Timeline
Labour and antisemitism
The context
Labour has been repeatedly blighted by charges that it has failed to tackle antisemitism in the party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015. Supporters of Corbyn, who has a long history of supporting Palestinians in their dispute with Israel, fear the issue is being used to undermine his leadership.
29 February 2016
Labour launches an inquiry into allegations of antisemitism and bullying after a fractious election of a youth representative to its ruling body.
10 March 2016
Labour expels far-left activist Gerry Downing, who had spoken of the need to “address the Jewish question”.
15 March 2016
Activist Vicki Kirby is suspended by the party for a second time over making alleged antisemitic tweets. She apparently suggested Adolf Hitler might be a “Zionist God” and that Jews had “big noses”.
22 March 2016
Labour suspends Khadim Hussain, a Labour councillor and former lord mayor of Bradford, after he shared a Facebook post that said “your school education system only tells you about Anne Frank and the 6 million Zionists that were killed by Hitler". He later quit the party.
25 April 2016
Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, apologises for writing a series of antisemitic posts on Facebook including arguing for Israel’s population to be ‘transported’ out of the Middle East. She also resigns as PPS to John McDonnell and after sustained pressure is suspended from the party a day later.
27 April 2016
Labour suspends, but does not expel, former London mayor Ken Livingstone, after making offensive comments about Hitler supporting Zionism while defending Shah.
29 June 2016
A two-month inquiry by Shami Chakrabarti, ordered by Corbyn, urges Labour members to avoid abusive language and references to Hitler and Holocaust metaphors. It is criticised as being too soft on the issue and regarded as compromised because Chakrabarti had just accepted a peerage.
2 October 2016
Jackie Walker is removed as vice-chair of Momentum after criticising Holocaust Memorial Day but is allowed to remain on its steering committee. She was earlier suspended by the party for questioning why Holocaust Memorial Day did not recognise other genocides.
15 October 2016
The home affairs select committee accuses Labour of incompetence in dealing with antisemitism and helping to create a safe space for people with “vile attitudes towards Jewish people”.
3 April 2017
Livingstone again avoids expulsion from the party after a disciplinary panel rules he should be suspended for another year over comments about antisemitism, Hitler and Zionism. Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, accuses Labour of failing the Jewish community by not expelling Livingstone.
16 September 2017
Corbyn backs a party rule change, put forward by the Jewish Labour Movement, that takes tougher line on antisemitic abuse.
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