Labour fury as Michael Gove claims Amber Rudd row being used to ‘distract’ from anti-Semitism issue
3 min read
Michael Gove has sparked outrage after claiming that the row engulfing Home Secretary Amber Rudd is being whipped up to distract from allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
Downing Street was forced to issue a statement late last night insisting Theresa May had full confidence in the embattled Home Secretary, who is under renewed pressure following a leaked Home Office memo which appears to contradict her claims not to have known about immigration removal targets in the department.
Mr Gove, the Environment Secretary, mounted a defence of his under-fire Cabinet colleague this morning, saying the “complexity of modern government” meant ministers were often not given sight of documents - and claiming Ms Rudd was the victim of a political campaign from within her own department.
“One thing I do know is that there does seem to be a series of - how can I put it - leaks or sharing of information with The Guardian that is designed to serve a particular agenda,” he told the Today programme.
He added: “There is a campaign against the Government and against the Home Secretary and, yes, what’s not surprising is that this happens at the same time as the Labour Party is mired in allegations of its failure to deal with anti-Semitism.”
Mr Gove insisted that the Home Secretary had been “rapid, gracious and determined” in her handling of the both the targets row and wider concerns about the treatment of the Windrush generation, longstanding British citizens who have been swept up in the Government’s ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy.
“There is a stark contrast with the leader of the Labour Party, the way that he’s handled allegations… there are allegations of anti-Semitism and he has neither been rapid nor gracious nor determined in dealing with them,” Mr Gove said.
Challenged by the BBC’s John Humphrys on whether Labour’s own troubles over anti-Jewish abuse were relevant to the deportation row, Mr Gove hit back: “I think it is totally relevant to our discussion… because as you were wise enough to say this is about politics.
“And the focus is…on whether or not a particular document that was CC’ed to a particular address was then put in a particular box at a particular time - and we know it wasn’t - is intended to distract from the difficulties that the Labour Party faces with handling prejudice in its own ranks.”
His comments drew swift condemnation from Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, who said: “This is not party politics for me. This is my parents’ generation, they’ve been treated in a shameful way and I’d be speaking up on this issue whatever party I belong to or if I didn’t belong to any party at all.”
Labour MP Jess Phillips, who has been a frequent critic of the way her own party has dealt with its abuse row, also pushed back strongly against the Environment Secretary, accusing him of seeking to shift the blame.
“This is as bad as all those who say the anti-Semitism complaints are a smear,” she said. “As someone who is shamed by anti-Semitism in my party it should not be used to play politics and justify hatred of immigrants. It's not a convenience for your rhetoric.”
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