Britain’s leading Jewish organisation has called on Jeremy Corbyn to sack a shadow minister who claimed accusations of antisemitism within the party were a “dirty lowdown trick” being used for “political ends”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews spoke out after Chris Williamson told The Guardian that Mr Corbyn’s political opponents were using claims of antisemitism to try and hurt the Labour leader.
“I’m not saying it never ever happens but it is a really dirty, lowdown trick, particularly the antisemitism smears,” the shadow fire minister said yesterday.
The Board’s vice president, Marie van der Zyl, said Labour should consider sacking Mr Williamson, who also provoked controversy last week when he said it would be “worth consulting” on introducing women-only train carriages in an attempt to tackle sex attacks.
“The Jewish community would expect a Labour MP and shadow minister like Chris Williamson to show solidarity with those suffering racism within his own party rather than blaming the victims,” Ms van der Zyl said.
“After a second failure on equalities issues in a week, the Labour leadership should consider whether Williamson is a suitable person to serve as a front-bench spokesperson.”
