Serious questions for Labour Party after suspension lifted for two Haringey councillors with history of inflammatory comments
Serious questions are being raised over the Labour Party’s commitment to fighting antisemitism after two local councillors with histories of inflammatory comments have been readmitted to the Party.
Cllr Noah Tucker of Haringey was exposed last year as having told Tottenham’s Constituency Labour Party to drop a “zero-tolerance” clause from an antisemitism motion that it was debating, and Cllr Tucker is reported to have suggested that Israel was somehow to blame for the racist killing of George Floyd, which is a popular antisemitic conspiracy theory. He has also defended the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson.
It was also reported by On London that Cllr Tucker may have opined on a group chat that “The purging will be outsourced to people nominated by the BoD,” by which he meant suspensions of Labour members over antisemitism will be “outsourced” to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a Jewish community charity. He reportedly also lamented the failure of the pro-Corbyn pressure group Momentum to “oppose the centrists on Brexit and antisemitism.” Other concerning pronouncements were also reported.
Meanwhile, Cllr Preston Tabois, was reported by Guido Fawkes to have appeared to endorse the despicable notion that Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in some masterplan to create the State of Israel, and other antisemitic conspiracy theories. Cllr Tabois was also slated to be a Labour candidate for the London Assembly.
Council Leader Ejiofor Joseph reportedly confirmed, in a letter to the council’s Labour group, that the two notorious councillors had served their suspension and had been “readmitted as members of our Labour group”.
It is not believed that Haringey Council itself has taken any action against either councillor, despite having adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.
Both councillors have denied that they are antisemitic, with Cllr Tucker claiming to have been selectively quoted as part of a malicious smear campaign against him.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Labour’s commitment to a zero-tolerance fight against antisemitism is in real doubt after the readmission of these two councillors. One opposed the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism and is reported to have promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories, and the other is claimed to have suggested that the Holocaust was a fabricated “masterplan” to justify the creation of the State of Israel. A six-month suspension with no indication of an investigation, an outcome or a sufficient sanction indicates that despite Sir Kier Starmer’s bold promises, Labour remains unchanged when it comes to anti-Jewish racism.”
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
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.
