Salford MP Rebecca Long-Bailey has been sacked from the Shadow Cabinet by leader Kier Starmer for sharing an “anti-Semitic conspiracy theory”.
Long-Bailey was removed from the shadow cabinet on Thursday after she Tweeted an article that included a claim the US police learned the tactics that killed George Floyd from Israel.
The article which was an interview in the Independent with Maxine Peake said
“Born in Bolton to a lorry driver father and care worker mother, Peake is strident and expressive; if religion wasn’t anathema to her, she’d be perfect in the pulpit. “Systemic racism is a global issue,” she adds. “The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services.” (A spokesperson for the Israeli police has denied this, stating that “there is no tactic or protocol that calls to put pressure on the neck or airway”.
Retweeting the article, Long-Bailey described Maxine Peake as an absolute diamond.
A spokesperson for Keir Starmer said: “This afternoon Keir Starmer asked Rebecca Long-Bailey to step down from the shadow cabinet.
“The article Rebecca shared earlier today contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
“As Leader of the Labour Party, Keir has been clear that restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority.
“Anti-Semitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it
Long-Bailey tweeted in reply that “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.”
