Veteran MP Frank Field has resigned the Labour whip, describing the party as a “force for antisemitism”.
Field, who has represented Birkenhead in NW England for almost 40 years, said in a letter to party chief whip Nick Brown that he could no longer serve the party as the leadership was overseeing an “erosion of our core values”.
In a one page letter Field said: “I am resigning the whip for two principal reasons. The first centres on the latest example of Labour’s leadership becoming a force for antisemitism in British politics. The latest example, from last week, comes after a series of attempts by Jeremy to deny the past statements and actions by him were antisemitic.
Britain fought the Second World War to banish these views from our politics, but that superhuman effort and success is now under huge and sustained internal attack. The leadership is doing nothing substantive to address this erosion of our core values. It saddens me to say that we are increasingly seen as a racist party. This issue alone compels me to resign the whip.”
Field said that he intended to continue representing Birkenhead in Westminster as an Independent.
Field has faced criticism from party members for his voting record on key Government Brexit legislation.
