The activist walked out, claiming she had been denied the chance to speak. But party rules allowed her to make her case after the case against her is heard
March 27, 2019 10:47
Labour has dismissed Jackie Walker's claim she was refused the chance to present her case at her disciplinary hearing, calling it “incorrect and misleading”.
The activist, who was first suspended three years ago after claiming "many Jews" were involved in the African slave trade, refused to present her case to three charges of "prejudicial and grossly detrimental" conduct brought against her, after she staged a bizarre walk-out stunt on the first day of the hearing along with her witnesses.
A source confirmed that party rules allow individuals to speak up and defend themselves, but only after the charges against them have been presented - not before as she demanded.
Despite an attempt to maximise publicity over her decision to walk out of the hearing in Deptford, south-east London, including conducting an interview with the Iranian-backed Press TV channel, Ms Walker’s failure to defend herself made no difference to how proceedings progressed.
Labour members, including Jewish Labour Movement Vice Chair Mike Katz, had already put their case across to the three-person panel from Labour’s highest disciplinary body the National Constitutional Committee (NCC), which will decide whether to expel Ms Walker from the party later on Wednesday.
The JC has learned Ms Walker faces two charges relating to her conduct at an antisemitism training day organised by JLM and her subsequent comments in which she said it would be “wonderful” if “Holocaust Day was open to all peoples who have experienced holocaust?”
Ms Walker also faces a third charge relating her repeated claims that Jewish MPs are controlled by Israel.
As the JC revealed on Tuesday, the three-person panel judging her includes Russell Cartwright, a member of the Campaign For Labour Democracy who once defended Ken Livingstone against antisemitism allegations.
Also on the panel is Ann Dyer, a longstanding Unite union activist and the NCC's interim chair.
She has a reputation for being independent, despite being supported by Momentum during a ballot for roles on the NCC.
A third - likely to be the deciding vote - is the Communication Workers' Union's Alan Tate, who is reported to be "undecided" on the allegations.
Ms Walker is not facing any antisemitism charges because the allegations against her pre-date a change in 2017 to Labour's rule book that created specific regulations around Jew-hate.
Labour’s NCC will report back its decision to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC). It is under no obligation to make its decision public.
On Wednesday morning, Jewish Leadership Council chief executive Simon Johnson appeared on LBC’s Nick Ferrari show to discuss Ms Walker’s case.
He said: "Last year when we want to meet Jeremy Corbyn, we said that the Jackie Walker case had been going on for too long then. We're now a year on and the case is still happening.
"What you've seen from this case is that Jackie Walker is still believing that she is the victim.
"It is a classic mechanism of victim-blaming here, where you refuse to engage with the serious allegation of racism against you and instead make an indignant counter-allegation that you yourself are the victim and that the people who are accusing you are themselves responsible of racism.
"It is a classic way that racists defend themselves against these charges."
