A campaign tweet by Labour party activists deemed by a Tower Hamlets Tory leader election candidate as “anti-Semitic” has been withdrawn after pressure from a party election agent.
A left-wing organisation of party members staged a campaign event on the Isle of Dogs yesterday urging its supporters on social media to try and unseat the council’s Conservative opposition leader Peter Golds who is fighting to keep his Island Gardens seat on May 3.
The image showing an aerial shot of the area had a bold headline in red urging: “For the may, not Golds” and the message “come help the Island Gardens Labour team kick the Tory leader out!”
It brought condemnation from mainstream Labour hierarchy as well as outrage from Peter Golds who was reporting the “hate crime” to police.
“My Jewish heritage is well-known,” Peter told the East London Advertiser.
“This tweet urged support to ‘kick the Tory leader out’ with my somewhat Jewish-sounding name headlined across a picture of Canary Wharf.
“This has been going on since the beginning of the election campaign.
“It’s anti-Semitism—absolutely rampant anti-Semitism that needs to be stopped now.”
He has asked Labour’s Mayor John Biggs to distance himself from the campaigners and is also writing to the party’s two candidates in his ward challenging them to state that anti-Semitism is wrong.
The tweet that has been taken down showed a thumbnail image of party leader Jeremy Corbyn next to “TH Momentum” which is not part of the official party, although its members are. It has not responded to the Advertiser’s email requesting a response.
Labour could find itself legally responsible for what is put out in its name. The offensive message has embarrassed mainstream Tower Hamlets Labour party hierarchy. The mayor, who is fighting for his second term in office, was shown the tweet and is understood to have been furious.
A Tower Hamlets Labour spokesman told the paper: ‘The tweet was drawn to the attention of our election agent. Given the potential for misinterpretation, the agent asked for it to be taken down.”
The incident comes in the wake of the national scandal involving party leader Jeremy Corbyn failing to take action to stem race hate in the rank and file membership.
Labour’s own MPs at Westminster this week gave evidence in the Commons about anti-Semitism in the party.
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