Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl has today sent a letter to the Shadow Cabinet, members of the Parliamentary Labour Party and Labour’s National Executive Committee with detailed steps as to how Labour can begin to rid itself of anti-Jewish racism, following Panorama’s devastating exposé of the crisis within the party last week.
The letter offers the minimum steps which need to be taken to resolve the crisis, and covers disciplinary cases, relations with expelled and suspended members, education, engagement with the Jewish community, communications, leadership and process.
In the letter, Marie van der Zyl calls upon Jeremy Corbyn and senior staff including Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy, who according the whistleblowers, “shoulder a significant share of the blame”, to “take personal responsibility for resolving this crisis.”
Marie concludes: “We urge you to take this opportunity to turn the tide. The alternative is to leave Labour permanently damaged as an institutionally racist party. Our community and our country will not forgive any further failure.”
The letter has been made available to the Equality and Human Rights Commission which is conducting an investigation into anti-Jewish racism in the Labour Party.
Read the full letter here.