A new Labour councillor is under investigation after “grossly” offensive historical tweets were uncovered.
Councillor John Garvani was elected onto Leeds City Council to serve the Horsforth ward earlier this month. A pair of tweets dating from 2012, which appear to have been posted from his account, were flagged up to the council’s Labour leadership team on Wednesday night.
Conservative councillor Dan Cohen said the posts were anti-Semitic and had caused “disgust” and “distress” within the city’s Jewish community, of which he is a member.
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Councillor Garvani, who is also a town councillor in Horsforth, was due to be nominated as the chair of an area committee at a meeting on Thursday evening. However, that nomination was pulled at the last minute and Labour put forward an alternative candidate for the role.
It’s understood that move was linked to the tweets in question, though the Labour group has refused to confirm that that was the case.
Councillor Garvani declined to comment when approached, beyond saying he had not been disciplined by the party.
Speaking on Thursday night, the Labour group’s deputy leader, Councillor Debra Coupar, said: “We received some information that’s come forward this morning and we’ve referred that to the national party for investigation.”
Councillor Cohen, who represents the Alwoodley ward, said: “I consider these tweets to be anti-Semitic and grossly insulting. I shared the content of these tweets with other senior members of the Leeds Jewish community who share my view, my distress and my disgust.”
However, Councillor Cohen praised the Labour group for taking “swift action”. He added: “As I knew they would, the Labour leadership have acted absolutely correctly in seeking leave to withdraw his nomination for this position (as chair of Leeds’ outer north and west community committee).
“They have confirmed my belief that in Leeds in general and on Leeds City Council in particular we have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or any form of racism and prejudice.”
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