The Londoner: Rachel Riley ups the ante over anti-Semitism

Countdown’s Rachel Riley spent Christmas Day watching six hours of documentaries about anti-Semitism as she continues her fight against what she says is a “national scandal”.

“In the name of Labour,” Riley told a Holocaust Educational Trust reception last night, “I’ve been called a hypocrite, lying propagandist, tits, teeth and ass clothes horse, dolly bird, weaponiser of anti-Semitism, fascist, Right-wing extremist, Nazi sympathiser.”

Riley, who calls herself a “non-religious Jew”, became a committed anti-Semitism campaigner in March last year and is angry about what she sees as a particular issue with the Labour Party. She says the abuse she receives on Twitter comes from accounts with “markers of the red Labour rose” that claim “to be ‘against racism in ALL forms’”, which Riley says are their “signature giveaways”.

It is an ongoing problem, Riley claimed at the annual Lord Merlyn-Rees reception, where Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Dame Margaret Hodge also spoke.Riley told the audience “no one should have to risk their safety, and jeopardise their career, speaking out against anti-Semitism in Britain in 2019”.

But she also turned her fire not just on semi-anonymous accounts but on Karl Hansen, adviser to Labour frontbencher Andy McDonald, who accused Riley of “smears” against her opponents, and added “she isn’t standing up to bullying, she is a bully”. “This is a tactic used over and over again against Jews,” Riley said last night, “and indeed anyone speaking out against anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.” Riley admitted that the fight against anti-Semitism was “currently consuming my life” but that her level of engagement was “directly proportional to the amount of anti-Semitism and hostility to Jews and their allies”. She had, she said, “read books, watched videos, taken an online course, spoken to experts, spoken to Jewish groups, spoken to Labour Party members and MPs” as well as watching the six hours of documentaries.

The Londoner contacted the Labour Party for comment today but it did not respond by the time of going to press.

Abbott to the rescue

The news that Diane Abbott is replacing Kate Osamor on Labour’s National Executive Committee is a “net gain” for Labour People’s Vote campaigners as they try to force Jeremy Corbyn’s hand on a second referendum.

The Labour People’s Vote Strategy relies on polling the Labour membership, which can only be done after a vote in the NEC.

Abbott is a “Remainer at heart”, according to a source, so it is good news for their hopes.

The crunch meeting for the NEC is on Tuesday — will Abbott swing the balance in the favour of People’s Vote or stay loyal to the leadership?

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Wetherspoons News, the pub chain’s seasonal customer magazine, was found to contain copy taken directly from other publications, including The Spectator. It has now promised recompense. “Spoons vouchers are in the post,” editor Fraser Nelson says. “I’m pushing for Christmas party,” deputy political editor Katy Balls adds.

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The “gruesome twosome” — Theresa May’s sacked advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill — were reunited over a drink in Victoria last night. Should Tories worry? David Davis told The Londoner recently: “The trouble is they only really work as a team, those two. They are worth more together than the sum of their parts.”

Poppy turns to Milk in her enforced year of sobriety

London’s fashion stalwarts partied at Notting Hill’s Laylow last night as they hailed the arrival of American cosmetics brand Milk Makeup in the capital.

Alice Temperley, Betty Bachz, Katie Keight and Poppy Delevingne were among the fashionable crowd at the launch hosted by founder Zanna Roberts Rassi. Poppy has been working hard on her acting career, and “filming a lot”. “I just haven’t had enough hangovers this year,” she joked a few months ago, explaining: “when I film, I don’t drink. Because I cannot. For me, this acting career [is] like starting a new job, it’s the first day of school.”

Delevingne may now, however, have cause for distraction: it was reported yesterday that the model has been selected as the new face of Cath Kidston.

It’s the first time in the kitsch homeware and fashion brand’s 25-year history that they have enlisted a celebrity to front a campaign. Poppy is the older sister of Cara, who has been the face of Dior, Burberry and Yves Saint Laurent.

SW1A

Anna Soubry was asked to play Snog, Marry, Avoid with Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Jeremy Corbyn on a live chat with Mumsnet. Her answers? “Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.” Later she was asked on the forum if she would ever run for prime minister. Her curt reply? “I think people have had enough of 62-year-old women.” Theresa May is, of course, 62.

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Daniel Kawczynski is making headlines for inviting the Polish government to veto a possible extension of Article 50. One journalist recalls the Shrewsbury MP in late June 2016, with the Tory leadership contest in full swing, declaring support “for our next Prime Minister, Michael Grove!”

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North Dorset MP Simon Hoare, who backs Theresa May’s deal, says, “I know the feeling” in response to a picture of Rorke’s Drift, where 139 soldiers fought against 4,000 Zulu warriors in 1879. Who are the warriors? Remainers?

The only way is up

Dame Anna Wintour must be hoping to get the Duchess of Sussex on the cover of American Vogue: she is defending her against rumours of diva behaviour which followed reports of staff departures.

“I read somewhere there were members of the royal household that were confused and upset that she woke up so early at 5am,” she says in video series Go Ask Anna.

“She’s a normal California girl [who] gets up early and does yoga and meditates — and sends a lot of text messages.

“I mean, what do they expect? That she was going to send messages via pigeon?”

Quote of the day

'In Westminster, we are deep in Alice in Wonderland'

Diplomat, Sir Ivan Rogers, on the halluconigenic state of our Brexit negotiations.