Labour peers to consider vote of no confidence in Corbyn at emergency meeting
Move comes after frontbencher Baroness Hayter compared the Labour leader's 'bunker mentality' to a 'last days of Hitler'
Labour peers are to hold an emergency meeting next week to consider a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn.
The move comes after frontbencher Baroness Hayter was fired for comparing the “bunker mentality” around Mr Corbyn’s leadership to the “last days of Hitler”.
A source told PA peers will meet on Monday afternoon to discuss the motion, with a ballot to be held on Tuesday or Wednesday if it is passed.
The move would not be binding but would heighten pressure on the leadership, which has been heavily criticised over the party’s handling of antisemitism allegations.
A Labour source said: “It would be both undemocratic and absurd for unelected peers with no mandate to seek to remove an elected leader who twice won the landslide support of Labour’s membership and led Labour to the biggest increase in the party’s vote since 1945.”
On Wednesday, Baroness Hayter lost her post as shadow Brexit minister after she attacked Mr Corbyn’s inner circle and the way it criticised the BBC over a documentary probing antisemitism in the party.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Dianne Hayter has been sacked from her frontbench position with immediate effect for her deeply offensive remarks about Jeremy Corbyn and his office.
“To compare the Labour leader and Labour Party staff working to elect a Labour government to the Nazi regime is truly contemptible, and grossly insensitive to Jewish staff in particular.”
The row erupted over an address given by Baroness Hayter, who remains Labour’s deputy leader in the Lords because it is an elected position, to a party fringe group.
The peer was highly critical of the Labour leader’s inner circle, which she claimed had refused to give the party’s ruling National Executive Committee key information.
Baroness Hayter said those around Mr Corbyn had a “bunker mentality”.
She told the meeting of the centre-left Labour First group: “Those of you who haven’t [read the book] will have watched the film ‘Bunker’, about the last days of Hitler, of how you stop receiving into the inner group any information which suggests that things are not going the way you want.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
