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Dame Margaret Hodge threatened with disciplinary action after calling Jeremy Corbyn an 'anti-Semite'

Dame Margaret Hodge, a former minister, has been told action will be taken against her after she lashed out at the Labour leader over the decision to reject an internationally recognised definition of Jew hatred
Dame Margaret Hodge, a former minister, has been told action will be taken against her after she lashed out at the Labour leader over the decision to reject an internationally recognised definition of Jew hatred

A Jewish MP could be ousted from Labour for calling Jeremy Corbyn a “racist” during a furious row over the party’s new code of conduct on anti-Semitism.

Dame Margaret Hodge, a former minister, has been told action will be taken against her after she lashed out at the Labour leader over the decision to reject an internationally recognised definition of Jew hatred.

The decision has incensed moderate Labour MPs and risks reigniting a bitter row which has for months pitted Mr Corbyn’s allies against those who believe the party leadership has failed to crack down on anti-Semites.

They believe the decision is particularly damaging because Dame Margaret is the descendant of a German Jewish family, a number of whom were murdered during the Holocaust.

In an unrepentant article published last night, Dame Margaret reiterated her claim that Mr Corbyn is “now perceived by many as an anti-Semite”, adding that a growing number of Jews, party members and the wider public have come to see Labour as a “racist party”.

Labour and anti-Semitism | Read more
Labour and anti-Semitism | Read more

Despite being threatened with disciplinary action, she said she would not apologise for her behaviour and stood by “my action as well as my words”.

Turning to the source of her anger, she said Labour’s governing body had chosen to “weaken and change” what is deemed to be anti-Semitism by refusing to adopt the widely accepted version established by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

“The arrogance displayed by the Labour leadership takes one’s breath away,” she wrote in The Guardian. “The party could have adopted the international definition in full...instead it chose to offend Jews.

“It chose to make the party a hostile environment for Jews. It chose to entrench antisemitism.”

Last night Mr Corbyn’s spokesman said Dame Margaret’s remarks were “clearly unacceptable” and revealed the party would now be taking action against her.

Asked whether the party could make an exception for Dame Margaret, the spokesman simply reiterated his previous remarks.  

Whilst he refused to specify what measures were being taken, it is understood that if her remarks  judged to have brought the party into disrepute, she may face suspension and even expulsion.

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It comes less than 24 hours after Dame Margaret confronted Mr Corbyn in Parliament over the decision by Labour’s governing body provoked outrage among, MPs, Jewish leaders and the Chief Rabbi by adopting their own definition of anti-Semitism.

They had been urged to adopt the IHRA version, which is used by governments and public bodies around the world, but instead chose to instate a code which amends four specific examples of what constitutes anti-Semitism.

Last night Luciana Berger MP, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, hit back at the party leadership, as she urged them to “listen and act rather than condemn her”.

“Margaret Hodge is a formidable MP and an asset to our party,” she added. “Her family were murdered in the Holocaust and she thrashed the far right in Barking”.

Echoing her comments, David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, said it was Mr Corbyn and his frontbench - not Dame Margaret - who had “brought the party into disrepute”.

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“How dare they preach about ‘respect between colleagues’ when this very code legitimises the most appalling disrespect [towards the Jewish community]”,” he continued.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “How about taking action against anti-Semites rather than against those calling antisemitism out? Extraordinary and just appalling.”

Elected as the MP for Barking in 1994, Dame Margaret held several ministerial briefs in Tony Blair’s Government and been a long-standing anti-racism campaigner.

Born in Egypt to Jewish refugee parents during the Second World War, she is the descendent of German and Austrian Jews, many of whom were murdered in the Holocaust.  

In an online article published on her website earlier this year, Dame Margaret said Labour’s anti-Semitism crisis had made her feel like an “outsider”, adding that the issue was one of the main reasons she joined the party in the Sixties.

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