Baroness Tonge urged to apologise for 'blaming Jeremy Corbyn's election defeat on Israel'

Nearly 90 peers from across the main political parties are calling on Baroness Tonge to apologise for saying Labour's defeat was due to Israeli attacks on Jeremy Corbyn.

After last week's election results, the 78-year-old peer, who sits as an independent, wrote on Facebook: "The Chief Rabbi must be dancing in the street.

"The pro-Israel lobby won our General Election by lying about Jeremy Corbyn."

A group of 88 former ministers, lawyers and industry leaders later urged her to say sorry for bringing the House of Lords into disrepute.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the peers said her use of language "falls well short" of the highest standard required by those in public life, including members of the Lords.

"Her language is both shameful and in clear contravention of the United Kingdom's adoption of IHRA’s definition of Antisemitism," the letter read.

"Baroness Tonge has brought Parliament into disrepute and we demand that she withdraws her remarks and issues a full and unqualified apology without delay.”

Following the publication of the letter, Lady Tonge apologised for her comments, saying they were intended as a "light-hearted remark."

In a statement to the Standard, Ms Tonge said: "The reports I read during the election campaign were that people were bring put off voting for the Labour Party in large numbers because of Jeremy Corbyn, who has been labelled as anti-Semitic by many opponents including the Chief Rabbi.

"I have known Jeremy Corbyn for many years and know without doubt that he is not anti-Semitic, far from it," she went on.

"It was extraordinary for the Chief Rabbi, who only represents about half of synagogue attending Jews in this country, to endorse such political statements in the middle of an election campaign and he must have been very pleased with the result."

"I am sorry, however, if some people are offended by the thought of the Chief Rabbi dancing in the street. It was a light hearted remark, not intended to offend."

Lady Tonge was the LibDem MP for Richmond Park from 1997 to 2005.

She was suspended from the party in 2016 after hosting an event where an audience member suggested that Jewish people were responsible for the Holocaust.

A year later, she apologised for sharing an offensive cartoon which appeared to compare the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to the Holocaust.

The 78-year-old peer deleted the post but it was reported to the Metropolitan Police by former secretary of state Theresa Villiers after her constituents in Barnet complained.

The letter was signed by peers including Lord Pickles, the Government's special envoy for post-Holocaust issues, Lord Young of Cookham, the former Chief Whip, and Lord Levey, the former Labour party fund raiser, the Telegraph said.

Lord Pickles added: "For too long Baroness Tonge has used her position in Parliament to make Jewish people feel uncomfortable."

He went on to say the "unprecedented" number of Lords members to sign the letter shows that her fellow peers have "had enough of her irresponsible antics."

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