Jewish groups have written to Labour over the controversy that has seen Jamie Driscoll excluded from the party’s North East mayor selection race.
A war of words has been raging since the sitting North of Tyne mayor was left off Labour’s longlist of candidates for the job heading a new, bigger combined authority that will come into being next year. The left-wing mayor’s exclusion has been blamed on an appearance he made earlier this year on stage at Newcastle’s Live Theatre with filmmaker Ken Loach.
But Sir Keir Starmer has faced accusations of factionalism from critics, with Mr Driscoll branding the decision “anti-democratic” and the likes of the Unite union and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham siding with him in the bitter feud. Criticism of the mayor’s event with the I, Daniel Blake director came about because of Mr Loach’s expulsion from Labour in 2021, which he has said was because he supported a 'Labour Against the Witchhunt' campaign to prevent some individuals from being kicked out of the party.
Read More: Jamie Driscoll hits out at Labour for blocking his North East mayor campaign over Ken Loach event
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had previously found Labour to be responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination during Mr Corbyn’s leadership and removed the party from special measures this February. Mr Loach said last weekend that the antisemitism issue was being used to “remove people from the left”.
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) branded the Live Theatre interview “hugely upsetting” at the time and wrote on Wednesday to all of the North East’s Labour MPs and councillors to express its backing for the decision of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) last week. A group of local Jewish residents then penned an open letter to the party and local media on Thursday morning in support of Mr Driscoll, saying that the community did not want to be “dragged into factional disputes”.
The JLM wrote on Wednesday that it did not think Mr Loach’s work, which includes new Durham-set film The Old Oak, should be “cancelled” but that Mr Driscoll had “demonstrated that he didn’t understand the need for every single member of this Party to be committed to our objective of fixing the problems of the past”. JLM chairs Mike Katz and Adam Langleben said: “Irrespective of other merits, achievements or qualifications, showing zero tolerance on antisemitism and forcefully backing the Party’s actions to achieve this simply must be essential for anyone who seeks to represent Labour in public office, let alone such an important role as mayor for all the North East.
"This is why we understand and support the decision of the NEC panel not to place him on the longlist to become Labour’s candidate for the new Mayoralty election. We hope that you, in wanting to continue the process of repairing trust between Labour and British Jews, including the sizeable community in the North East, support this outcome too.”
The morning after that letter was sent, a group of Jewish residents in Newcastle and the surrounding area wrote to Labour to say that Mr Driscoll should be allowed to stand in the selection contest. Organiser Benny Ross, from Kenton, said: “We want to make it clear that the impetus to stop Jamie Driscoll's career as mayor does not come from the local Jewish community, and that we resent being used in internal Labour Party wrangles as a stick to beat him with.”
The group, some of whom are Labour members, said they “all take pride in our religious and cultural heritage, but we don’t expect that heritage to be dragged into factional disputes within a national political party”. Their letter, whose 12 signatories include Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts, adds that Mr Driscoll “is not and has never been an antisemite”.
Mr Driscoll told the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Thursday: “Clearly some people are unhappy I spoke to Ken Loach about his films – and I support free speech and their right to be unhappy about that. Others take a different view."
He added: “I think it’s appropriate for a regional figure of any political party to talk to a legendary filmmaker about films set in the North East. In fact, the BBC has run a series of interviews with Ken Loach about that very subject, and the BBC part-funded his latest film, The Old Oak. I don’t think anyone is saying the BBC is antisemitic? Or that the cast and crew of his films are enabling antisemitism?
“My understanding is that Ken Loach was not expelled from the Labour Party for antisemitism. He was expelled for saying Labour Party processes were not in accordance with natural justice, because people were not getting the opportunity to challenge evidence or allowed any right of appeal. The Labour Party had, and still has, a problem with antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism. I’m pleased the JLM letter makes no suggestion of antisemitism against me. I would add, though, that in my experience the vast, vast majority of Labour members I’ve met are committed anti-racists.”
When the EHRC removed Labour from special measures in February, Sir Keir apologised said there would be "zero tolerance of antisemitism, of racism, of discrimination of any kind" under his leadership but that there was "much still to do".
Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) across the region are in the process of nominating candidates from the longlist – which features Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness, Newcastle councillor Nicu Ion, and former MEP Paul Brannen. On Tuesday, the Wansbeck constituency “unanimously” refused to nominate any of the candidates on the mayoral longlist because the contest had been “undermined”.
A walkout of between 15 and 20 members was also reported at the Newcastle North CLP on Wednesday, where Ms McGuinness was then nominated.
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