The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), which has been affiliated with the Labour party since 1920, announced on Thursday that it would not campaign nationwide for a Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour government.
JLM issued a statement saying: “The last four years have been catastrophic for Jews in the Labour Party. Nevertheless, the Jewish Labour Movement has kept true to our Labour values and resolved – for now – to stay and fight racism, rather than disaffiliate and walk away.”
JLM, which has 2,500 members, endorsed its own parliamentary chairwoman MP Ruth Smeeth for Stoke-on-Trent North seat. The group claims its efforts have influenced more than 50 local campaigns in the 2017 general election.
For her part, MP Smeeth this week endorsed Margaret Hodge, the MP for Barking, and a sworn enemy of Corbyn. In September 2019, Hodge declared: “I’m not going to give up until Jeremy Corbyn ceases to be leader of the Labour Party.”
See: Corbyn’s Jewish Arch Enemy Wins Barking Nomination.
JLM’s honorary president, MP Dame Louise Ellman from Liverpool Riverside, earlier this month quit the Labour party to avoid the possibility of a Corbyn win. She suggested the Labour leader “struggled to accept that there’s any such thing as anti-Semitism within the Labour party.”
Another Jewish MP, Luciana Berger, also quit Labour in 2019 over “anti-Semitic bullying.”
JLM stated that “when two accomplished and dedicated Jewish Labour MPs no longer see a place for themselves in the Labour party, it’s clear that the party has lost its way.”
“This does not mean that we no longer support the Labour Party’s policies, nor do we wish to see Boris Johnson or Jo Swinson in Downing Street,” JLM stated.