Labour MP calls for NEC member Peter Willsman to be suspended after comments are recorded

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

One of Jeremy Corbyn’s allies on Labour’s ruling body has been recorded saying that Jewish “Trump fanatics” are “making up” some of the allegations of antisemitism in the party.

Peter Willsman, a member of the party’s national executive committee, was taped at a meeting this month when the NEC refused to adopt in full the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.



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Willsman said he would “not be lectured” by Jewish supporters of the US president “making up duff information without any evidence at all”.



As others attending the meeting asked Willsman to stop speaking, he continued, raising his voice to say: “I think we should ask the ... rabbis: where is your evidence of severe and widespread antisemitism in this party?”



Later in the recording, released on Monday by the Jewish Chronicle, Willsman could be heard asking members of the NEC to raise their hands if they had witnessed antisemitism in the party.



In an apparent response to some raising their hands, he replied: “I’m amazed. I’ve certainly never seen any.”



Willsman, who is secretary of the Campaign For Labour Democracy group which helped Corbyn ascend to the leadership, previously avoided punishment for his remarks at the 17 July meeting by apologising and suggesting he had been misquoted.

The recording came as Jewish leaders accused Corbyn of failing to stamp out antisemitism inside the party. Last week, three leading Jewish newspapers published the same front-page editorial warning that a government led by Corbyn would pose “an existential threat to Jewish life” in the UK.

Reports, played down by Labour sources, also suggested that the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, had criticised Corbyn in person over the party’s handling of the Margaret Hodge case.

Hodge faces disciplinary action from the party after a confrontation with Corbyn in the House of Commons over the issue, in which she called him an “antisemitic racist”. McDonnell has already stated that Labour should drop its disciplinary inquiry into the MP.

The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Marie van der Zyl, called for Willsman’s expulsion from the party. She tweeted: “Now Peter Willsman’s disgusting rant against Jewish community & rabbis has been made public by JewishChron, & what seems to be lying exposed about what he did & didn’t say, he should be summarily expelled.”

The Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is the parliamentary chair of the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), responded to the recording by calling for the party to suspend Willsman and conduct a formal investigation.

She told the Jewish Chronicle: “Anyone listening to this recording will be appalled to hear the venom and fury directed by Mr Willsman at the British Jewish community. That he accuses the Jewish community of falsifying social media and being ‘Trump fanatics’ in order to deny the serious concerns of 68 rabbis beggars belief.”

Berger added that NEC papers and recent press reports provided evidence of antisemitism in the Labour party. She said: “In the past week alone, two Labour councillors have been suspended and the party has confirmed that 252 people are being investigated for the comments they’ve made online directed at Dame Margaret Hodge MP. Now an accurate record of this diatribe has been identified the party should urgently conduct a formal investigation of this conduct and suspend him today.”

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, described Willsman as a “loud-mouthed bully” who “disgusted him”.

A Labour party spokeswoman said: “We don’t comment on individual cases.”