Labour 'failing Jewish community' with Livingstone ruling, says Tom Watson

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, has accused his party of failing the Jewish community and bringing “shame on us all”, after a disciplinary panel decided not to expel Ken Livingstone for suggesting Hitler supported Zionism.

Senior party figures, including shadow cabinet ministers, called for the decision to be reviewed after the disciplinary body ruled that Livingstone should be suspended for another year for bringing the party into disrepute.

The decision also caused senior Jewish politicians to question their future in the party, with Lord Levy, the chief fundraiser under Tony Blair, threatening to leave.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Levy said: “Do I stay in the party? It is something that I’m going to reflect on very seriously. I am very upset with the party’s attitude. I do not believe there has been a zero-tolerance policy towards antisemitism.”

Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, said it was “deeply disappointing” that the suspension did not reflect the severity of the verdict, while Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said the sanction should have been expulsion.

Livingstone, a former mayor of London who has been a member for almost 50 years, was censured by the party for suggesting that Hitler at one point supported Zionism, and for defending the Labour MP Naz Shah over an antisemitic Facebook post for which she has apologised.

But Livingstone, who has refused to apologise, said the panel decided not to expel him because of his long history of contributions to the party.

Watson said he found it “incomprehensible that our elected lay members on the disciplinary panel found Ken Livingstone guilty of such serious charges, and then concluded that he can remain a member of the Labour party”.

“When I read the words of Chief Rabbi Mirvis, who says that ‘the Labour party has failed the Jewish community, it has failed its members and it has failed all those who believe in zero tolerance of antisemitism’, I can’t disagree with him. I wish I could, but I can’t. I am ashamed that we have allowed Mr Livingstone to cause such distress,” he said.

“It isn’t just Jewish people who feel disgusted and offended by what Mr Livingstone said and by the way he has conducted himself over this matter, and it isn’t just Jewish Labour members who feel ashamed of any indulgence of his views anywhere in the Labour party. This shames us all, and I’m deeply saddened by it.”

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Watson also criticised Livingstone’s “unrepentant media appearances in recent days”, which he argued have “continued to discredit the party”.

“My party is not living up to its commitment to have a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism,” he said. “I will continue the fight to ensure that it does, and I will press my colleagues to do so too.”

Livingstone repeated his claims in recent days that Hitler at one point supported Zionism by backing a deal to relocate Jews to Palestine. His comments refer to the Haavara agreement signed by the Nazi government, which facilitated the relocation of some Jews to Palestine in 1933, before the Third Reich began its mass extermination.

However, Livingstone’s claim that the agreement had meant Hitler was supportive of a Jewish homeland has been widely disputed by historians including Prof Richard Evans, the expert witness for the defence in the high-profile libel case brought by the Holocaust denier David Irving.

A number of senior Labour politicians are calling on the party hierarchy to reconsider its decision, with Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, calling for Livingstone to be expelled.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, also called for a rethink:

Jewish Labour MPs expressed their disappointment and anger, with Luciana Berger saying it was an appalling decision, Ivan Lewis urging more Labour colleagues to speak out against the decision and Ruth Smeeth saying Livingstone’s actions were “despicable and dangerous”.

In a defiant series of interviews afterwards Livingstone said he had nothing to apologise for and would need to consider whether to challenge the suspension.

David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary, told BBC Radio 5 Live that he was grieving for the party. Speaking before Livingstone was suspended, he said: “One of the reasons I grieve for the state of the Labour party is I never believed we would see the day when antisemitism and Labour were being discussed in the same sentence.”

The decision not to expel Livingstone permanently was met with widespread dismay in the Jewish community. Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said relations between the Labour party and the Jewish community had reached an all-time low.

Britain’s chief rabbi accused Labour of failing the Jewish community by not expelling Livingstone. “This was a chance for the Labour party to show that it would not tolerate wilful and unapologetic baiting of the Jewish community by shamefully using the Holocaust as a tool with which to inflict the maximum amount of offence,” said Ephraim Mirvis.

“Worryingly, the party has yet again failed to show that it is sufficiently serious about tackling the scourge of antisemitism. The Labour party has failed the Jewish community, it has failed its members and it has failed all those who believe in zero tolerance of antisemitism.”

Several more Labour MPs have joined the criticism. The former shadow environment secretary Rachael Maskell tweeted:

The former shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said:

Earlier, Yvette Cooper, the former Labour leadership candidate, said the party hierarchy must review its decision.

“It’s not enough to say the words zero tolerance on antisemitism – Labour has to put them into practice,” she said.