Christine Shawcroft will not be removed from Labour NEC over Holocaust row

Christine Shawcroft will not be removed from Labour's ruling National Executive Committee over her defence of a candidate who posted an article claiming the Holocaust was a hoax.



Senior party sources have pointed out that she will not be standing for re-election to the NEC, so will automatically in June when her current term ends.

The next NEC elections take place in June, but the current members remain in place until Labour's annual conference ends on 26 September.

Jeremy Corbyn personally told Ms Shawcroft to stand down as chair of Labour's disputes panel over an email she sent defending Alan Bull, a former party candidate suspended over anti-Semitism allegations.

Mr Bull shared an article on Facebook which claimed the Holocaust was a “hoax” - but insisted he reposted it to spark debate and did not agree with its content.

In her email, Ms Shawcroft, who is also a director of Momentum campaign, suggested the local party wanted to damage Mr Bull for "political reasons" and that his post had been "taken completely out of context and alleged to show anti-Semitism".

The email was leaked to The Times, leading to Ms Shawcroft having to stand down from her role overseeing Labour's disciplinary process.

She said: "I sent this email before being aware of the full information about this case and I had not been shown the image of his abhorrent Facebook post.

"Had I seen this image, I would not have requested that the decision to suspend him be re-considered. I am deeply sorry for having done so."

Jennifer Gerber, director of Labour Friends of Israel, said "Christine Shawcroft should be suspended from the Labour party and kicked off the NEC. Those who defend Holocaust deniers should have no place in the Labour party. If Jeremy Corbyn is serious about his new zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism he will deal with this as a matter of urgency."

Labour MP John Mann has also called for the Labour leader to act.

Or whether he has told her to stand down from the NEC as must happen today https://t.co/X06EZzMSnJ — John Mann (@JohnMannMP) 29 March 2018

But Labour sources insisted that as Ms Shawcroft was elected to the NEC, Mr Corbyn did not have the power to remove her.

The latest row comes as Mr Corbyn struggles to contain the ongoing anti-Semitism surrounding the Labour party, which prompted a protest by leading Jewish groups outside Parliament on Monday.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that MPs will debate the rise of anti-Semitism in the Commons on 17 April.

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom announced the move this morning, but John Mann - who chairs the all-party group on anti-Semitism - said the half-day set aside was not long enough.

He said: "Considering the importance of the issue, half a day is simply insubstantial and insignificant. It needs to be a full day’s debate."