A notorious academic at the University of Bristol is among numerous far-left activists to attack Sir Keir Starmer over “Zionist money” behind his leadership campaign.
Labour members and far-left activists have criticised the new Labour Leader following the revelation that Jewish philanthropist Sir Trevor Chinn donated £50,000 to his leadership bid. One activist claimed that Sir Keir had been “bought” and was “in the pocket of the Israel lobby”, adding that “Our Leader, Shadow Foreign Sec and Shadow Home Secretary all in the pocket of Israel.” Sir Trevor also made a donation to the campaign of Lisa Nandy, the new Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Defending himself against accusations of antisemitism, the activist said: “Let’s be clear. I am not suggesting these MPs are being controlled by Israel or that Israel is ‘pulling the strings’. Trevor Chinn is a well known pro-Israel lobbyist so it’s fair to assume that his donations have bought influence.”
It is understood that a complaint has been submitted to the Labour Party.
Activist Gillian Lazarus has also uncovered numerous similar themes in Facebook groups populated by far-left Labour activists.
But now a prominent and notorious lecturer, Prof. David Miller, has also intervened, reportedly claiming that, because Sir Keir is “in receipt of money from the Zionist movement,” he is “obviously not going to” conduct “a proper investigation” into the leaked Labour report into the handling of antisemitism cases at Party headquarters. The remarks were apparently made after he took part in an online broadcast with the disgraced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson.
Prof. Miller also talked about what he referred to as the “witch hunt” against Labour members accused of antisemitism, appearing alongside controversial activists Asa Winstanley and Kerry-Anne Mendoza, the editor of The Canary, which is presently under investigation by the Government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism.
Prof. Miller, a sociology lecturer, has a history of spouting conspiracy theories about Zionism and conspiracies involving various Jewish community organisations and figures that has reportedly discomfited his Jewish students. The University of Bristol has failed to take action against him.
On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
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.
