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Len McCluskey denies using antisemitic trope in Newsnight remarks on Mandelson
Unite union leader said Mandelson should ‘just go into a room and count his gold’
October 20, 2020 09:52
Unite union leader said Mandelson should ‘just go into a room and count his gold’
October 20, 2020 09:52Len McCluskey has denied he used an antisemitic trope after suggesting Labour Party grandee Lord Peter Mandelson should “just go into a room and count his gold.”
The Unite union's general secretary made his comments on BBC2’s Newsnight show after presenter Lewis Goodall told him he had interviewed Lord Mandelson who had been “nothing but full of praise for Keir Starmer”.
Mr McCluskey responded: “I stopped listening to what Peter Mandelson said many, many years ago. I would suggest Peter just goes into a room and counts his gold. Not worrying about what’s happening in the Labour Party – leave that to those of us who are interested in ordinary working class people.”
Mr Goodall had earlier noted in his report that “this debate as so often with antisemitism and Labour is one about language.”
The presenter then added: “When Mr McCluskey sat down with me he used language that could be considered an antisemitic trope.”
After speaking to the Labour peer he noted that he had a “Jewish grandfather.”
After Monday’s report, which looked into Sir Keir’s attempts to change Labour into an election winning force, a clarification of Mr McCluskey’s remarks was read out.
The statement by Unite said: “Mr Mandelson’s religion was not relevant to the comments made by Mr McCluskey.
“Indeed to the best of our knowledge Mr Mandelson is not Jewish.
“The ordinary meaning of the statement made by Mr McCluskey is one of his belief that in recent years Mr Mandelson has had more interest in increasing his own wealth than fighting for justice for working class people. The suggestion of any antisemitic meaning to the commentary would be ludicrous.”
Mr McCluskey later tweeted::”Before this gets out of hand, let me say language is important and I apologise to Peter Mandelson and anyone else if mine has caused hurt.”
The family of Lord Mandelson’s father, George, were Jewish and his grandfather founded the Harrow United Synagogue. His father, also known as Tony, worked as advertising manager at the JC.
His grandfather on his mother’s side, Herbert, was a Labour Party cabinet minister under Clement Attlee.
Mr Mandelson told Newsnight that he believed the Labour leader would have “no alternative” but to take action against anyone in the party named adversely in the forthcoming EHRC report into antisemitism in the party.
In 2017 Mr McCluskey sparked fury when he suggested antisemitism claims in Labour were “mood music” to undermine Jeremy Corbyn.
More recently he described Sir Keir’s decision to settle the libel case with the Panorama antisemitism whistleblowers as an “abuse of members’ money.”
Since becoming leader, Sir Keir has also regularly faced insults from left-wing activists who claim he is under the control of “Zionists.”
The JC has contacted the Labour leader for comment.
Mike Katz, the chair of Jewish Labour, tweeting that he was “pretty disgusted” by the Unite general secretary's language.
