Expelled Labour councillor ‘antagonised Jewish members’
Expelled from the Labour Party earlier this month for support of a banned group, ex-Portsmouth City Labour Group leader Cal Corkery had previous involvement with meetings with Jackie Walker, Chris Williamson and Marc Wadsworth
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A former Labour Group leader has protested that his expulsion from the party was down to his “innocuous” sharing of a Facebook post by a now banned group.
Portsmouth City councillor Cal Corkery was informed of his expulsion earlier this month after Labour’s National Executive Committee ruled he had breached party rules, outlawing support for the openly Marxist Socialist Appeal organisation.
The group were one of four organisations banned by Labour in 2021, as part of a crackdown on the denial and downplaying of antisemitism in the party.
Since his expulsion Corkery has attempted to convince local members he has been harshly treated by the party, having shared and liked a Socialist Appeal Facebook post back in 2016.
He claimed he was “considering all options” to continue representing the local Charles Dickens ward.
Even though the letter sent to Corkery confirming his expulsion on January 13th outlined how he remained a supporter of the Portsmouth Socialist Appeal Facebook page “as of 01 September 2022.”
Socialist Appeal’s own website confirms the group’s status as”the British section of theInternational Marxist Tendency.”
But a Jewish News investigation has discovered how Corkery has a lengthy history of antagonising local Jewish Labour members with his conduct – including involvement with meetings with disgraced ex MP Chris Williamson, Jackie Walker and with Marc Wadsworth, all infamous figures during the party’s antisemitism crisis.
It is understood the Jewish Labour members first lodged complaints about Corkery under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, but they did result in any action being taken against him.
They noted his involvement with not one, but two Portsmouth Momentum meetings featuring Jackie Walker – in 2016 and 2018 – who was suspended over allegations involving antisemitism.
In 2016, Corkery’s own social media showed him thanking Walker for her “fascinating” contribution to the meeting.
In February 2018, with the councillor now the elected chair of the local Momentum group, he would approve and help organise a second meeting with Walker.
One Labour source told Jewish News, Corkery had a “track record for being an apologist for the worst people.”
The source added:”Carl was involved in a succession of meetings, with Walker, with Williamson – with Wadsworth.
“Some might claim he went out of his way to antagonise Jewish members, some of whom had already complained to the party about his conduct.”
Walker was eventually expelled by Labour in March 2019 for misconduct, in one of the longest-running high-profile cases of the party’s antisemitism crisis.
And Corkery’s support for those accused of inflaming Labour’s antisemitism crisis did not stop with Walker.
On social media, photographs of another Portsmouth Momentum meeting were circulated, showing Corkery speaking at a meeting next to the disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson.
Jewish News understands that Corkery spoke out in support of Williamson, defending him over allegations of antisemitism.
He was also the author of motion, that passed, in support of comments made by Williamson defending the “proud” record of Jeremy Corbyn in opposing antisemitism.
Meanwhile on 12 February 2019, Portsmouth Momentum co-hosted of an event with Marc Wadsworth, who had been expelled from the Labour Party in April 2018 after the now infamous exchange at the launch of the Chakrabarti report into antisemitism.
In comments that brought cries of “shame” from those in attendance, Wadsworth accused the then Labour MP Ruth Smeeth, who he accused of working “hand in hand” with a right-wing newspaper.
Corkery was still chair of Portsmouth Momentum at the time of the Wadsworth meeting.
The councillor, who became Labour Group leader last year, was initially blocked from standing as Labour councillor again earlier this year.
He had been arrested at a protest against the prorogation of parliament in Westminster after demonstrators refused police requests to leave the area.
Social media footage showing Corkery being carried away from the demo by several police officers.
But in subsequent social media posts the councillor used the hashtag #FTP – used by many as a short-hand expression for F**k The Police.
Expelled from the party earlier this month for “demonstrating the type of support for Socialist Appeal” prohibited by the party rule book, Corkery is barred from attending any Labour meetings or to exercise any other rights associated with them.
After his expulsion Corkery issued a statement saying:”Remarkably, just days after announcing I’ve been blocked from re-standing as a Labour councillor and suggesting this could be part of a trend against socialists and trade unionists, I have now received notice of immediate expulsion.
“The sole reason used to terminate my Labour membership is that, in 2016, I shared an innocuous Facebook post and liked the page which posted it. Although part of the Labour Party at that time, the group the page belonged to would then go on to be proscribed in 2021.
“Principles of natural justice and procedural fairness ordinarily require that a rule cannot be broken which didn’t exist at the time – apparently not in today’s Labour Party.
“I am proud of my time in the Labour Party, of the many people we’ve helped in our area, and of the socialist and trade union causes we’ve furthered.
“I walk away with my head held high and principles intact. I’m now considering all options available to me.”
Jewish News contacted him for comment over the meetings he hosted with Walker, Williamson and Wadsworth, and over his social media post which used the hashtag #FTP.
Corkery said:”I absolutely reject any suggestion of a poor track record on tacking antisemitism. I have always been a strong ally of the Jewish community and other faith groups within Portsmouth. ”
He claimed the meeting he hosted with Williamson was ” about mandatory re-selection and democracy within the party” and denied involvement with the 2018 Walker meeting.
Corkery said he had stepped down as Momentum chair when the Wadsworth meeting took place to concentrate on his election campaign.
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