Euan Philipps, spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism:
‘The figures on Labour cases of antisemitism, released today,
reveal an organisation that is systematically filtering out
reports of anti-Jewish racism across the Labour movement. The
result, showing that only 12 cases out of 673 led to expulsion,
makes a mockery of ’s claims of zero tolerance
and highlights institutional antisemitism within the .
We note that the figures fail to acknowledge the numbers of
members like Jackie Walker who are under long-term suspension.
Furthermore, we question the accuracy of the figure of 433
reports which were not party members. In August 2018 we
contributed to an article in the Sunday Times (‘Labour finds a
way to let off ‘anti-semite’ Corbyn allies’ (05/08/18)) in which
it was revealed how Labour mis-identified party members (such as
Brent Central CLP Secretary and former employee of , Michael Calderbank) in an
apparent effort to help them evade disciplinary action. In anther
example we were informed that sitting Labour councillor Pam
Bromley was also not a member, and she was only
later suspended following media investigation.
Finally, we ask once again what has happened to the 1,200 cases
we have reported since 2016, many of which are not accounted for
here.
Jennie Formby and the Labour establishment are seeking to
obfuscate on the issue of antisemitism when instead they should
be offering clarity, transparency and contrition. This is a
crisis which will not go away without a significant change of
culture and leadership: at the moment it is not fit for purpose.’
