Keir Starmer SACKS Rebecca Long-Bailey after she tweets praise for interview with left-wing Shameless actress Maxine Peake including ‘antisemitic conspiracy theory’
Keir Starmer today effectively sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey after she praise an interview with actress Maxine Peake including an ‘anti-Semitic conspiracy theory’.
The shadow education secretary posted a link to an interview in which Peake claimed that US police learned ‘neck-kneeling’ restrain techniques from Israeli forces.
Ms Long-Baiey described the left-wing star as a ‘diamond’, before later trying to clarify that she had not been endorsing all the content of the article.
But a spokesman for the Labour leader – who has been trying to rebuild trust with the Jewish community after the Corbyn era – said: ‘This afternoon Keir Starmer asked Rebecca Long-Bailey to step down from the Shadow Cabinet.
‘The article Rebecca shared earlier today contained an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
‘As Leader of the Labour Party, Keir has been clear that restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority. Antisemitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it.’
Ms Long-Baiey described the left-wing star as a ‘diamond’, before later trying to clarify that she had not been endorsing all the content of the article
Ms Long-Bailey posted a link to an Independent interview with Peake, describing her as an ‘absolute diamond’
Labour leader Keir Starmer (pictured) has been trying to rebuild trust with the Jewish community after the Corbyn era
Ms Long-Bailey posted a link to an Independent interview with Peake, describing her as an ‘absolute diamond’.
Amid a storm of protest she then added: ‘I retweeted Maxine Peake’s article because of her significant achievements and because the thrust of her argument is to stay in the Labour Party. It wasn’t intended to be an endorsement of all aspects of the article.’
Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies, had called for Ms Long-Bailey to delete her tweet and apologise.
She said: As soon as we saw that Rebecca Long-Bailey had shared this we wrote to her detailing how this conspiracy theory is false and requesting she delete her tweet and issue an apology.
‘Rebecca Long-Bailey’s response is frankly pathetic. As someone who aspires to be the next education secretary, we would expect her to read and understand materials before sharing them.
‘If she is incapable of doing this, it raises serious and immediate questions about her suitability for the role.’