Met police investigation into alleged anti-Semitic hate crimes in the Labour Party is a welcome move
This is to be welcomed in many ways – although the fact that the file was leaked to police shows that Labour still has an internal security problem.
Information about the allegations of anti-Semitism against This Writer was leaked to The Sunday Times in February – false information claiming that I was a Holocaust denier.
The lies were taken up by others and I have spent the last nine months pursuing the newspapers involved through the press regulator IPSO, with a series of victories to prove my innocence.
I will soon attend a Labour Party disciplinary hearing at which I hope to disprove the allegations. I have launched a crowdfunding campaign for the funds to take my accusers to court and gain compensation for the harm they have caused me. Anyone who would like to see justice done is invited to visit my JustGiving page and make a donation, no matter how large or small.
So there is evidence to show that someone very high in the Labour hierarchy – a member of the ruling National Executive Committee or someone working for that body – is maliciously spreading lies about alleged anti-Semitism.
That is the aspect of this case that is unwelcome.
But hate crime of any kind should be investigated and prosecuted, and I don’t know why Labour didn’t pass on details of any such crime to the police – especially if those details had been investigated and proved according to the party’s own systems.
Is this an admission that what Labour considers to be anti-Semitic activity would not qualify as such according to police standards?
It seems we’re about to find out.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said: “If somebody passes us material which they say amounts to a crime, we have a duty to look at that and not to dismiss it.”
That’s true – and makes an important point about the so-called Macpherson Principle.
Some commentators, who should know better, have been trying to claim that an allegation that someone has committed an anti-Semitic crime means that they are guilty; if a Jewish person says that they have been a victim of anti-Semitism, that is all the proof that is needed.
It is heartening to see the police commissioner affirming that this would not meet the standards expected of a criminal investigation. Macpherson in fact stated that allegations of anti-Semitism should be recorded as such, but the police would still have to carry out a full investigation and determine for themselves whether such a crime had been committed.
That is what makes this investigation worthwhile.
These allegations will be examined according to the requirements of the law of the land.
If people who have been accused are found innocent – after Labour’s system condemned them – it will raise serious questions about the party’s system.
If people who have been accused are taken to court and convicted, then a hate criminal will have been identified and punished.
This is a win-win situation – in spite, I think, of the person who created it.
Scotland Yard has begun a criminal investigation into allegations of antisemitic hate crimes within the Labour Party, police said.
Specialist officers looking through a leaked internal dossier of cases are begun a inquiry into some of the allegations, the Met said in a statement.
Detectives have already sought “early investigative advice” from lawyers working with the Crown Prosecution Service.
The investigation is centring on a folder of paperwork compiled by Labour Party staff on cases of alleged antisemitism by Labour activists and members.
It was leaked to the LBC radio station, who then gave a copy to the Met Commissioner Cressida Dick after an interview in September.
Source: Criminal investigation launched into ‘antisemitic hate crimes’ within Labour Party | The Independent
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Pity the police are not as keen to investigate serious offences of fraud and corruption alleged against Aaron Banks and the referendum Leave campaign.
Pity they are wasting their time on this instead of real crimes like violence and theft, or remain spending twice as much as leave in the referendum
the whole country is mired in corruption but nobody seems to have noticed – from Grenfell to the current drugs carried by kids…..
The smear campaign goes on unabated, do I smell the a swift snap election on the horizon?
It’s a bit odd that the Met Police are willing to investigate allegations of anti-semitic hate crime in the Labour Party(only the Labour Party?) to see if any laws have been broken , yet, only yesterday, were being praised by Right Wing politicians and papers for declining to investigate alleged misogyny because the hatred of women was not deemed serious enough to warrant their time and energy.
I would have said that both prejudices can lead to horrific crimes and are worth investigation.
I know that -with 20,000 fewer officers than under Labour- the Police may have to prioritise, but their choice of priority is telling. Will they now investigate racism and anti-semitism in other Parties? Or in employment practices?
I wish them well in this new investigation, involving apparent Labour members, as it may clarify a few things. As an active Labour member, with an interest in Party events and ideas, I have struggled to find ANY examples of blatant anti-semitism in anything any senior member has said. But the accusations keep coming so I am forced to conclude that somebody, somewhere, in some circumstance , has said some really hateful, bigotted things. I just seem to have missed them, even though I am fairly alert to these things and am on my guard whenever there is reference to Jews in any context.
Perhaps I am a bit parochial in my local Branch activity, but the only example I can think of occurred when I overheard half a conversation on the allotment when a local supporter(not a member) said to someone else something like “Yes, but look at how the Jews treat the Palestinians!”(Which, on reflection, was anti-semitic as it implied that all Jews were complicit in Israeli crimes.)
I can only hope that, if there are members of our Party publicly spreading anti-semitic hatred, they are expelled and even prosecuted if deemed to have broken the law.
And that others, who have been disciplined for alleged anti-semitism, may be exonerated by a thorough and unbiased examination.
Until this happens, and examples are revealed, I am left , like a lot of members I suspect, wondering where all this anti-semitism is, and who is expressing it, and why am I being kept in the dark?
There was a time where you were innocent until proven guilty, but where racism is concerned you are guilty unless you can prove your innocence.