Keir Starmer has sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey as shadow education secretary after she tweeted praise for an interview in which the actor Maxine Peake said the US police tactic of kneeling on someone’s neck was taught by the Israeli secret service.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews had condemned Long-Bailey’s actions and called for her to delete the tweet and apologise. Long-Bailey sent a second tweet saying her praise was not “intended to be an endorsement of all aspects of the article”.
Soon afterwards, the Labour leader’s office issued a statement saying Long-Bailey, who came second to Starmer in this year’s Labour leadership race, had been sacked.
“This afternoon Keir Starmer asked Rebecca Long-Bailey to step down from the shadow cabinet,” a spokesman said. “The article Rebecca shared earlier today contained an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
“As leader of the Labour party, Keir has been clear that restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority. Antisemitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it.”
In a subsequent Twitter thread, Long-Bailey said her initial clarification had been made in “wording agreed in advance by the Labour party leader’s office”, but that Starmer’s team then instructed her to delete both her original tweet and the update.
She said: “I could not do this in good conscience without the issuing of a press statement of clarification. I had asked to discuss these matters with Keir before agreeing what further action to take, but sadly he had already made his decision.”
She added: “I am clear that I shall continue to support the Labour party in parliament under Keir Starmer’s leadership.”
Jewish groups praised Starmer’s action. The Board of Deputies credited Starmer for “backing his words with actions on antisemitism”, while the Jewish Labour Movement said the sacking was “welcomed”.
But it prompted dismay among supporters of Long-Bailey. John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, tweeted: “Throughout discussion of antisemitism it’s always been said criticism of practices of Israeli state is not antisemitic. I don’t believe therefore that this article is or @RLong_Bailey should’ve been sacked. I stand in solidarity with her.”
Matt Zarb-Cousin, who worked as a media adviser under Corbyn and led Long-Bailey’s communications team during her leadership bid, tweeted: “Apparently we’re now more willing to sack our own frontbenchers than call for the sacking of government frontbenchers” – a reference to Starmer’s decision to not call openly for Robert Jenrick to lose his job as communities secretary.
Long-Bailey had tweeted: “Maxine Peake is an absolute diamond,” linking to an interview with the Independent in which the actor said the practice of kneeling on a person’s neck – which led to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis – was “learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services”. Israel denies this.
Long-Bailey later added: “I retweeted Maxine Peake’s article because of her significant achievements and because the thrust of her argument is to stay in the Labour party. It wasn’t intended to be an endorsement of all aspects of the article.”
Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies, had criticised Long-Bailey’s decision to not delete the first tweet, saying: “As someone who aspires to be the next education secretary, we would expect her to read and understand materials before sharing them. If she is incapable of doing this, it raises serious and immediate questions about her suitability for the role.”
In a later statement, Van der Zyl said: “I would like to thank Keir Starmer for backing his words with actions on antisemitism. After Rebecca Long-Bailey shared a conspiracy theory, we and others gave her the opportunity to retract and apologise. To our surprise and dismay, her response was pathetic. Her position as shadow education secretary was therefore untenable.
“There can be no space for this sort of action in any party and it is right that after so many challenging years Labour is now making this clear under its new leader.”
The Jewish Labour movement tweeted: “The culture of an organisation is determined by the values of those who lead it. We welcome Keir Starmer’s actions and hope that the party, at every level, reflect and learn from this.”
Long-Bailey was seen as the standard bearer for the pro-Corbyn wing of Labour in the race to succeed him as leader. She won just under 28% of members’ votes, while Starmer took 56%.
Upon taking over, Starmer pledged to tackle complaints about antisemitism within parts of Labour that many Jewish organisations said had been treated with insufficient seriousness under Corbyn.
source https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/25/keir-starmer-sacks-rebecca-long-bailey-from-shadow-cabinet
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