Right-wing Labour MP claims his lack of action over staffer’s antisemitic social media posts was because party found no antisemitism – but Keir Starmer condemned the same as antisemitic when shared by left-winger Rebecca Long-Bailey
Right-wing former front-bench Labour MP Khalid Mahmood’s attempt to defend against former employee Elaina Cohen’s tribunal claim that the MP sacked her for making ‘protected disclosures’ to safeguard vulnerable women from a staffer with whom Mahmood was reportedly having an affair has seen further explosive allegations and revelations today.
Cohen raised concerns with Mahmood after a number of domestic violence victims approached her saying that the other staffer had used her position in a domestic violence charity to blackmail them into theft, taking penalty points for others and defrauding benefits – and Cohen also accused her then-colleague of posting antisemitic comments. She has told the tribunal that despite repeated attempts to get Mahmood – and party leader Keir Starmer and his sidekick David Evans – to take action, she was repeatedly ignored, silenced and ultimately sacked.
Mahmood claims that despite his position as the employer, he was ‘bullied and harassed’ by Mrs Cohen, but he and his legal team accepted unchallenged into evidence a statement by one of the alleged victims about the horrific exploitation she had suffered, rather than risk putting her in the witness seat for cross-examination.
And today he told the tribunal that he had not taken action against the staffer over Cohen’s antisemitism complaint because the Labour party ultimately found that she had not posted anything antisemitic – even though the social media post in question was the same one that Keir Starmer used as a pretext for sacking left-wing rival Rebecca Long-Bailey from his front bench.
At the time, Starmer said:
The sharing of that article was wrong… because the article contained antisemitic conspiracy theories and I have therefore stood Rebecca Long-Bailey down from the shadow cabinet.
In the ‘mainstream’ newspaper article shared by both Long-Bailey and Mahmood’s staffer, actress Maxine Peake discussed the killing of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis resident, by police who knelt on his neck and the idea that US police may have learned the tactic during exchange visits in Israel. Israeli police denied this was a measure they used, but photographic evidence of Israeli troops attacking Palestinians and details of tactical training courses later showed the manoeuvre in use.
Mahmood’s testimony sheds an unflattering light yet again on the huge hypocrisy and double-standards of Keir Starmer and the Labour party machine, which claims to have a zero-tolerance approach to claimed antisemitism yet has repeatedly turned a blind eye, in the case of right-wingers including Shadow Cabinet-level front-benchers, to the same and often far worse comments and conduct than was ever said by left-wingers hounded out of the party and pilloried in the media.
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What it proves is that even when Maxine Peake’s post wasn’t 100% accurate the post wasn’t antisemitic. Starmer & co decided that it was antisemitic to get ride of Long-Baileys from the front bench.
I wonder if the Guardian and the rest of the MSM is going to report on this as it will dent the narrative that Labour’s under Corbyn was a nest of anti-semites and tarnish the left in the LP as anti-semites.
Taking into account the level of suspension and expulsions of Jewish Labour members under Starmer perhaps the MSM could argue that the anti-semites have taken over the Labour Party under Starmer’s leadership.
No, the Grauniad will not report it.
………and there was I thinking that RLB engineered her own sacking by refusing to delete her post.
They definitely wanted rid.
Andy McDonald arguably was forced out too : Put in an impossible position – asked by Starmer’s office to argue at the Labour Party Conference “against a national minimum wage of £15 an hour and against statutory sick pay at the living wage”.
Before that , Lloyd Russell-Moyle. Starmer clearly doesn’t want anyone in the shad cab who could reveal what stunts they are pulling and what a shambles his leadership really is.
Similar forces even targeted Angela Rayner for a time, although, if she ever had any left-wing values she’s sold out to the point where the right feel they can simply ignore her.
I think my contempt for Starmer is almost comparable to that for Johnson. Johnson- serial liar that he is- never pretended any allegiance to Corbyn’s 10 pledges, whereas Starmer’s whole leadership campaign hinged upon it.
I seriously worry that Palestine could virtually vanish- a final Nakba- without Starmer making any sort of serious statement. Nor would the MSM exercise any serious journalism in response to the man’s absolute woefulness!
Streeting next! Neither are capable of inspiring a fraction of the loyalty that RLB might have done. Another nail in the coffin!
Sorry Martin but RLB capitulated the moment she accepted the 10 pledges from the BoD.
Had RLB won the leadership I have little doubt that the witchhunt against the left supporting the Palestinian cause will have continued in earnest.
You only need to remember who RLB supported for the position of Deputy Leader of the LP: no other than Angela “I will expel thousand of members to get ride of antisemites in the LP” Rayners.
Moreover, earlier on still with Corbyn as leader her attacks on Chris Williamson agreeing with his expulsion from the LP. The worse thing that we can do is to forget that some of the left are appeasers to the right wing of the LP and thus enablers, RLB is one.
Martin just reading Tariq Al’s brilliant book: Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes (2022). Tariq uses a great quote on Right Wing Israel’s strategy: “Maximum territory, minimum Arabs” which perhaps skewers the politically naive or deliberate advocates who support a two state solution?
Ali also skewers Imperialism and its backers plus its apologists. Read this book.
THIS IS THE HiSTORY WE SHOULD BE TAUGHT!
Bazza – I have already pointed out the report
in the Times of April 2nd 1921 of Churchills speech
to the Palestines reassuring them of their future
in the wake of Balfour .. It was reprinted in the
Times of April 2nd 2021 (behind pay wall).
Of course that was all lies .. and obviously so
considering the amount of land promised to the
Jewish inhabitants by Balfour.
Churchill subsequently sent the “Black ‘n Tans”
to ‘pacify’ Palestine .. They were sent as part of
the “gendarmerie” and despite the protests of the
Army chief who called them “murderers”.
The fact that a post was deemed antisemitic or not antisemitic depending on who posted it clearly demonstrates once and for all that in Starmers Labour the term “antisemitism” has been cheapened to the extent that it is now a meaningless catch all used to expel socialists antizionists and individuals capable of independent rational thought from the party.
In other news – A bad day, Omer Bar-Lev has decided to allow the “Jerusalem Day” March to go through Damascus Gate and to parade through the Muslim Quarter. This is a calculated provocation. Here’s what can be expected, or worse.
There are dissenting voices. We nac but hope that they are loud enough.
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/stop-this-lunacy-says-haaretz/
Yes as someone suggested settlers or in this case “surrogate settlers” (Regan.B. The Balfour Declaration) are often the most reactionary.
Some interesting points from Tariq Ali’s 2022 book In 1891 1% of Palestine’s land was owned by Jewish people, and land was being fully farmed plus in 1919 or so there were 700,000 Palestinians in Palestine and 60,000 Jewish people.
Yet the US and UK will turn a blind eye to what happens as when the US says jump European countries say how high?
And the US as a Non-Honest broker in the Near East puts their own imperial interests first – oil, arms sales, inward/outward capitalist investment.
The world needed someone like Corbyn – An Honest Broker.
Ali is good too on Labour’s Imperialists circa 1945 though progressive to an extent at home but appalling overseas supporting the suppression of the Greek left, Korea, Palestine (including figures like Attllee, Bevin and even Shinwell).
Perhaps Mr Starmer et al and those who vote to bomb etc other countries are keeping up a Right Wing Labour Imperialist tradition?
Skwawky, is the court – or at least Cohen’s barrister – aware that the staffer’s social media post is the exact same one that got RBL the tin tack?
If not – they really ought to be.
Toffee – https://skwawkbox.org/2022/05/24/cohen-mahmood-tribunal-hears-labour-found-no-antisemitism-in-staffers-social-media-post-same-as-long-bailey-was-sacked-for/#comment-223806
WTAFF was that …Other than further evidence of your narcissist malfunction?
It not only bears ZERO relevance to the question, it also tells us NOTHING about the court being aware of RLB being stood down from her post for supposed antisemitic social media posting.
Go away, gobshite.
And yet another mass shooting at a US school.
WTF is the matter with people? America is the epitome of EVERYTHING that is wrong with this planet.
God rest those poor, innocent kids, and the teacher.
God damn the little bastard that murdered them, as well as every single one of them second amendment lunatics
A bit off topic, but what I truly cannot grasp is that some of those currently trying to take women’s rights back to pre 70’s times under the banner ‘Right to life’ are often the self same ones claiming the ‘Right to bear arms’.
How can anyone possibly hold such conflicting views at the same time? How many more of these tragedies must happen before something is done.
Yes Biden should ban citizens having guns but the Right Wing Democrats haven’t the bottle.
And Tragically this will continue on almost a weekly basis.
Reading Tariq Ali’s book and learnt that Ghandi whilst in South Africa’s first campaign was to try to have separate toilets for Indians from Black people.
But perhaps his later powerful answer to what did he think about British Civilisation “It would be a good thing” should be directed to the US of really to its Right wing rich and powerful?
Been looking at the critique of Eagletons book
by Andrew Fisher – and his response.
The main point of disagreement appeared to
be about Brexit, the policy of the Labour
Party and the Labour Left.
So far as I know neither Eagleton nor Fisher
noted the fact that the Brexit vote at the
Labour Conference in 2018 amounted to
“a second referendum as a last resort” so
why was this not pointed out?
Confirmed what we already knew, RLB was sacked for not being right-wing enough.