I agree with Stephen Pollard, interviewed here on Sky News. He began by commenting on BuzzFeed’s report that Naz Shah’s apology was watered down to get rid of references to there being a big problem within Labour – and even get rid of explicit references to antisemitism. Labour Party HQ has denied involvement and Stephen Pollard referred to rumours about just who was responsible for these edits.
He continued:
Jeremy Corbyn says repeatedly that in his DNA is fighting racism, and that’s what he is, he’s antiracist, and he goes – he sort of mouths the platitudes, but when it comes to actually taking proper action against antisemitism, which doesn’t mean just suspending people when the media happen to find out about someone, it means, you know, making speeches, dealing with it, confronting more importantly the culture on the left that appears to have warped in recent years, led in fact by Mr Corbyn himself, and actually dealing with that.
According to this piece in the Telegraph, the changes to Naz Shah’s article were made by Jeremy Corbyn’s office.
One source said: “It definitely came into Jeremy’s office. There is no denying that Seamus saw it and made changes.”
Last night, Labour MP John Mann said that watering down the article was “outrageous”. He added: “I have written to the General Secretary and the Leader’s office demanding a full investigation.
“I have called for the person responsible to be sacked immediately should the allegations be proven.”
Meanwhile Ken Livingstone can’t see the problem.
And finally
Update: It’s now being stated that the leaked draft was never sent to Labour HQ or Corbyn’s office
