Watson welcomes anti-Semitism probe
A criminal investigation has been launched into allegations of anti-Semitic hate crimes within the Labour Party.
Met Police chief Cressida Dick said officers had reviewed a leaked party dossier detailing 45 cases of alleged anti-Semitism that was passed to them in September by the radio station LBC.
The probe, described as being 'of great concern' by Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, includes cases involving an activist who posted on Facebook that a Jewish woman Labour MP was 'about to get a good kicking', and a Labour councillor who was accused of inflicting '10 years of hell' on a child by calling him 'Jew boy'.
Ms Dick says the Met had a duty to assess the material and not dismiss it, adding that she hoped to be able to conduct the investigations quickly.
"We would always want institutions and political parties and similar to be able to regulate themselves," she said.
"However, if somebody passes us material which they say amounts to a crime we have a duty to look at that and not just dismiss it.
"We have been assessing some material that was passed to me, in a radio studio of all things, about two months ago and we are now investigating some of that material because it appears there may have been crime committed."
Ms Dick insisted the Met was not investigating the Labour Party itself.
In September LBC received an internal Labour dossier detailing cases involving messages posted by party members on social media, including one which read: "We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all."
The broadcaster passed the leaked material to former senior police officer Mak Chishty, who said that 17 instances should have been reported to the police for investigation, and another four were potential race hate crimes.
West Bromwich East MP Mr Watson told the Express & Star: "This is obviously cause for great concern to everyone in the Labour party and we hope that the police inquiry establishes the facts of the allegations made.
"I have spoken out in recent months of the need for the Labour party to tighten its procedures to demonstrate to the public that we can deal with our problems with anti-Semitism and racism.
"Our new general secretary has made anti-Semitism her top priority.
"She has appointed for the first time, an in-house barrister, who has made our disciplinary procedures more robust, and we have elected a larger number of people to our internal communications to deal with disciplinary matters so the process can be completed more quickly."
A Labour party spokesman said: "The Labour party has a robust system for investigating complaints of alleged breaches of Labour party rules by its members.
"Where someone feels they have been a victim of crime, they should report it to the police in the usual way."
Labour's ruling NEC agreed to adopt in full an international definition of anti-Semitism in September, following a long-running row over the leadership's handling of the issue.
It agreed to incorporate all 11 examples of anti-Semitism cited by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance into its code of conduct.
But Jewish groups and MPs including Dudley North MP Ian Austin criticised a highly controversial accompanying statement which the party said was aimed at protecting free speech.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said there was a 'deeply embedded' culture of anti-Semitism within parts of Labour.
"This comes as no surprise to us," said the organisation's vice president Amanda Bowman.
"We have repeatedly set out what Labour needs to do, including taking firm action against anti-Semites and making its opaque processes transparent."
