Christine Shawcroft says Labour Holocaust row ‘stirred up to attack’ Jeremy Corbyn
4 min read
Christine Shawcroft has said a row over her defence of a Labour election candidate who shared an article saying the Holocaust was a “hoax” on Facebook is being used to attack Jeremy Corbyn.
The Labour leader personally told Ms Shawcroft to stand down as chair of the party's disputes panel this week over an email she sent defending Alan Bull, a former party candidate suspended over anti-Semitism allegations.
Mr Bull shared an article on Facebook which claimed the Holocaust was a “hoax” - but insisted he reposted it to spark debate and did not agree with its content.
Ms Shawcroft, who is a member of Labour's NEC, suggested the local party wanted to damage Mr Bull for "political reasons", however she later insisted she sent the email without being “aware of the full information about this case”.
Today a number of MPs and peers called for Mr Corbyn to go further and suspend her from the party.
However Ms Shawcroft hit back, writing on her own Facebook page that the “whole row is being stirred up to attack Jeremy”, despite Mr Corbyn himself having said the criticisms of his handling of anti-Semitism in the party are not a "smear".
She also doubled down on her claim that she had not seen “the appalling and abhorrent post” before defending Mr Bull.
"Hi everyone, in case anyone has been misled by the Press coverage, I am not a Holocaust denier and I would not support a Holocaust denier,” she wrote.
"I have been trying to support members who have been affected by all the shenanigans around Council selections, and thought this case was just another one of those.
"I had not seen the appalling and abhorrent post which was shared, and if I had seen it I would not have sent the supportive email.
"As soon as I saw it I told the member that he should have antisemitism training. It is entirely right that having made the initial mistake, I should resign as Chair of the Disputes Panel (which never meant I had to power to overturn suspensions anyway)."
“This whole row is being stirred up to attack Jeremy, as we all know.
“That someone who has spent his whole life fighting racism in all its forms should find himself being accused of not doing enough to counter it, absolutely beggar’s belief."
Her post came shortly before Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell condemned a letter from more than 2,000 supporters of Mr Corbyn suggesting last week’s protest against anti-Semitism was the work of a “very powerful special interest group”.
Labour MP Wes Streeting told PoliticsHome: "Even when confronted with example after example of ugly antisemitism within the Labour Party, even having been caught red handed defending a Holocaust denier, Christine Shawcroft still dismisses genuine concerns about antisemitism.
“Enough is enough. Christine Shawcroft must resign from the NEC immediately. She has no shame."
Fellow backbencher Neil Coyle said: "Outrageous. She has to go."
Labour Friends of Israel Director, Jennifer Gerber, said: "For Christine Shawcroft to suggest that raising genuine concerns about antisemitism is somehow politically motivated shows how hollow her initial apology was and underlines yet again why she is unfit to sit on Labours governing body"
Richard Angell of centre-left campaign group Progress said: "Christine Shawcroft trying to blame her disgusting defence of a Holocaust denier on the press shows how little regard the Momentum leadership of the party have for Britain’s Jewish Community and that the party’s words on ‘zero-tolerance on anti-Semitism’ are not worth the paper they are written on.
"Worse, the fact they thought the recourse for a Holocaust denier was ‘training’ shows her true colours. Holocaust deniers should be out of the Labour Party and Christine Shawcroft should be too. The fact she is still on the Disputes Panel and the NEC is an insult. Thousands of members have signed a petition calling for her to resign from the NEC – it’s time Jeremy Corbyn ensured it happened.”
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