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Labour drops investigation into MP Ian Austin for challenging party chairman over antisemitism
Exclusive: 'I make no apologies for being upset about antisemitism,' says MP after party drops probe
November 27, 2018 16:01
Exclusive: 'I make no apologies for being upset about antisemitism,' says MP after party drops probe
November 27, 2018 16:01Labour has dropped an investigation into the MP Ian Austin over comments he made to the Party’s chairman about their failure to adopt the internationally recognised definition of antisemitism , the JC can reveal.
Mr Austin, who is the adopted child of a Jewish refugee, was informed this week that he no longer the subject of a probe into allegedly abusive conduct in a letter sent to him by Labour’s general secretary.
The Dudley North MP had admitted getting into a “heated discussion” with chairman Ian Lavery over Labour’s failure to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism outside the Commons on July 18.
Party General Secretary Jennie Formby wrote to him saying the party has closed its investigation over the incident and that no further action will be taken.
Mr Austin told the JC: “I make no apologies for being upset about antisemitism - I think every Labour Party member ought to be angry about racism and the failure to deal with it properly, but I did not scream abuse as was alleged, so I am pleased the Labour Party have dropped its threat to hold an investigation.
“Frankly, they should never have threatened this in the first place. The way this whole issue has been handled is unacceptable and the time it has taken is appalling.”
The JC was the first to reveal the detail of Mr Austin’s clash with Mr Lavery.
The incident followed Dame Margaret Hodge’s now infamous confrontation with Jeremy Corbyn in which she branded him an "antisemite" and a "racist" in the House of Commons chamber.
Complaints were made against Mr Austin by Mr Lavery, pro-Corbyn MP Chris Williamson – and Mr Corbyn, although the Labour leader had not made his formally.
Mr Austin told the JC he got into an "emotional, heated discussion" with Mr Lavery shortly after Labour's national executive committee (NEC) agreed to reject the international Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism on July 17, in favour of its own version which omitted crucial examples of how criticising Israel can stray into Jew-hatred.
He confirmed he told the chairman Labour was "becoming a sewer" under Mr Corbyn's leadership.
Mr Austin said he had berated the party chairman after Mr Lavery suggested he could not influence the decision as he was not himself a member of the NEC.
"I told him I thought the NEC decision was a disgrace," said Mr Austin. "He said 'I'm not on the NEC' and I said 'But you are chair of the party.'
"It was that sort of discussion. The account that suggests I swore in his face is not true. I did not swear at him."
In August, Mr Austin's lawyers wrote a letter saying that the high-profile investigation against him has “plainly been designed to silence our client for his legitimate, honestly-held criticisms of Mr Corbyn’s failure to address the scourge of antisemitism in the Labour Party."
Labour dropped the case against Dame Margaret that same month after letters of complaint from her lawyers.
On Tuesday, Mr Austin said: “One of the reasons I joined the Labour Party as a teenager in Dudley 35 years ago was to fight racism.
"I believe that just as passionately now as I did then and I will not be deterred from speaking out about antisemitism and racism in the Labour Party.
“The Labour Party’s priority ought to be dealing with the outstanding cases of antisemitism and doing everything it can to win back the trust of the Jewish community, not investigating people like me for complaining about their failure to tackle antisemitism properly."
He continued: “It is a good job they finally adopted the standard internationally accepted definition of antisemitism and this must not now be reopened, rewritten or watered down.
"They still haven’t responded properly to the reasonable requests made by the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Labour Movement back in the spring. Most of all, they need to boot people responsible for racism out of the Labour Party.”
Thanking his constituents and members of the Jewish community for their support over the incident, Mr Austin also thanked his lawyer Simon Gallant.
"It is shocking that you have to get a leading lawyer to force the Labour Party to come to its senses when it is threatening to take action against one of its own members for complaining about racism,” Mr Austin said.
Labour Friends of Israel director Jennifer Gerber said: "Ian Austin should never have been subjected to this spurious investigation in the first place.
"It's a sad reflection on Labour's warped priorities that those who abuse Jews seem to get off scot free while those who fight antisemitism are investigated."
Tellingly deputy Labour leader Tom Watson later tweeted he was “very sorry” the decision to drop the investigation into Mr Austin “took so long to conclude but this is the right decision.”
