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Labour members 'ripping up membership cards' in disgust at Ken Livingstone ruling, say furious MPs

Former London mayor had said he was expecting to be kicked out of party - but disciplinary panel instead re-instated him as a member

Benjamin Kentish

Tuesday 04 April 2017 23:26 BST

Ken Livingstone was accused of anti-Semitism after claiming Adolf Hitler had supported Zionism

Labour MPs have slammed their party’s decision not to expel Ken Livingstone for making comments that were widely interpreted as anti-Semitic.

The former London mayor was let off with only a two-year suspension from holding office, despite a disciplinary panel finding him guilty on three different charges of making comments that were “grossly detrimental” to the Labour Party. He has already served one year, having been suspended for 11 months.

The accusations relate to remarks made in April 2016 in which Mr Livingstone claimed Adolf Hitler had “supported Zionism…before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”.

The Independent understands Mr Livingstone will now be re-instated as a Labour member, having initially been suspended pending an investigation, and will be able to vote in party elections and attend some local meetings.

The decision prompted outrage from a number of MPs.

“This is not a serious sanction for the serious damage that has been done to Labour”, Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North, told The Independent. “It makes a mockery of the claim we take a zero- tolerance approach to anti-Semitism and people who defend anti-Semitism.

“In effect, having accepted that what Ken has done has brought the party into disrepute, he’s been given the equivalent of being banned from being his local branch secretary. That won’t be a great loss to his local party or to Ken.

“Labour MPs are already aware of party members cutting up their membership cards in disgust. My message to Jewish Labour members and supporters is that there are still a majority of decent Labour Party people who are determined to fight to restore Labour’s credibility as a genuine champion of equality."

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

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1/14Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On Israel and Palestine

The simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians; and there’s one stark fact that virtually no one in the British media ever reports, in almost all these conflicts the death toll is usually between 60 and 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. Now, any other country doing that would be accused of war crimes but it’s like we have a double standard about the policies of the Israeli government

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On Antisemitism in the Labour Party

As I’ve said, I’ve never heard anybody say anything antisemitism-Semitic, but there’s been a very well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic. I had to put up with 35 years of this

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On Naz Shah

It’s completely over-the-top and rude, but who am I to denounce anyone with all of that. It was wrong. I don’t think she is antisemitic, it was incredibly rude but I don’t believe she is an antisemite. When the NEC investigation is finished they'll say it was rude and over the top but they won’t find any evidence that she actually hates Jews. We’ve got to investigate all these charges and the context in which they are made. If she is antisemitic like the other three or four members we’ve found who are antisemitic, she’ll be expelled

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On other alleged antisemites in Labour

That is part of the classic antisemitic thing about an ‘international Jewish conspiracy’ – that is the reason we need to have an investigation. I’ve got an open mind. I’ve seen nothing to suggest to me that she is antisemitic. I wouldn’t have supported her if I [thought] she was antisemitic

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On whether what Hitler did was legal, as stated by Naz Shah

That’s a statement of fact – Hitler, I’m sure, passed all those laws that allowed him to do that … it’s history … literally, Hitler was completely mad, he killed six million Jews. She’s not saying it’s legal to kill six million Jews: what they were doing in that country allowed them not just to kill six million Jews, kill all the communists, kill all the leftists like me, my father almost died when a Nazi sub sank his boat. I have no sympathy with Hitler

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On another alleged antisemite in Labour

No, that is, and that’s why she’s been suspended or expelled. What I’ve said is that in 47 years of the party in all the meetings I’ve been in I’ve never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. There are bound to be in a party of half a million people you’ll have a handful of antisemites, you’ll have a handful of racists. You’ve managed to dig out virtually every antisemitic comment that Labour members have made out of half a million people. I’ve never met any of these people. There’s not a problem. You’re talking about a handful of people in a party of half a million people. Jeremy Corbyn has moved rapidly to deal with them

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On Jeremy Corbyn’s response to the allegations

He met with Naz and she agreed she would stand down while the investigation is going on. He called her in to see her. There’s been a huge investigation of virtually everything that anybody put on the internet … many of these people are quite new and recent members of the party that joined in the big influx. 300,000 new people came in

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On his meeting a man accused of antisemitism in London

This is the man who called for Muslims around the world to donate blood after the attacks of 9/11 when he came to London I went with him to the Regent’s Park mosque where he said no man should hit a woman and you should not discriminate against homosexuals. So I can’t equate what I heard him say… he made no antisemitic statement while he was here in London. I don’t investigate people. I’ve simply said what I believe to be true which is that Naz was not antisemitic. She was completely over the top, very rude, but that does not make her an antisemite

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On John Mann’s comments

He went completely over the top. I was actually doing a radio interview at the time that he was bellowing that I’m a racist antisemite in my ear. I’ve had that with John Mann before a few weeks ago screaming that I was a bigot down the phone. I’m not an apologist for anyone who makes antisemitic statements. What I’m saying is don’t confuse antisemitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On calling a Jewish journalist a “concentration camp guard” whilst Mayor of London

I can’t tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying ‘I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic’. We won the case

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On claims about Hitler and Zionism

I can’t tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying ‘I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic’. We won the case

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On John Mann

I’d simply say to John Mann go back and check. Is what I say true, or is it not? The BBC, you’ve got a huge team of researchers, it will take just an hour or two to go back and confirm. I was asked a question, I answered it. I have never in 45 years since I won my first election, I have never lied. I have always answered the question

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On raising the issue if Hitler

It lays you open to people smearing and lying about you. I’ve always answered the questions put to me and that simple fact is we’ve had a handful of people saying antisemitic things in the Labour Party, they’ve been suspended, some of them are on their way to being expelled, some of them have been expelled already

Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said

On people calling for him to be suspended

All my usual critics – but the simple fact is I agree with them; there is no place for antisemitism in the Labour party. For them to suggest I am antisemitic is a bit bizarre considering we worked with Jewish groups and put on exhibitions about the scale of the holocaust, we worked with Jewish groups to tackling the scale of antisemitism back in the 1970s. I’ve always opposed every form of racism whether it’s against black people or Jews. I’m going to stay in the Labour party and continue to fight against all forms of racism and discrimination as I have my entire life

Other MPs took to social media to voice their criticism.

Lisa Nandy, tipped by some as a future leader of the party, said: “Standing against racism is one of the many reasons I'm proud to be in the Labour Party. Today is a sad day for this movement.”

Tulip Siddiq, who represents Hampstead and Kilburn, called the ruling “absolutely ridiculous” and asked: “Why has this man not been expelled?”

John Woodcook called the decision “pathetic” while Luciana Berger, who has been the victim of anti-Semitic abuse online, said it was “appalling” and marked ”a new low” for the party.

“Why is anti-Semitism being treated differently from any other form of racism?” she asked.

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy called the decision “very troubling”. “What more does he have to say or do to be told there is no place for him in Labour movement?”, she added.

The Jewish Labour Movement said in a statement: "One year suspension is insufficient for a party the claims zero tolerance on anti-Semitism.

"This is a betrayal of our party's values. One year suspension allows for a revolving door for repeat offenders."

Ken Livingstone suspended from Labour party for one more year

Michael Dugher, who previously served as Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport under Jeremy Corbyn, said: "Labour have spent 12 months investigating what to every sensible person is an open-and-shut case. This looks like an embarrassing fudge. The Jewish Board of Deputies said it was anti-Semitism, as did the Holocaust Education Trust, the Jewish Labour Movement and the chief rabbi.

"Is the party really saying it knows more about anti-Semitism than the chief rabbi? The current reluctance of the party to apparently take swift and severe action against Livingstone does us no credit whatsoever."

Mr Livingstone remained defiant, insisting the allegations against him were “nonsense”.

“Today’s Labour Party panel extended my suspension for another year because of my political views, not because I have done anything to harm the Labour Party”, he said.

Speaking outside the hearing, Mr Livingstone compared the process to “sitting through a court in North Korea”.

Asked if he wanted to apologise to Jewish people who had been offended by his comments, the former London mayor replied: “I apologise for the offence caused by those Labour MPs who lied and said I said Hitler was a Zionist”.

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