Antisemitism in Political Parties

Paul Flynn

1987-2019: Member of Parliament for Newport West

Incidents

On 1st December 2011, it was reported that Mr Flynn had questioned whether the UK’s ambassador to Israel should be Jewish, for fear that he might “go native” and have “divided loyalties”. He suggested that the post should go to “someone with roots in the UK”.
On 30th April 2016, Mr Flynn tweeted: “Letter from prominent Jews cools hysteria with truth that any ‘antisemitism’ in the Labour Party is ‘tiny and trivial’ — malicious hyperbole.”
The tweet was in relation to a letter published in The Guardian the previous day in which the signatories stated: “We do not accept that antisemitism is ‘rife’ in the Labour party. Of the examples that have been repeated in the media, many have been reported inaccurately, some are trivial, and a very few may be genuine examples of antisemitism. The tiny number of cases of real antisemitism need to be dealt with, but we are proud that the Labour party historically has been in the forefront of the fight against all forms of racism.” The list of signatories included numerous individuals who are associated with the so-called Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), whose purpose is to provide an ostensibly Jewish voice in support of the most extreme elements on the Labour left, which camouflage themselves as ‘anti-Zionists’. It was also signed by Tony Greenstein, a founder of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign who has been expelled from the Labour Party over his abusive social media activity, including repeatedly referring to various Jews as “Zios”.
On 30th April 2016, Mr Flynn republished the text of the letter above on his website, under the title “The truth on malicious Tory hyperbole”.
On 3rd May 2016, it was reported that Mr Flynn had written to inform a constituent that concerns about antisemitism within the Labour Party were “smear stories” which were “distorted”, “exaggerated” and “wholly untrue”.
On 11th May 2016, Mr Flynn published a blog post, in which he described accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party as “not substantiated and created by malicious anti-Labour forces”, and arguing that: “We must not repeat the error [of the expenses scandal] by doing our enemies’ work through exaggerating a problem that 80 Jewish members of our party described as ‘tiny and trivial’”.
On 13th May 2016, Mr Flynn added in a comment on the above post that he was “Looking forward to [a] thorough and swift review that will put this witch hunt into its proper minor perspective.”
On 13th June 2017, he is reported to have blocked a constituent on Facebook who raised concerns about antisemitism. In his response to questioning about his actions, he made clear that he regarded accusations of antisemitism within the Labour Party to be “deeply insulting” and “wildy untrue”, and that this was his reason for blocking those making such accusations.

Analysis

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis is that Mr Flynn’s actions and statements amount to breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism and qualify as antisemitic discourse according to our methodology.

By suggesting that the UK’s ambassador to Israel should not be Jewish lest they have “divided loyalties” [1], he was “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.”

By attributing accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party to “malicious Tory hyperbole” [3], Mr Flynn was advancing an antisemitic trope which has gained currency in left-wing discourse which allows the views and concerns of Jewish people not only to be dismissed, but which also seeks to demonise them by association with political groups already demonised on the left, either by employing the generalised term ‘right-wing’, or by explicitly linking them with the Conservative Party, which is often associated with the notion of ‘evil’ in left-wing discourse.

Mr Flynn’s comments necessarily include the Jewish groups and individuals who have been prominent among those who have claimed there is antisemitism in the Labour Party. Therefore, by characterising accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party as “hysteria” and “malicious [Tory] hyperbole” [2], [3]; as “smear stories” which were “distorted”, “exaggerated” and “wholly untrue” [4]; as a “witch hunt” [6]; as the work of “malicious anti-Labour forces” [5]; and by refusing to listen to those bringing their concerns about the situation to him on the basis that they were “wildly untrue”[7], he was deploying the so-called ‘Livingstone Formulation’, by accusing Jews who cite evidence of antisemitism of lying, conspiring or having deceitful motives in doing so, when there is clear evidence that there have been breaches of the International Definition of Antisemitism. This constitutes “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective…”

Furthermore, we note that, on 26th March 2018, in a published response to complaints of antisemitism by Jewish community charities, Jeremy Corbyn MP stated: “I recognise that anti-Semitism [sic] has surfaced within the Labour Party, and has too often been dismissed as simply a matter of a few bad apples.” On 24th April 2018, in an article published in the Evening Standard, Mr Corbyn stated: “We must strive to understand why anti-Semitism [sic] has surfaced in our party…”, and “when members of Jewish communities express genuine anxieties we must recognise them as we would those of any other community. Their concerns are not ‘smears’.”

Outcome

On 7th December 2011, it was reported that Mr Flynn had apologised for his remarks regarding the UK’s ambassador, stating that the criticism of them “was fair” and that he understood “why offence was given”. He had reportedly been spoken to by the Labour Party’s chief whip.

However, on 13th April 2012, it was reported that he had said of the accusation of antisemitism which resulted from his comments and his subsequent apology: “I didn’t go on television, I didn’t deny it, on the grounds that I was feeding the beast. I eventually apologised because it was getting so big that nice, elderly people I know were asking me if it was true, so I had to climb back and say it could have been misinterpreted. It was just outrageous, the untrue accusation.”

On 1st July 2016, it was reported that Mr Flynn had been appointed to Labour’s front bench as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.

On 4th July 2016, Mr Flynn was defended by Jeremy Corbyn, who was giving evidence to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. In response to a question, Mr Corbyn said: “I don’t think Paul Flynn is in any way antisemitic or in any way racist. He made those [2011] remarks in the context of someone’s appointment as an ambassador because of issues that he thought that ambassador had. I do not accept that Paul Flynn is in any form a racist. He is a good man and he represents his area well.”

In September 2017, Campaign Against Antisemitism put this matter to Mr Flynn, who sent us the following statement: “This a dead issue. Raising it again is only the feeding [sic] those seeking controversy for their own ends. There are at 50 [sic] current issues of more importance that I would be happy to discuss.”

Mr Flynn died on 17th February 2019.

We do not know whether disciplinary action was ever taken by the Labour Party against Mr Flynn, and at the time of writing, on 18th September 2020, we have no record of any. However, the circumstances and outcomes of any such action would remain unknown, owing to the conditions of secrecy imposed by Baroness Chakrabarti’s report on antisemitism in the Labour Party.

Rating

Campaign Against Antisemitism has rated the Party’s handling of this matter as “bad”. Our rating system is explained in our methodology. This case was last updated on 18th September 2020.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has rated the Party’s handling of this matter as “unsatisfactory”. Our rating system is explained in our methodology. This case was last updated on 1st Monthember 2019.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has rated the Party’s handling of this matter as “good”. Our rating system is explained in our methodology. This case was last updated on 1st Monthember 2019.

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