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EXCLUSIVE: Motion branding Board of Deputies as pro-Tory tabled at Liverpool Riverside Labour meeting

Item for debate featured claim the Board reflects "the views of only one section of the British Jewish community"

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The Board of Deputies has been branded "consistent in its support for the Conservative Party" in a motion proposed for debate at the meeting of Liverpool Riverside Labour Party on Friday night.

Leaked details of the motions tabled for this month's Riverside CLP meeting, which have been seen by the JC, reveal a claim the Board reflects "the views of only one section of the British Jewish community."

The same motion, which is tabled by the Princes Park local branch, also accuses the Board of trying to "proscribe the views of other Jewish groups such as the JVL (Jewish Voice for Labour)".

Up until the December election, Liverpool Riverside had been represented by Jewish MP Dame Louise Ellman.

But she quit Labour after being a member for over 50 years, saying that under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, "antisemitism has become mainstream in the party."

She added that: "Jewish members have been bullied, abused and driven out." 

Friday's motion - which was headlined 'In opposition to interference by Jewish Board of Deputies in LP disciplinary process'  - also stated that it "condemns the Jewish Board of Deputies' attempt to interfere in the Labour leadership and deputy leadership elections by demanding that candidates sign ten pledges."

It added that the "pledges breach the principles of free speech and human rights and do not include all forms of racism. They do not represent the diversity that exists in our constituency or the country as a whole."

The minutes of the January meeting of Riverside CLP show that an attempt by one member named Helen Marks to propose an emergency motion calling on the Labour leadership candidates to reject the call by the Board to sign its 10 pledges was ruled out by the chair - who said the motion was not an emergency.

In response, the Board said: “It is totally unsurprising that the local Labour party that chased out Dame Louise Ellman, its longstanding Jewish MP, is against our proposals to defeat antisemitism.

"That all the leadership candidates have signed up to the Ten Pledges demonstrates their significance and the scale of the challenge that faces the new leader in rooting out this poison once and for all.”

Dame Ellman's successor, Kim Johnson, became Liverpool's first black MP in December and has admitted Labour was "slow off the mark" in dealing with antisemitism problems.

 

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