Thread: 1/ I was a member of the same Facebook group (Labour Party Compliance: Suspensions Expulsions Rejections Co-Op) as Maria Carroll for a while, though I had no role in running it.
2/ The LPC group started amid the mass suspensions of the 2016 leadership contest when many members were disenfranchised without explanation. You had to submit data protection requests to find out what you were accused of and it created an atmosphere of confusion and paranoia.
3/ The group's initial emphasis was on advising suspended members about their rights, which is a laudable aim in the labour movement. Many of the exclusions were unrelated to antisemitism but that became the dominant theme and some extremely unsavoury types joined the group.
4/ As a union rep, I advise members in trouble regardless of their alleged offence, though I have a duty to tell them it straight if I find they actually have committed misconduct. I don't believe advice of that type constitutes coaching people how to get away with wrongdoing.
5/ A guy joined another Facebook group that I was in and asked for advice on responding to allegations. I advised that, if he'd made mistakes on social media, it was best to acknowledge them, explain mitigating circumstances, provide evidence of change and show contrition.
6/ His name was Roy Smart and another member pointed out that he had promoted Holocaust denial, which I hadn't realised when commenting. I agreed that went way beyond what was acceptable for a Labour member and then Smart left the group complaining about being judged by people.
7/ David Collier obtained my comments and tweeted that I'd been coaching Smart how to get away with Holocaust denial. I accept now that it could have looked that way, but I hadn't seen Smart's HD posts and intended to encourage him to reflect upon his actions, not to fake regret.
8/ At the time I didn't realise just how hard-set antisemitic conspiracism was in some people's minds and imagined they could be persuaded with reason. But DC's intervention gave me cause to re-evaluate my response to what was happening in the party, and for that I am grateful.
9/ The tone of the LPC group became increasingly conspiratorial and some admins were encouraging people facing antisemitism charges to go down fighting rather than to reflect upon their conduct. In many cases it was quite obvious that they had indeed expressed antisemitic views.
10/ I challenged group members over antisemitism on numerous occasions and recall being supported in that by Maria Carroll, the subject of today's Mail article, which led to some (including Ash Small, Andrew Bryant and TJ Mallon) being ejected.
11/ But the atmosphere became more toxic as some of its admins (but not, to my knowledge, Maria) started to double-down in their denial and minimisation of antisemitism. Some denied encountering any antisemitism in the party and they seemed willing to excuse almost anything.
12/ Explaining to group members why a post was antisemitic and suggesting the person who'd posted it needed to learn more about antisemitism and apologise would lead to accusations of being in the pay of Israel, a Hasbara troll, having a hidden agenda and similar tropes.
13/ It was partly through my membership of the LPC group - and also Labour Against the Witchhunt's equivalent - that I came to realise that antisemitism was a much more serious problem in the party than I had originally believed.
14/ I discussed these concerns with Maria Carroll as she too was worried about the direction the group had taken and the growth of antisemitic conspiracism among the wider party membership.
15/ I was ejected from the LPC group without explanation but it followed exchanges where other admins (not Maria Carroll) had clashed with me and defended blatantly antisemitic views as supposedly anti-Zionist. I had already parted company with Labour Against the Witchhunt.
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