Shelagh Fogarty Challenges Momentum Chief Over Labour's Anti-Semitism Accusations
1 November 2019, 14:54
Shelagh Fogarty challenges the Momentum National Co-Ordinator over accusations of anti-Semitism in the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
Firstly she questioned Corbyn's concerns of the US interfering with the NHS after Trump told LBC yesterday he didn't know where this came from.
Parker said it came at press conference with the Prime Minister - "he's obviously got a bit of a selective memory."
Shelagh asked if there's a sense in Labour and Momentum that Trump has done Jeremy Corbyn a favour.
Parker said that could possibly be the case but ultimately he's "sticking up for his mates".
"A lot of British people up and down the country, no matter how they voted on Brexit, don't like Donald Trump. They see that his attitude towards women, towards children, locking children in cages, separated from their families.
"I think when people see that he's backing both Nigel Farage and the Prime Minister, they're going to start to wonder if that's the kind of company our leaders should be keeping."
Parker did admit that Trump taps into peoples' frustration especially from places where people feel they've been ignored for too long.
Parker said, "When they see the breadth and the depth of our policies, they will see beyond some of this clever communication - because that's really all that Trump is. He's a shop front but there's very little behind it."
The subject of anti-Semitism in the Labour party was broached by Shelagh.
"It has troubled people. Our organisation has been clear: there is no place for anti-Semitism in the Labour Party or wider society. Labour is a party of anti-racist activity."
Shelagh asked whether Momentum accepted that when Jeremy Corbyn became leader the door opened for anti-Semitism which allowed it to flourish.
"We have half a million members and in any organisation of half a million members there are going to be views which are somewhere between unpalatable and absolutely unacceptable. I think that the Labour party has taken measures to address this."
Momentum said they had gone to great lengths to raise awareness of any discrimination.
She insisted that voters should look at Jeremy Corbyn's track record: "Look at what he was doing to protest against racism in the Apartheid era when other people were being arrested. Talk to people from synagogues and temples who have engaged with Jeremy Corbyn for years and years."
Parker said Corbyn has acknowledged the party hasn't done enough to tackle prejudice.
