Board of Deputies: Positive signs from Corbyn, but some way to go yet

It would be fair to say that Tuesday’s meeting between the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council, Jeremy Corbyn and his team did not go as well as hoped. Despite almost a month’s notice about the Jewish community’s requests, the leader’s team delivered a lot of warm words but little in the way of actions. However, in recent days there has begun to be some positive movement. So where are we now, and where do we need to get to? 

Leadership

We have long been asking that, given the gravity of the issue, Jeremy himself lead the efforts to tackle antisemitism. In the past, Jeremy has confined himself to vague statements about antisemitism and not been prepared to call out specific incidents. Perhaps this week, we have begun to see a change.

On Tuesday, in his Evening Standard article, Jeremy offered some of his strongest words on the matter yet, and this is certainly welcome. We have also asked the leader to start calling out powerful figures who undermine such efforts. After his past comments describing the problem as “mood music” – and his New Statesman piece on Wednesday – Unite leader Len McCluskey was a prime candidate for this. On Thursday, Jeremy distanced himself from Mr McCluskey’s comments. These are positive changes and it is to be hoped that this clear stance continues.

Antisemitism Disciplinary Cases

Everyone around the table on Tuesday was agreed that the disciplinary process was broken and that cases were taking too long to process. This Saturday, it will be two years since Ken Livingstone’s outrageous, patently false and subsequently oft-repeated claim that through his desire to ethnically cleanse the Third Reich of Jews, Hitler “was supporting Zionism”, and he still remains suspended and has not been expelled. However, there was a clear disagreement about the solution.

It is good that the leadership has now set a target of our next meeting in late July to clear the backlog of cases (they were not so explicit about this on Tuesday), and that new general secretary has been hiring additional lawyers to help with the backlog of cases. However, given the revelations about former national executive committee disputes panel chair Christine Shawcroft’s attempts to seek clemency to someone who had shared Holocaust denial material, and a significant number of cases where the rulings have been extremely generous towards people who have made explicitly antisemitic comments, the whole process needs to be opened up to greater transparency. Our suggestion of an independent ombudsman was turned down, with no alternative suggestion offered. We still need to see movement on this point. 

Relations with Suspended Members

During these long suspensions, what does not reassure people is when prominent Labour figures show support to people who have been barred for antisemitism, as this suggests that what they are accused of is a small matter, and therefore undermines Jeremy Corbyn’s claim to have ‘zero tolerance’ for antisemitism.

At the beginning of the week it seemed that MP Chris Williamson was determined to share a platform on Tuesday with Jackie Walker, who remains suspended from Labour after having falsely claimed that Jews were the “chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade” and attacking Holocaust Memorial Day. There is no doubt that, amidst the current antisemitism furore, such actions would bring the party into disrepute, and there would be a serious case for removing the party whip.

However, Labour HQ has now confirmed that Ms Walker will not attend the same event as Mr Williamson. If true, this could be a welcome sign that the leadership will no longer tolerate the culture of denial and disbelief that is facilitating much of the antisemitism Jews are experiencing from some Labour members. 

Education

Crucial to stopping antisemitism is spotting antisemitism, and to spot antisemitism there is need for a shared definition. For the Jewish community, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, with all its examples and clauses, developed by IHRA’s 31 member states, and indeed by the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments and over 130 local authorities, would seem an obvious place to go. Having announced that they were adopting the definition in December 2016, we thought that asking for this to be disseminated among Labour members would be a simple ask.

However, what emerged from the discussion is that Labour is divided on what has and has not been adopted. A leaked letter from former general secretary Iain McNicol suggested that he felt that the NEC had adopted the definition and all of the examples, whereas some in the leader’s office told us this week that they believe it is only the definition, and not the examples, that have been adopted.

In the week of the 25^th anniversary of the Stephen Lawrence murder, it is worth Labour noting the principle that came out of the resultant MacPherson Inquiry – that a racist incident is “any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person”. We will be looking for positive movement on this issue going forward.

Engagement

This week, there was the meeting that happened, and the meeting that was cancelled. Having organised the long-awaited meeting with us, we were shocked to learn that the Mr Corbyn’s team had organised a roundtable with more Jewish organisations for the very next day. We were particularly disappointed to learn that some of the invitees were fringe organisations who wish to obstruct the party’s efforts to tackle antisemitism, which would have pitted Jew against Jew. This was at best an act of (maybe naïve) bad faith, or at worst an attempt to ‘divide and rule’ a minority community.

The outrage in the community meant that all the mainstream Jewish organisations refused to attend, which would have left a very limited roundtable of marginal voices. Very sensibly, the leader’s office cancelled the roundtable. Going forward, if he is to show his seriousness about tackling this problem, Jeremy cannot continue to engage with anyone, Jewish or not, who seeks to obstruct efforts to tackle the problem. He should shun them and tell his supporters to shun them. 

Process

All are clear that the necessary changes cannot be overnight. We need an ongoing process of engagement and monitoring that can give Labour, the Jewish community and wider public the confidence that the issue is being robustly tackled and eventually put to bed.

The Jewish community’s connection with Labour goes back to before the foundation of the Jewish Labour Movement in 1903. We all owe it to each other to get this right.

Gillian Merron is chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. She attended the meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday.