Momentum official who said antisemitism row ‘stirred up to attack Corbyn’ ousted

The former head of Labour’s disputes panel, who claimed the antisemitism row had been “stirred up” to attack Jeremy Corbyn, has been removed as director of Momentum.

Christine Shawcroft suggested in a post last month that she may not stand down despite pressure to do so, writing that she was “persona non grata in Momentum these days.”

A Momentum spokesperson told Jewish News: “Christine has been removed as a director of Momentum as she is no longer a member of Momentum’s National Coordinating Group.

“All company directors must also be members of our governing body.”

Shawcroft criticised Momentum in a Facebook post last month for withdrawing their support for Pete Willsman, after he was recorded calling some members of the Jewish community “Trump fanatics.”

The Facebook post says: “As I seem to be persona non grata in Momentum these days, they want me to stand down as director.

“Which I offered to do, but I wanted a guarantee that the nonsense last year about withdrawing support from someone on an agreed NEC slate, then again objecting to an excellent candidate for the NCC, wouldn’t happen in future.

“They couldn’t guarantee that (!!!) so I said I wouldn’t stand down.”

Shawcroft quit as chairwoman of Labour’s disputes panel last year after it emerged she opposed the suspension of a council candidate  accused of Holocaust denial.

She later apologised, saying she was “wrong and misguided” to have called for the suspension to be lifted and that she had not been aware of all the information in the case.

Shawcroft told Jewish News: “I absolutely did NOT say I didn’t agree to stand down because of their handling of antisemitism. Momentum, the Labour Left, and myself personally are determined to oppose and root out antisemitism and all other forms of racism wherever we may find them.

“I was, however, extremely concerned about a small number of officers taking a decision to remove support from Peter Willsman for the NEC elections, and then again they didn’t want to support Stephen Marks for the NCC.

“These decisions, (although they had to come round in Stephen’s case) were not democratic and many members have left Momentum because of them. I wanted assurances that they would be more democratic in future. “