Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey says he is “furious” that Greta Sidhu-Robb was shortlisted as Party candidate and says vetting system is “completely flawed”

The new Leader of the Liberal Democrats has said that the Party’s vetting process is “completely flawed” after a candidate was shortlisted despite a past antisemitism scandal.

Sir Ed Davey made the comments in an event with Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel and a Jewish communal organisation at the Party’s annual conference, and was referencing the recent revelation that Greta Sidhu-Robb, who was recently shortlisted as a Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoralty, had made antisemitic comments when she was a Conservative candidate in the 1997 General Election (she apologised for the comments at the time and again more recently when they re-emerged).

When the historic comments re-emerged, Sir Ed said that “I was furious, furious. The vetting system was completely flawed – at least it was in this case. I am determined we don’t make that mistake again. This particular individual had also said two other things, unrelated to antisemitism, that should have been found by the vetting process. It cannot happen again. People know my feelings.”

The new Leader also reiterated his Party’s support for the International Definition of Antisemitism and argued that it should be included in any new online harms legislation.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has called for the Government to bring forward its Online Harms Bill immediately, and a parliamentary petition in support of this position can be signed here.

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.