Labour suspends Chris Williamson
Chris Williamson MP has been suspended from the Labour Party after he claimed Labour had been “too apologetic” over anti-Semitism.
The party decided to take action against the Derby North MP following a furious outcry from Labour MPs, with Tom Watson accusing him of bringing the party into disrepute and saying his comments had breached Labour’s code of conduct on anti-Semitism.
Labour imnitially refused to suspend Mr Williamson, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, before bowing to pressure from angry PLP members.
It come after footage emerged of Mr Williamson telling Momentum activists at a meeting that Labour was being “demonised as a racist, bigoted party” and had “given too much ground” in its response.
He later apologised and said he deeply regretted his choice of words, but West Bromwich East MP Mr Watson said: “It is not good enough. If it was in my gift I would have removed the whip from him already.”
In a letter to Labour’s chief whip Nick Brown, and general secretary Jennie Formby, West Bromwich East MP Mr Watson said Mr Williamson had “undermined” the party’s attempts to tackle anti-Semitism.
Mr Watson said his behaviour was “completely unacceptable, brings the party into disrepute and amounts to a Labour MP breaching the party’s code of conduct on anti-Semitism in a public forum”.
Mr Watson formally requested Mr Williamson's suspension, which was confirmed by the party a short time ago.
Mr Williamson’s comments led to outrage from several MPs, and prompted Theresa May to urge Mr Corbyn to suspend him during PMQs.
Reacting to Mr Williamson's suspension, Labour MP Wes Streeting said: "I strongly welcome the suspension of Chris Williamson.
"We got there eventually and I hope that this sends a message to other people in the Labour Party that dismissing or delegitimising concerns about anti-Semitism isn’t acceptable."
Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: "The suspension of Chris Williamson under duress shows that the Labour Party no longer possesses moral initiative.
"That is why we have referred Labour to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for investigation, because the Party’s leaders clearly have no intention of addressing anti-Semitism themselves.”
Mr Watson also urged the party’s leadership to block a Parliamentary event planned by Mr Williamson featuring a screening of a controversial film of suspended Labour member Jackie Walker.
