsed an attack on a Labour Councillor who took action against antisemitism.
Mr Williamson is an enduring disgrace whose conduct speaks for itself, but Ms Onasanya also has questions to answer about whether she withdrew from the event when she was caught out, or whether she had been added to the programme through some kind of unfortunate misunderstanding.
Support for someone like Ms Walker should be beyond the pale for Labour MPs in particular, but in the modern Labour Party it seems that anything goes where antisemitism is concerned.
In defiance of Ms Onasanya, who is Peterborough’s MP, it appears that the shameless Mr Williamson will defiantly give Ms Walker his support, knowing that he will suffer no consequences from his Party.
We would like to know why someone who has been suspended from @UKLabour for racism is being supported by two MPs, including Chris Williamson, who was recently found to be a member of the virulently antisemitic Facebook group Palestine Live. #LabourAntisemitism pic.twitter.com/AE2RgHHgtF
— LAAS (@LabourAgainstAS) March 10, 2018
There have been concerns pertaining to an event in Peterborough on Saturday. For the avoidance of doubt, I am vehemently opposed to antisemitism and was invited to speak out against racism, but will not be attending.
— Fiona Onasanya (@Fiona_Onasanya) March 11, 2018