McDonnell insists Labour politicians are protected after a Jewish MP is given a police guard at her own party conference after receiving threats in the wake of the anti-Semitism row
- Labour MP Luciana Berger has got police protection for the party conference
- She has been targeted by abuse for speaking out over the anti-Semitism crisis
- John McDonnell and Barry Gardiner both insisted Labour is protecting its MPs
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Labour today insisted they are doing everything they can to protect their politicians after a Jewish MP was given a police guard at her own party conference.
Luciana Berger is being accompanied by a protection officer in Liverpool after receiving abuse for speaking out against Jeremy Corbyn and the anti-Semitism row.
It is highly unusual for a backbencher to be given the extra security, which is usually only given to ministers who are terror targets.
Challenged about it, shadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted the party is facing up to the threats after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a right-wing fanatic in June 2016 – days before the EU referendum.
Luciana Berger (pictured yesterday at Labour Party conference in Liverpool today where she was accompanied by police protection) said that Jeremy Corbyn must finally ‘drain the swamp’ of racists in his party
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (pictured at Labour Party conference in Liverpool today) said that Labour is making sure that all of their MPs are protected from any threat
Luciana Berger ( pictured yesterday at the fringe event) warned that there are many Jews in Britain today who do not feel safe because of the anti-Semitism crisis
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Mr McDonnell told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme: ‘We’re making sure everyone’s really protected from any threat.
‘Remember the last threat, Jo Cox died as a result of a member of the far-right killing her, murdering her.
‘We’ve had another of our MPs had to go to court to protect herself from, who, a far-right activist.’
Yesterday, Ms Berger spoke out about the vile abuse she is receiving from people on the left claiming to be Labour and Jeremy Corbyn supporters.
She urged her leader to ‘drain the swamp’ and finally rot out the racists who are lurking in thew party.
Labour approves changes which could trigger wave of deselections
Labour activists have waved through sweeping changes to the party rulebook that could trigger waves of deselection of Jeremy Corbyn’s critics.
Despite warnings it would ‘purge’ Labour of MPs from the Blairite tradition that won three elections, delegates in Liverpool slashed the number of local members needed to trigger a challenge to a sitting MP.
They voted 65 per cent to 35 per cent in favour of measures that will allow just a third of members in a constituency to win a ‘trigger ballot’. Current rules say a majority of local members must demand a new contest.
Members rejected a further rule change intended at making it easier for left wing candidates to enter the race to replace Mr Corbyn whenever he goes.
Left-wing activists said it was a ‘meagre’ set of reforms that failed to fully address the concerns of those who want to introduce more democracy into internal party fights.
Barry Gardiner, shadow international trade secretary, also insisted that Labour is ‘vigilant’ against the threats.
He old a fringe meeting in Liverpool hosted by PoliticsHome: ‘Jo Cox was murdered by a right-wing extremist … we have to keep our MPs safe, we have to keep all our party members safe and it’s right that a detailed officer was provided to keep Luciana safe.
‘I want to live in a society where public figures don’t have to have that sort of protection and I certainly don’t want them to have to have that sort of protection because of their religion.
‘We all understand that in public life if you express views that some people don’t like, then you are open to various forms of attack and some people on the extremes will attack you physically and therefore it’s right that we are all vigilant.
‘But to get to a state where a detailed officer is required for an MP I think that is a terrible tragedy. This should not in any way be acceptable.’
Yesterday, Labour MPs and Jewish leaders lined up to tear into Jeremy Corbyn for failing to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis at a highly charged fringe meeting.
Ms Berger said the party must finally root out the racism – warning that ‘enough is enough’ and Mr Corbyn must take action.
They spoke out hours after the Labour leader appeared on TV where he refused to say sorry as he was confronted with a litany of examples of alleged anti-Semitism.
Ms Berger told the packed crowd that Jews are experiencing a growing wave of attacks and abuse – and warned ‘there are Jews in this country who do not feel safe’.
She said: ‘This year, more than ever, we have experienced attacks from the left – from people who claim they share our values, who wear the same rosette as us.’
She added: ‘What maters now is draining the swamp. We need to see the Labour Party step up the investigations into complaints of anti-Semitism and get a faster, fairer, more transparent system of internal party justice.
‘The party’s new general secretary said this is her top priority and it would be dealt with by July. We are now in September and there is still that backlog.’
She also took a swipe at the ‘utterly shameful’ bid by Mr Corbyn to water down the definition of anti-Semitism used by the party to discipline its members.
Labour MP Stella Creasy told the Jewish Labour Movement event that the racism must be confronted and urgently rooted out.
She said: ‘Nazism doesn’t turn up fully formed wearing black shiny boots and black shirts and goosestepping.
‘It appears every single day, slowly but surely as the debate is turned. It builds up bit by bit, it gains little by little, it paints itself as the victim – punching up.
‘It paints its victims as its enemies, as traitors, as the other – dual loyalties. It rejects those norms and conventions on anti-Semitism that we have worked so hard to defend.’
Labour MP Ian Austin told the rally: ‘Let’s have no more of this offensive nonsense that people like me are only complaining about these issues to undermine Jeremy Corbyn, that it has been weaponised to undermine him.’
He added: ‘The truth about Jeremy is that he is much angrier with the people complaining about anti-Semitism than he is with the people responsible for it.’
And Rosie Duffield, a Labour MP who was threatened with a motion of censure after joining a rally against anti-Semitism in Parliament Square earlier this year, suggested those behind anti-Semitic abuse should be sent on an education trip to Auschwitz.
They unleashed their fury hours after Mr Corbyn appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show in which he was confronted by a series of allegations of anti-Semitism.
In the bruising interview as Labour conference kicked off in Liverpool, Marr challenged Mr Corbyn on how he had failed to ‘notice’ that a mural he defended was an anti-Semitic trope.
He was also braced on his jibe about some ‘British Zionists’ not understanding ‘English irony’, and his attendance at a ceremony in Tunisia honouring terrorists linked to the Munich massacre.
But pressed to apologise to the Jewish community, Mr Corbyn merely insisted that he was ‘anti-racist’ and said Labour was ‘welcoming’ to all communities.
Mr Corbyn said he had been ‘hurt’ that veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge and former chief Rabbi Lord Sacks had branded him personally an anti-Semite.
Invited by Marr to look down the lens of the camera and personally apologise to the Jewish community for the anti-Semitism crisis, Mr Corbyn replied: ‘I’ll simply say this – I am an anti-racist and will die an anti-racist.
‘Anti-Semitism is a scourge in any society and I will oppose it all my life and I will continue to oppose it all my life.’
Timeline of anti-Semitic scandals which have erupted under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership
Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) has been accused of failing to tackle the racism among his supporters
The anti-Semitism scandal has dogged Labour since Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader in 2015.
Here is a timeline of the controversies:
April 2016:
Labour MP Naz Shah is suspended for anti-Semitic posts – including one in which she appeared to endorse calls for Israelis to be deported to the US.
She apologised and was given a formal warning.
Ken Livingstone goes on the radio to defend Ms Shah – but sparks fresh controversy by claiming that Hitler supported Zionism.
He is suspended by Labour but refuses to apologise and has repeated the claim many times.
He eventually quits Labour two years later, saying his suspension has become a distraction.
June 2016:
A two-month inquiry by civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti finds that Labour is not overrun by anti-Semitism.
But the launch is overshadowed when Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth flees it in tears after being accused by Corbyn supporter Marc Wadsworth of colluding with the press.
Critics accuse the report of being a whitewash and Ms Chakrabarti is widely criticised for accepting a peerage from Jeremy Corbyn shortly afterwards.
October 2016:
The Home Affairs Select Committee says Labour is guilty of incompetence over its handling of anti-Semitism and of creating a safe space for people with ‘vile attitudes towards Jewish people’.
March 2018:
It is revealed that Jeremy Corbyn defended an artist who painted an anti-Semitic mural and said the offensive art should be removed.
He apologises saying he did not properly look at the picture before he made the post.
Jewish leaders take the unprecedented step of holding a demonstration outside Parliament protesting Mr Corbyn’s failure to tackle anti-Semitism.
Several Labour MPs address the crowds.
April 2018:
Marc Wadsworth is expelled from Labour after being accused of anti-Semitism.
Meanwhile, Labour Jewish MPs tell of the anti-Semitic abuse they have suffered in a powerful parliamentary debate – and round on their leader for failing to tackle it.
July 2018:
The Labour leadership sparks fresh anger by failing to fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism
Peter Willsman, a strong ally of Jeremy Corbyn, is secretly taped ranting that Jewish ‘Trump fanatics’ invented the anti-Semitism storm engulfing Labour.
In an angry diatribe at a meeting of Labour’s ruling executive committee, he said he was ‘amazed’ there was evidence party members hated Jews.
He claimed ‘some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump – they are Trump fanatics’ before shouting: ‘So I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up duff information without any evidence at all.’
August 2018:
Jeremy Corbyn issues a video insisting he is committed to tackling the racism – but it is panned by Jewish leaders.
Corbynistas mount a social media campaign to get deputy Labour leader Tom Watson to quit after he criticises the party’s handling of anti-Semitism.
The Daily Mail exclusively publishes photos of Jeremy Corbyn holding a wreath at a ceremony where a terrorist linked to the Munich massacre was honoured.
The Labour leader insists he was there to honour others killed – but faces fresh calls to quit over the scandal.
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