WATCH: Richard Burgon insists he 'did not lie' over Zionism comments
3 min read
A senior Labour frontbencher has insisted he did not lie when he wrongly claimed not to have described Zionism as "the enemy of the peace".
Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon was plunged into a row last month when footage emerged of him using the phrase during a speech in 2014.
Asked by journalist Andrew Neil two years later whether he had done so, Mr Burgon denied it and insisted those were not his views.
But in April, video footage emerged of the MP delivering a speech in 2014 - a year before he became MP for Leeds East - in which he said: "The enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people."
Mr Burgon also said: “I make no apologies – and I am proud to say not only wouldn’t I be a member of Labour Friends of Israel, I’ve never been a member of Labour Friends Of Israel.”
Asked about the row on the BBC's Newsnight programme, Mr Burgon said: "I certainly didn't lie. I was first asked by a newspaper in 2016 whether I had made such a declaration. I asked them when I was meant to have said it and where, they couldn't tell me.
"Fast forward two years later to 2018 and your colleague, Andrew Neil, asked me if I'd made that comment in a meeting in 2016. And then a year after that, a video came to light - not of 2016 but actually from 2014, five years ago before I was even a Member of Parliament."
Asked again why he had lied, Mr Burgon said: "I've just explained, I didn't lie."
At the time of the row, Mike Katz, chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement, said: "You cannot play at being a Lord Chancellor-in-waiting while making dog-whistle attacks on British Jews and their right, through Zionism, for national self-determination."
Amid calls for Jeremy Corbyn to sack him from Labour's front bench, Mr Burgon said he "regretted" the words he had used in the 2014 speech.
“As I have subsequently said on numerous occasions when asked about this, I do not agree with that phrase,” he said.
“I recognise that such a phrase fails to distinguish between those seeking a peaceful solution in line with international law, and those, such as the current Israeli government, which is undermining efforts towards peace.
“The terminology has different meanings to different people and the simplistic language used does not reflect how I now think about this complex issue and I would not use it again today."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
