A hard-left Hollyoaks actor is behind a letter signed by more than 50 Liverpool Labour members blaming “pro-Israel MPs” for an "antisemitism witch-hunt” against expelled activist Jackie Walker and suspended MP Chris Williamson.
John Graham-Davies – who is also a member of Jewish MP Dame Louise Ellman's local party – has circulated his “Hands Off The Left” letter across Labour branches in Liverpool to protest Ms Walker's expulsion from the party, over allegations involving antisemitism, and to “defend the movement around Jeremy Corbyn”.
Signatories backing the message, which includes the claim that “pro-Israel Labour MPs” would “prefer a pro-Israel Conservative government to a socialist Labour government, critical of Israel” include senior members of the Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) in Riverside, Wavertee, Bootle, Walton and Birkenhead.
Reacting furiously, ex-Liverpool Mayor Malcolm Kennedy, a Labour councillor, told the JC: "While everybody, including Jeremy Corbyn, Jon Lansmann and Tom Watson, have at least accepted that Labour has an antisemitism problem, these 'honest socialists' continue to claim it is a fraud and a smear.
“This assorted bunch of Trotskyites, Communists and outright antisemites are just one of the barriers to positive change in the Labour Party.”
Another Liverpool Labour member said the letter was “from a small band of extremists who have been given the green light to dominate local politics under Jeremy Corbyn gives every decent member of the Labour Party in our city a bad name”.
Despite focussing its attack on “pro-Israel” MPs, the letter then accuses the same MPs of being “more interested in spreading smears about honest socialists” than dealing with the “effects of continuing Tory austerity cuts and poverty.”
Mr Graham-Davies is an avid campaigner with the Liverpool Friends of Palestine group and a supporter of the BDS movement. He regularly uses the name Johnny Beggs on written material he circulates.
He played Les Hunter in Channel Four's Hollyoaks between 2001 and 2005 and also starred in ITV drama See No Evil: The Moors Murders.
Liverpool Wavertree activists were among those to parade outside the city’s Lime Street railway station last Friday, brandishing Palestinian flags at a demo staged to mark the anniversary of the Hamas backed March of Return on the Gaza border with Israel.
Barry Kushner, a local councillor, who previously endorsed Liam Moore, a council candidate who was forced to step down over antisemitic, was among those to speak at the pro-Palestinian protest.
Several Liverpool CLPs have been rocked by allegations of antisemitism and bullying.
Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger quit the party in February after being the subject of constant threats and abuse, saying she believed Labour had become “institutionally antisemitic”.
Meanwhile, a leaked report into Liverpool Riverside, sent to Labour’s ruling body the NEC, revealed members had “physically threatened” MP Dame Louise, called her “JLM [Jewish Labour Movement] b*tch” and subjected her to “obsessive interrogations” about Israel.
Deputy leader Tom Watson recently vowed to take investigate the problem in the city, calling Ms Berger’s decision to leave a “wake up call.”
