Momentum official replaces veteran chair of Labour's disputes panel

Senior leftwing Labour figures have used their new dominance on the party’s governing body to immediately replace the longstanding chair of a key panel that considers disciplinary matters.

The vote to remove Ann Black from her role on the disputes panel and replace her with Christine Shawcroft came a day after the balance of power on the national executive committee shifted further in Jeremy Corbyn’s favour.

NEC members backed Shawcroft, who is a director of the grassroots campaign group Momentum, by 22 to 15, in a move that led to internal clashes between figures on different wings of the party.

One source claimed the leadership team had become frustrated by Black after she voted to make it harder for new Corbyn supporters to vote in his second leadership election.

But another figure on the NEC said they believed the motivation for Tuesday’s vote had been to limit the number of Labour members kicked out of the party for antisemitic behaviour.

The disputes panelmakes decisions about membership appeals and whether to readmit figures who have been removed from Labour in the past.

(September 26, 2017) The context

Labour has been repeatedly blighted by charges that it has failed to tackle antisemitism in the party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015. Supporters of Corbyn, who has a long history of supporting Palestinians in their dispute with Israel, fear the issue is being used to undermine his leadership.

(February 29, 2016)

Labour launches an inquiry into allegations of antisemitism and bullying after a fractious election of a youth representative to its ruling body.

(March 10, 2016)

Labour expels far-left activist Gerry Downing, who had spoken of the need to “address the Jewish question”.

(March 15, 2016)

Activist Vicki Kirby is suspended by the party for a second time over making alleged antisemitic tweets. She apparently suggested Adolf Hitler might be a “Zionist God” and that Jews had “big noses”.

(March 22, 2016)

Labour suspends Khadim Hussain, a Labour councillor and former lord mayor of Bradford, after he shared a Facebook post that said “your school education system only tells you about Anne Frank and the 6 million Zionists that were killed by Hitler". He later quit the party.

(April 25, 2016)

Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, apologises for writing a series of antisemitic posts on Facebook including arguing for Israel’s population to be ‘transported’ out of the Middle East. She also resigns as PPS to John McDonnell and after sustained pressure is suspended from the party a day later.

(April 27, 2016)

Labour suspends, but does not expel, former London mayor Ken Livingstone, after making offensive comments about Hitler supporting Zionism while defending Shah.

(June 29, 2016)

A two-month inquiry by Shami Chakrabarti, ordered by Corbyn, urges Labour members to avoid abusive language and references to Hitler and Holocaust metaphors. It is criticised as being too soft on the issue and regarded as compromised because Chakrabarti had just accepted a peerage.

(October 2, 2016)

Jackie Walker is removed as vice-chair of Momentum after criticising Holocaust Memorial Day but is allowed to remain on its steering committee. She was earlier suspended by the party for questioning why Holocaust Memorial Day did not recognise other genocides.

(October 15, 2016)

The home affairs select committee accuses Labour of incompetence in dealing with antisemitism and helping to create a safe space for people with “vile attitudes towards Jewish people”.

(April 3, 2017)

Livingstone again avoids expulsion from the party after a disciplinary panel rules he should be suspended for another year over comments about antisemitism, Hitler and Zionism. Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, accuses Labour of failing the Jewish community by not expelling Livingstone.

(September 16, 2017)

Corbyn backs a party rule change, put forward by the Jewish Labour Movement, that takes tougher line on antisemitic abuse.

Shawcroft said the position of chair was up for selection annually.

“This is a storm in a tea cup,” she said. “Every year we have elections for chair of committees. Ann did good work when she was chair and we will both continue to represent the members who voted for us to the best of our abilities.”

But Stephanie Lloyd, the deputy director of the centrist Labour group Progress, said: “Targeting Ann Black shows the contempt the Momentum-left have for party democracy when things do not go their way. Inevitably the hard left turn in on themselves and it is pretty unedifying to watch.”

Critics claimed that deselecting Black had been the first act of the Momentum founder, Jon Lansman, after he and other leftwing candidates were elected to the NEC on Monday.

Supporters of Shawcroft, including the NEC member Rhea Wolfson, were forced to respond to accusations within minutes of the vote that she had recommended referrals of alleged antisemitism for further investigation be overturned.

Another source said: “There were debates on some cases about whether to refer for training or whether to send straight to the NCC, but votes were taken on these and the majority view prevailed. Christine didn’t vote on any of them.”

Some believe the party is using claims of antisemitism to purge supporters of Corbyn, but others warned against any move that might weaken Labour’s determination to stamp out such prejudice.

Jennifer Gerber, the director of Labour Friends of Israel, said: “The hard left have spent two years denying Labour has a problem with antisemitism. They must not now be allowed to stifle investigations into it or action to combat it.”