Ken Livingstone’s long association with Labour may be over after he was suspended indefinitely pending the outcome of an internal investigation into allegations of anti-semitism.
The former London mayor, suspended in April 2016 after refusing to apologise for statements he made about Adolf Hitler supporting Zionism in the 1930s, is facing a second internal inquiry after a Labour disciplinary panel last year upheld three charges of breaching party rules.
His suspension had been due to expire on 27 April, but in his last act as Labour’s general secretary, Iain McNicol signed off on an indefinite suspension.
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“Some Labour MPs and Jewish groups have criticised the decision not to expel Livingstone” as indicative of a wider anti-semitism, or at least unwillingness to properly address it, within the party leadership, the BBC reports.
Labour MP Wes Streeting, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews, told the Huffington Post the decision to extend Mr Livingstone’s suspension was “long overdue”.
According to The Guardian, members of the Jewish Labour Movement have written privately to Labour bosses to warn that readmitting Livingstone into the party could damage Labour’s local election chances.
The letter highlights Livingstone’s “grossly insensitive” appearance on Iran’s state-owned Press TV in January for a debate titled “Has the Holocaust been exploited to oppress others?”
Labour hopes to steal Barnet Council from the Tories in May’s local election but fears the area’s Jewish voters could be turned off if Livingstone is allowed to re-join the party.
“The word in Labour circles is that Team Corbyn do indeed want Livingstone back in the party — but only after the local elections in May,” says Politico.
