UK: Leading trade union leader questions links of antisemitism inquiry head to Labour Israel group

In case anybody is looking for antisemitism in the Labour party.

Via Huffington Post:

A leading member of Unite is facing a backlash after pointing out that a Labour peer heading an inquiry into anti-Semitism had links to Labour Friends of Israel.

Jennie Formby, political director of Britain’s biggest union, spoke out days after the appointment of Baroness Royall to lead the investigation into claims of anti-Jewish conduct by some in Oxford University Labour Club.

Ms Formby raised the matter at a meeting of the ruling National Executive Committee last week, pointing out that Lady Royall had once taken part in a Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) delegation in 2007.

NEC members told HuffPost UK that Ms Formby raised the issue of the inquiry, which will also look into claims of bullying and smears in the party’s youth wing elections, to ask how it would be staffed and conducted.

She then said that she had not before heard of Baroness Royall – who is a former Cabinet minister and Labour leader of the Lords – but that a quick Google search had revealed a Jewish Chronicle article stating she had links to the party’s Israel group.

Fellow NEC member Shabana Mahmood swiftly interrupted to describe Ms Formby’s remarks as “highly inappropriate”, before the chair of the meeting moved on.

Several members were shocked at Ms Formby’s remarks, with one telling HuffPost “our jaws dropped”. 

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