McDonnell told to ‘stop double speak’ on antisemitism or resign from committee

The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) has written an open letter to John McDonnell, urging the Shadow Chancellor to “stop the double speak” or resign.

The letter, published today, calls on McDonnell to confront the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) over their “culture of antisemitism” at a conference this weekend.

“Such a culture feeds an environment whereby Jewish MPs such as Luciana Berger receive death threats, abuse and threats of violence.

“It feeds a culture whereby Jews across the party are targeted for deselection, sanction or intimidation.

“It feeds a culture of not believing Jews when they are on the receiving end of hate. It feeds the cancer of antisemitism in our party.

“It is not consistent to be honestly robust in an LBC interview without being equally robust to your own supporters at the LRC.”

The letter goes on to criticise the LRC for being affiliated with Labour Against the Witchhunt and Jewish Voice for Labour, who “ridicule and minimise the real lived experiences of victims of antisemitism.”

The JLM also call on McDonnell to be “be clear to the LRC that you will say that Labour Against the Witchhunt and Jewish Voice for Labour are corrosive to our values and that the LRC should not work with them or indeed anyone suspended or expelled from the Labour Party.

“LRC are feeding the problem and unless they change their position of condoning and nurturing this racism in our party then you cannot and should not have anything further to do with them and they also should have no place in the Labour Party.”

Read the letter in full here.

When speaking to Jewish News in 2018, McDonnell was asked if he’s comfortable remaining president of the Labour Representation Committee, after it said that the Ken Livingstone case was a ‘witch hunt’?

He replied that he’s  “not going to disassociate myself from an organisation I founded because they disagree with me or I disagree with them on these particular issues because on most issues I agree with them and they have been a beneficial force in the Labour party and in other policy areas.”