In the wake of a general election Louise Ellman quiets the Labour Party just after a no confidence motion was raised against her this month
Dame Louise Ellman has quit the Labour Party blaming Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership after more than 20 years serving as the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside.
Sharing a statement published on Wednesday night, the MP tweeted that she could “no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM”.
Louise Ellman, was the subject of an emergency meeting of her constituency Labour party earlier this month, when members of Riverside’s Executive Committee gathered to discuss the submission of a number of no confidence motions submitted against the MP.
The motion said: “We have no confidence that our MP Louise Ellman will carry out the wishes of our CLP (Constituency Labour Party) and our Riverside constituency or that she will follow Labour Party policy.
“This branch therefore call on our Riverside MP, Louise Ellman, to resign.”
It seems Ellman is jumping before being pushed, whilst causing maximum damage in doing so. Labour supporters in Riverside have found themselves in an untenable position where their local MP as used her position to successively attack both the Labour Party and its leader.
Ellman is the chairperson Labour Friends of Israel and a former chairperson of the Jewish Labour Movement, two lobby groups with intimate ties to the Israeli embassy.
Ellman openly opposes her own party’s leader becoming prime minister, saying recently that British Jews are so afraid of Corbyn “that they would seriously consider leaving the country if he entered Downing Street.”
Her comments were made in front of the Israeli ambassador at Labour Friends of Israel’s annual conference reception last month. She also used her speech there to condemn Labour members for passing a motion at conference in favour of the boycott of Israel.
In September, she called for her own constituency party to be suspended so an investigation could be launched into allegations of ‘entryism’ and antisemitism.
While confirming her resignation after 55 years as a Labour party member, she said she would not join any other party and said she hoped under different political leadership to “return to my political home”.
She pledged to continue to serve “the people of Liverpool Riverside”.
Her statement said: “I believe that Jeremy Corbyn is not fit to serve as our Prime Minister. With a looming general election and the possibility of him becoming Prime Minister, I feel I have to take a stand. I cannot advocate a government led by Jeremy Corbyn.”
It went onto claim that under Mr Corbyn’s leadership, antisemitism “has become mainstream in the Labour Party”, with antisemites feeling “comfortable” and “vile conspiracy theories” allowed to flourish.
The statement continued: “Jeremy Corbyn – who spent three decades on the backbenches consorting with, and never confronting, anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and terrorists – has attracted the support of too many antisemites.
I have made the truly agonising decision to leave the Labour Party after 55 years. I can no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM. I will continue to serve the people of Liverpool Riverside as I have had the honour to do since 1997. pic.twitter.com/3BTzUacZvo
— Louise Ellman MP (@LouiseEllman) October 16, 2019
“The Labour Party is no longer a safe place for Jews and Jeremy Corbyn must bear the responsibility for this. We cannot allow him to do to the country what he has done to the Labour Party.”
Mr Corbyn has insisted the party is addressing concerns and in July proposed changes to Labour’s complaints system to speed up the expulsion of members over anti-Semitism.
A party spokesman said Mr Corbyn thanked Mrs Ellman for her service “over many years”.
“Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and continue to take robust action to root out anti-Semitism in the party and wider society,” they said.
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