KEN Macintosh yesterday hit out at suspended former London mayor Ken Livingstone as the anti-Semitism row continued to engulf his party.
Livingstone was suspended for “bringing the party into disrepute” in a series of interviews in which he defended Bradford West MP Naz Shah from allegations of anti-Jewish prejudice.
Shah lost the party whip the previous day pending an investigation into social media posts made about Israel before winning her seat last year, including suggestions that the country should be moved to America.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn came under intense pressure after Livingstone gave a series of interviews in which he called Shah “over the top” but said her comments were not anti-Semitic and he had never encountered anti-Semitism in 40 years in the Labour Party.
Livingstone then went on to claim Hitler had supported Zionism “before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”. The remarks provoked heated reaction amongst Labour Party colleagues, with current London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan branding them “appalling and inexcusable” and, in an outburst caught on radio and television, Labour backbencher John Mann called Livingstone a “Nazi apologist”.
Yesterday, Labour Eastwood candidate Ken Macintosh, who has twice run for Scottish Labour leader, visited health and social care organisation Jewish Care in the constituency as he added his condemnation.
Macintosh said: “These comments from Ken Livingstone are utterly reprehensible and deplorable. I am pleased the party has taken immediate action to suspend Livingstone and we need to follow that action up by sending out the clearest message possible that there is no place for anti-Semitism in our party or in our society.”
He added: “We pride ourselves on being a liberal, tolerant society but we also need to recognise that it is still not easy to be a member of a minority community here in Scotland.
“In recent years, Scotland’s Jewish community has been hugely unsettled by our country’s response to international events, particularly the flying of Palestinian flags from public buildings.
“Many of us have worked hard to send out a strong, zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitic sentiment and comments like these we have been hearing from Livingstone undermine that effort.
“If we do not acknowledge that a problem exists, it is difficult to tackle it and Livingstone needs to recognise that anti-Semitism denial is not the response the Labour Party expects of him.”
Corbyn yesterday said he was “sad” to have suspended friend Livingstone but there are “very grave concerns about the language he used”.
Denying a crisis in the party, he added: “Anybody that thinks this party is not cracking down on anti-Semitism is simply wrong.
“We have suspended where appropriate, we have investigated all cases. We will not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form whatsoever in the party.
“There’s no crisis. Where there is any racism in the party it will be dealt with, it will be rooted out.”
However, Jon Lansman, chair of the Momentum group of Corbyn supporters, has called on Livingstone to quit politics, saying: “All political lives end in failure and he should now depart voluntarily.”
Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “He is a hardened politician who has spent his political career accommodating anti-Semitic extremists and making anti-Semitic gaffes.
“Jeremy Corbyn should understand that zero tolerance for racism is all or nothing, and it is time for Ken Livingstone to be banished or for Corbyn to stop pretending to oppose racism.”
Meanwhile, Mann has been rebuked over his conduct, which was described by the party as “completely inappropriate”.
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