Last week, after @UKLabour failed to throw out its new code of practice on antisemitism, rumours swelled that #JC9 candidate @PeterWillsman had said some very intemperate things about those who had raised genuine concerns. There is now audio... thejc.com/news/uk-news/b…
Such quotes in the originally reported included “What the rabbis have said about antisemitism in the Labour Party is simply false”... “In 50 years I have never seen any antisemitism in the Labour Party”...
Another quote suggested he said: “Some of these people in the Jewish community are Trump fanatics, so I’ll take no lectures from them.”...
On paper this is all a little concerning. With audio, its downright disgraceful...
Many members of the NEC attended that meeting, including the Leader and General Secretary. At two points on the audio, the NEC Chair, Andy Kerr is heard to ask Willsman to sit down...
I’ve seen some pretty hairy stuff inside Labour Party meetings, but if I were in that room subjected to that kind of language, tone and volume, I’d be pretty intimidated. Perhaps this explains why so few NEC members have spoken out...
Or for that matter why so many of the candidates standing on the same #JC9 slate as Willsman (their hashtag, not mine), or @CLPD_Labour have failed to repudiated his outburst...
Following a complaint about his behaviour, the General Secretary issued a letter in which it was promised that the complaints team would seek to “ascertain what was said with a view to determining whether to open a formal investigation of his conduct”...
Given that there were 40+ people in the room, the author of the letter (and a recorder), it would seem it wouldn’t take too much time to conclude that investigation...
In that letter, the General Secretary reproduces an “apology” in which Willsman suggests that “Not all of what I said has been accurately reported”. This is true. It’s much worse. No one reported that he was standing up and yelling...
They didn’t report that he suggested people are “falsifying social media very easily” to presumably invent instances of antisemitism *that do actually exist*...
Imagine for one second what would happen if someone on the NEC told @LabourBAME, @LGBTLabour or @LabourWomensNet that their complaints about racism, homophobia or misogyny were the product of photoshop...
Note the limited proposition: “Some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump.” Followed by the blanket smear: “They are Trump fanatics, and all the rest of it”...
So having said we are all Trump supporters and making things up, he then goes on to say that the NEC should “ask the 70 rabbis, ‘Where is your evidence of severe and widespread antisemitism in this Party’”...
So rather than acknowledge an historic event in which rabbis across the political and denominational divides come together to issue a joint statement of genuine concern, he derides it as a malicious smear. Rabbis are now responsible for inventing antisemitism...
He then challenges the NEC: “And let me ask you, how many people in this room have seen antisemitism in the Labour Party?” Kol Hakavod to the two NEC members who put up their hands...
After seeing those hands in the air, he asks the question again with the inflection of someone who is in disbelief, before telling everyone “I’ve certainly never seen it”...
He must never have attended a Disputes Panel meeting. Because if he had, the idea that the cases the NEC has referred to the NCC on the basis of antisemitism must be a figment of our collective imagination. We can always check the minutes of course...
Or there are no circumstances under which Willsman ever thinks antisemitism could take place. Which given he is one of the decision makers, is really pretty concerning...
Consider why then, in the face of the suggested disciplinary action against @margarethodge and @IanAustinMP, Pete Willsman gets given an immediate platform to offer an apology as a means to put a lid on the issue...
Also consider what it says about the Party when a member of its governing board is given a free pass to behave like this, unchallenged, without rebuke...
Further consider how meaningful a consultation on codes of antisemitism can be if the ultimate decision makers behave like this...
Then consider that in all likelihood, Pete Willsman will probably be re-elected to the NEC. Time for good people from all parts of the Party to speak up, and speak out on this one.
