Liberal Democratic peer Baroness Tonge is to attend a pro-Palestinian conference from which she had been asked by an anti-racist group to withdraw.
The anti-BNP Nothing British group called on her to pull out of the event organised by the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) in London over an apparent invitation to the far-right Hungarian MP Kristina Morvai.
Baroness Tonge, confirming her attendance this week, said: “Ms Morvai is not attending the conference. I understand the invitation was never issued formally.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Jenny Tonge is speaking at the conference in a personal capacity, having been assured by the organisers that Ms Morvai was never invited and will definitely not be speaking at the conference.”
A PRC researcher, Nasim Ahmed, said that Ms Morvai was “not among invited guests” to the conference.
But the organisation failed to explain how the name of the leader of the far-right Jobbik’s European Parliamentary faction appeared on press releases about the conference published by Palestinian sources last month.
In fact, Ms Morvai’s name was still visible on Wednesday among the listed participants for the event, on a website called the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza.
The website gives the same address for the European Campaign as that for the PRC and lists the PRC as one of its formative organisations.
Maurice Cousins, of Nothing British, said that the group wanted Baroness Tonge and the PRC to “clarify Ms Morvai’s invitation to this event”.
He said: “Kristina Morvai has a strong relationship with BNP leader Nick Griffin.”
Earlier this year, according to Ha’aretz, Ms Morvai, in an open letter to Hungary’s Israeli ambassador at the time of the Gaza offensive, wrote: “The only way to talk to people like you is by assuming the style of Hamas. I wish all of you lice-infested, dirty murderers will receive Hamas’ s kisses.’”
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