Labour’s likely new general secretary Jennie Formby gave work to Labour member suspended over antisemitism

The frontrunner to become Labour’s new general secretary, Jennie Formby, gave work to a Labour member who was suspended from the party for antisemitic tweets.

Ms. Formby, who is also the south-east regional secretary in Len McCluskey’s Unite union, was the line manager of Vicki Kirby, who was suspended from the Labour Party in 2014 for tweeting that Jews have “big noses”, are responsible for “slaughtering people”, and called Adolf Hitler a “Zionist God”. Ms Kirby twice stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party and was Vice-Chair of its Woking branch.

She also tweeted: “lol we invented Israel when saving them from Hitler who now seems to be their teacher”.

According to reports, Ms Kirby worked as a regional officer at Unite’s south-east regional office in Slough, where Ms Formby is the regional secretary, and it is understood that regional officers report to the regional secretary.

The likelihood of Ms Formby’s appointment as the Labour Party’s new general secretary gives worrying signals about the direction of the party.