Corbyn ally opposed suspension of member who defended hate mural
Laura Murray advised against suspension of member who defended infamous antisemitic painting of Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of slaves.
A Jeremy Corbyn staffer advised Labour officials against suspending a party member who defended an antisemitic mural.
In emails from March last year obtained by The Times, Laura Murray said the member, a woman from Devon, “hasn’t displayed any specific attitudes herself”.
The woman defended in a Facebook comment an antisemitic mural in East London depicting Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of slaves.
Murray, who is the daughter of Corbyn ally Andrew Murray, chief of staff of Unite, has been given a job with the party’s independent complaints unit.
Murray’s advice was a response to an email from a Labour official to senior colleagues, which claimed it was “in the immediate interests of the Labour Party to apply an administrative suspension”.
However, Murray replied, suggesting the member’s defence of the mural might come from a place of “ignorance and a lack of ignorance”, and that she should be educated instead.
Murray wrote: “The social media comment saying that the mural is good and shouldn’t be removed definitely belies ignorance and a lack of understanding / education of antisemitic tropes, representations and imagery.
“We would recommend writing to her about the comment with a list of questions about what she understands about antisemitism, antisemitic tropes and conspiracies, why [she] didn’t realise the mural is antisemitic, if she is disregarding the views of Jewish people who find the mural to be antisemitic etc etc”.
“Obviously if her answers show an unwillingness to be educated about these tropes then decide how best to proceed re: a suspension from there ownwards.”
This comes after Dame Margaret Hodge accused Jeremy Corbyn of misleading her, or being misled himself, on the extent of his team’s involvement in antisemitism cases.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hodge claimed she had been assured by Corbyn there was “no interference in the complaints process by his inner circle”.
She added: “He claims no political interference in these cases, I have now seen so much evidence there is definitely political interference.
“So trust in him has gone. Misleading me, or himself being misled, really undermines my trust for him.”
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