Jeremy Corbyn suspended from Labour Party

I wish people would acknowledge that before 2018 there was no process in the LP for dealing with anti-semitism complaints. The reason possibly being that the party had a leader of Jewish descent until 2015. (Media coverage of him eating a bacon sandwich was not apparently anti-semitic) There was then a sudden upsurge of complaints which were blocked and delayed by office staff. The complaints process that is in place was established by Corbyn and Jennie Formby. Criticise by all means that process but was it really better to have nothing? Was it Corbyn's fault that there was nothing in place? Or his fault that LP office staff actively worked against investigating complaints? Or that he undertook what was advocated by many on GN, that is, he involved himself and his office in the complaints process?

What is the connection between the press taking a photograph
of Milliband eating a bacon sandwich and anti Semitism in
the labour Family ?

Milliband is a Jew who was elected party leader , no anti Semitism there.

David Miliband said he never experienced anti Semitism when he was a labour MP. Same for Margaret Hodge.

Before Corbyn became leader can anyone name a Jewish MP
who left the party because of anti Semitic attacks ?

Why was a picture of Milliband eating a bacon sandwich anti-semitic? He is not, and never has been a practising member of the Jewish religion.

One might as well take a photo of an MP of southern irish descent and an atheist eating a beef steak on a Friday and say it is anti-catholic because somewhere back in his history one of his ancestors must have been a practicing catholic.

It certainly never occurred to me it was an anti-semitic. I thought it was just a photo illustrating the point that a politician should never be photographed eating, which was the point made at the time.

I doubt if even 10% of the population know that the Millibands are of Jewish descent, then or now.

Did I say there was a connection between the media and the LP. Just an example of how common unintentional anti-semitism is and how it is over looked generally.
Ed Milliband is not "a Jew" he is of Jewish descent but is an agnostic.
Is Corbyn responsible for the lack of due process before 2018 and should he have intervened in the anti-semitism complaints as you and many others demanded Annie. Or was that in fact as the EHRC said wrong?

Or his fault that LP office staff actively worked against investigating complaints?

Of course it is. It is his job to make sure that things like that do not happen. It is what leaders are meant to do.

If he cannot even wield authority in his own office, how on earth can we believe that he had the qualities necessary to lead the country.

It doesn’t matter to antisemitists whether you are a practicing Jew or not - you are still Jewish.

You can convert to any religion and you will still be deemed a Jew by those who deem it a bad thing to be one.

There was this group acting on their own secretly sending massages to each other diverting money they got away with it.

Who would think Labour Party officials would work against their own leader to Loose a general election Must be unheard of unpresident

Really M0nica I would have thought it was obvious. He was pictured eating a bacon sandwich. definition of antisemitism - Anti-Semitism is based on stereotypes and myths that target Jews as a people, their religious practices and beliefs, and the Jewish State of Israel
One of the religious practices of Jews is that they have certain dietary restrictions. Would the photo have made the news paper if it had been a cheese sandwich?

Few typos there Grany ?

Grany not only did they get away with it they have been financially rewarded for it. How much did the BBC pay the "whistle blowers"? and then Starmer gave them more! They must be laughing all the way to the bank!

Well Said trisher

Yes lemon must check typos before pressing post message.

Yes agree trisher and McNichol got seat in House of Lords

Oh, for goodness sake trish, they just wanted a picture of him looking silly eating. The press didn't care whether it was a bacon sandwich, beef burger, or kebab. Every politician knows that they should avoid eating in public Just google photographs politician eating' and you will see my point. he was photographed eating a bacon sandwich because that is what he happened to be eating when the photo opportunity arose. Is he to stop eating bacon sandwiches in case someone takes a photograph?

It is fascinating that all you labour types are feasting over it ghoulishly as anti-semitic, when you are the only ones noticing this. As I said I doubt if one in hundred of the people who saw the picture even now know Milliband is Jewish.

There are plenty of really nasty examples of anti-semitism about for you not to see it where it isn't.

M0nica

Why was a picture of Milliband eating a bacon sandwich anti-semitic? He is not, and never has been a practising member of the Jewish religion.

One might as well take a photo of an MP of southern irish descent and an atheist eating a beef steak on a Friday and say it is anti-catholic because somewhere back in his history one of his ancestors must have been a practicing catholic.

It certainly never occurred to me it was an anti-semitic. I thought it was just a photo illustrating the point that a politician should never be photographed eating, which was the point made at the time.

I doubt if even 10% of the population know that the Millibands are of Jewish descent, then or now.

Dog whistle Monica

Indeed MOnica - here are some excerpts from an article about Luciana Berger in the Sunday Times yesterday,

“The former MP for Liverpool Wavertree — who had joined the party as a student and was in effect hounded out of it by antisemitism — received a message online threatening that she “would pay” for the suspension of the former leader Jeremy Corbyn. During a Live Chat session run by the Corbyn-sympathising Novara Media, anonymous commentators dubbed her “a vile fifth columnist” and “the face of evil”. On Twitter she was called a “criminal”, “duplicitous” and a host of misogynistic slurs, while all the classic antisemitic tropes were deployed: she was “an agent for a foreign power” and “Zionist scum”.
The volume and toxicity of what has come in the past 48 hours is an example of the problem that still permeates the left,” Berger said.

“They [former Corbyn supporters] are still seeking to do down the experience of Jewish members and former members.”

She is, unfortunately, used to this. While heavily pregnant with her son, Zion, now one year old, she had received death threats most days and needed a police escort to keep her safe outside the secure zone at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool two years ago.

In 2018 a letter was hand-delivered to her office from people claiming to be Corbyn supporters which said that she would have acid thrown at her, be stabbed and raped.

Perhaps the most egregious example of her treatment is by the party, though. She became aware of a physical threat to her only because of a leak: Labour had not told her or the police.”

It just goes to show how antisemitism slips into the media without people noticing M0nica. There was previously to this a long and detailed newspaper account about the Milliband's father and his political beliefs. So I think their heritage was proably wider known than you believe. If it was just eating why bother to identify the sandwich as bacon?

Glorybe, thank you so much for this detailed account of some of the abuse Luciana Berger suffered. I remain bemused that some continue to dispute the findings of the independent report.

Glorybee and how is that relevant? There are on Twitter and social media a number of people with abhorrent views who target MPs. Look at what was said to Diane Abbott if you want an example. It has little or nothing to do with the LP or Corbyn (although there are right wing activists who pursue all minority groups- white suprematists do exist you know)

No one who was shouting loudly on GN about how the leader had to take control of complaints and intervene has yet come back to admit they were wrong and the EHRC report is right. The Leader's office should stay out of complaints. In fact they still seem to be saying the opposite.

trisher the fact that the article appeared when it did had everything to do with the LP and (the suspension of) Corbyn-

“The volume and toxicity of what has come in the past 48 hours is an example of the problem that still permeates the left,” Berger said”

Trisher - in September 2018 when the NEC debated the IHRA definition of anti-semitism the Financial Times reported that Jeremy Corbyn -

"had wanted to include a statement that said: “It should not be considered anti-Semitic to describe, Israel, its policies or the circumstances around its foundation as racist because of their discriminatory impact.”

This would have contradicted one of the IHRA’s examples, which states it is anti-Semitic to be “claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour”."

This makes me wonder if Jeremy Corbyn had even bothered to read the definition. If he did, he obviously failed to understand it.

The article goes on to say:

"The Labour leader was over-ruled by various members including union officials and Rhea Wolfson, a Jewish member of the Momentum pro-Corbyn group.

James Cleverly, deputy chair of the Conservative party, said Mr Corbyn’s caveat showed that “he isn’t the solution to Labour’s anti-Semitism problem, he’s part of it”."

I don't usually agree with James Cleverley but history shows that he was absolutely right!

You really need to ditch your blinkers about Jeremy Corbyn. But I shan't be holding my breath....!!!

Trish why not. They would have said he was eating a burger if that is what he had been chowing at the a time. He is not the first and will not be the last politician to caught in inflagrante delictu looking silly eating something and if the reporter can indetify what they are eating they will say so.

You are getting more and more deeply mired in a rather nasty anti-semitism that makes it impossible for someone who is of Jewish ancestry to be seen doing anything that is possibly an anti-semitic meme because some one might quite innocently be accused of anti-semitism if they made any comment, no matter how innocently from it.

Yes, Guardian readers probably know about Millibands ancestry and their remarkable father, but how many people read the Guardian and how many Guardian readers read the in depth articles?

You clearly live in a wonderful bubble of political activists and never talk to ordinary people.

How did anyone know it was a bacon sandwich? Did they ask him? There are several kosher cold cuts that could be mistaken for bacon.

I thought that many people knew about the Milibands' ancestry and his mother's survival of WW2 in Poland.

Yes he lost a lot of relatives in the Holocaust.