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Chris Williamson's parliamentary pass taken away by MPs

His pass has been revoked until further notice due to his links with the Iranian-regime backed Press TV

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Disgraced former Labour MP Chris Williamson has lost his access to Parliament after a committee of MPs reviewed his security pass at a hearing earlier today.

His pass has been revoked until further notice due to his links with the Iranian-regime backed Press TV.

Concerns were raised about Williamson, the MP for Derby North from 2017 to 2019, holding a security pass to access the heart of power in the UK due to his position as a presenter of a show on Iranian state TV, MailOnline reported.

Williamson, a vocal supporter and ally of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was one of more than 300 former MPs that hold passes giving them access to Parliament.

The 66-year-old former MP has been hosting a show on Iran's Press TV - whose UK broadcast licence was revoked in 2012 - alongside sacked Bristol University professor David Miller since early last year.

The show, entitled 'Palestine Declassified', claims to provide "an in-depth look at the Palestine issue". However, the Community Security Trust's Dave Rich told the JC earlier this year: "Palestine Declassified is a litany of antisemitic conspiracy theories and stereotypes that has attacked Jewish schools, youth movements, interfaith groups, charities, academics and now even Jewish comedians.

"It is absurd, but also harmful, and brings shame on anyone associated with it."

The CST was forced to give security advice to Jewish schools after an episode last year that claimed that British children are being “indoctrinated”.

Williamson's Twitter account was labelled as "Iran state-affiliated media" last year, a designation he vehemently disputes.

He has also angered MPs and the public for his criticism of Ukraine, including claiming that the country's Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is "backed by literal Nazis" on the day that he made his historic address to Parliament.

He described Zelensky as a "neo-Nazi backed hypocrite", and said that both Conservative and Labour MPs "salivate about escalating the war in Ukraine".

After a number of controversies about comments regarding antisemitism in the Labour Party, Williamson was suspended in February 2019 after booking a room in Parliament for a screening of a film entitled "Witch Hunt".

He had also claimed that Labour had been "too apologetic" about its record on tackling antisemitism.

He was readmitted to the party in June 2019 with a formal warning, but he was suspended again just days later after a backlash from MPs and Jewish groups.

He was later prevented from standing as a Labour candidate in the 2019 general election. He decided to stand as an independent, and he won just 635 votes and came last.

Former MPs are able to obtain passes allowing them access to Parliament, but applications can be refused by the parliamentary authorities in certain circumstances.

Records show that Williamson has held a pass since July 2020, which was seven months after he failed to be re-elected as MP for Derby North as an independent.

In a statement to MailOnline about these tweets, Williamson said: "My former colleagues in Parliament are in thrall to Nato militarism, which endangers British and global security.

"Nato's cheerleaders in Parliament are allied with — and arming — Nazis in Ukraine who were behind the Kyiv regime's eight-year-long bombardment of the Donbas region prior to the Russian special operation.

"If they were serious about ending the war in Ukraine, they would have counselled Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cease his bluster and get to the negotiating table."

On his parliamentary pass, he said: "The confected controversy over my parliamentary pass, which are routinely held by all former MPs, is another reminder of the disturbing scale of censorship that pervades British society today.

"Anyone who doesn't fall in line to idly cheer America's wars is particularly vulnerable to state censure."

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