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Labour suspend MP over Holocaust Memorial Day comments

Credit: STEFAN ROUSSEAU/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Oh dear. Every time Labour looks just about electable, up pops one of Keir Starmer’s MPs to help make that harder. Today it is the turn of Kate Osamor, one of the hard-of-thinking Corbynites who populate the opposition backbenches. She shot to fame back in 2018 when she threatened a Times reporter with a baseball bat after he had the temerity to ask her about her son’s conviction for drug offences. Nice, eh?

This weekend, Osamor has brought her famed diplomatic talents to the sensitive subject of Holocaust Memorial Day. She used the occasion to, er, call for the Israeli military action in Gaza to be remembered as ‘genocide’, in a message to party members in her Edmonton constituency. Alongside an image of her signing the Holocaust Educational Trust’s commemoration book in Westminster, the North London MP suggested that ‘Gaza’ should be added to a list of ‘recent genocides’ to be remembered alongside the murder of six million Jews.

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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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