The appointment of Claudia Webbe as the new Chair of Disputes on
the Labour NEC raises serious concerns about the ’s commitment to tackling
antisemitism and its collective capacity to provide an appropriate
and professional disciplinary process, says Labour Against
Antisemitism.
Ms Webbe has previously shown an inability to identify left-wing
antisemitism: in 2005 she publicly defended Ken Livingstone after
he made a series of offensive comments to a Jewish reporter, in
2017 she was responsible for the alarming presence on the Labour
conference floor of figures such as Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, she
recently appeared on the banned Iranian TV channel PressTV, and
earlier this year was part of the NEC faction that appeared to
prefer to send an alleged Holocaust-denier for training rather
than formal suspension.
In private communications with Labour Against Antisemitism she
refused to confirm whether she supported the IHRA definition of
antisemitism, and when pressed counter-accused our group of
racism. Upholding the IHRA working definition of antisemitism is
fundamental and integral to challenging antisemitism in the
.
Euan Philipps, spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism said:
“The appointment of Claudia Webbe as Chair of Disputes –
essentially deciding which cases merit expulsion and which do not
– is a disgraceful move that does nothing to suggest Labour is
serious about dealing with its antisemitism crisis.
has repeatedly promised that
he is committed to tackling antisemitism in his party, but his
words ring hollow with this appointment. He is failing to deal
with this situation and is now further away from winning over the
trust of the Jewish community than he has ever been – but the
reality is that without their support there will be no Labour
government.”
