Warren Morgan

Labour’s anti-Semitic followers aren’t welcome in Brighton

When Labour last came to Brighton for its annual conference, I sat in a studio listening to people who had faced abuse because they were Jewish. I heard statements recorded at a fringe event suggesting it was fine to question whether the Holocaust had ever happened. As leader of the city’s council, I had to act. I wrote a letter saying Labour would not be welcome back in Brighton if it failed to sort out its issues with anti-Semitism. Two years on, I have been forced out of the party I loved. But Labour’s dark problem remains.

The backlash against my message was swift and took me by surprise. I had been a member of the party for a quarter of a century. Perhaps I was naïve, but Jeremy Corbyn’s vow to root out racism made me feel I was helping. And what is an elected politician for if they don’t speak out on a subject like this?

Yet few of my fellow Labour members seemed to agree. The charge from some in my local party and Momentum was that I’d always opposed Jeremy Corbyn. This was a chance, they said, for me to ‘weaponise’ ‘fabricated smears’ of anti-Semitism against him. They claimed I had brought the party into disrepute, insisting I should have raised any concerns in house.

But it was clear to me that this is not the way to do things. When the EDL wanted to return to Brighton in 2014 to hold another ‘March for England’ demonstration, I told the organiser of the event publicly that they were not welcome. Representatives of the city’s Muslim community had made it clear to me they wouldn’t feel safe; it was right to show my support and take a stand. I can only imagine the response of my local party chair had I said: “I’ve sent a strongly-worded letter to the national secretary of the EDL, best leave it to them to sort and not make any fuss in public.

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