Labour students ‘mocked Paris supermarket terror victims’
Members of Oxford University’s Labour Club mocked victims of the 2015 terror attack on a Paris kosher supermarket and branded Auschwitz a “cash cow”, according to testimony seen by the Sunday Times.
The prestigious club, which counts a number of esteemed politicians as former members, was rocked by claims of racism last month – which the Labour Party said it would take “robust action” against.
However, the report into the scandal is still to be published, despite being completed 10 days ago.
These latest sickening revelations come just days after two of Labour’s most prominent MPs expressed “disappointment” over the party’s failure to publish its investigation.
Labour Students confirmed last week they had completed a probe launched after the resignation of the club’s co-chair, who alleged some members had “some kind of problem with Jews”, and subsequent claims of intimidation by the Jewish Society. The findings had been passed to the main party.
In what is being seen as an escalation of the process, a subsequent investigation has since been launched by the party centrally, headed by Baroness Jan Royall, the former shadow leader of the House of Lords.
But former shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher and Rachel Reeves, who both held shadow cabinet roles under Ed Miliband, write in this week’s Jewish News: “In the interests of transparency and to demonstrate beyond all doubt the seriousness with which we take these allegations, the report should be published now.” While they said there is “no better person to look further into the allegations, they argued, “there is no reason why the initial Labour Students report, that will inform Jan Royall’s further work, cannot be made public”.
The pair said the way anti-Semitism was confronted was a “test” for the party and “all eyes are on us”. Labour have previously pledged “robust action” if claims are proven.
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