Conference Floor standing to remember Shimon Peres

The entire Jewish Labour Movement is deeply saddened by the passing of Shimon Peres. Peres, whose life of 93 years spanned the creation of the State of Israel, its constant battles, setbacks, progress and efforts to finds peace with its neighbours, embodied the brilliance and weaknesses of the nation. Over a lifetime spent constantly at the heart of Israel’s public life Peres could be a hawk, a dove, an idealist, a pragmatist. At times brilliant, at others flawed – Shimon Peres came to stand as Israel incarnate.

Reacting to the reportedly leaked publishing of the Royall report into allegations of antisemitism at Oxford University Labour Club;

Aaron Simons, JLM member and former President of Oxford Jewish Society said:

As part of its continued development programme, JLM is pleased to announce the formation of a new North West Region.  Following a successful meeting held in Manchester attended by approximately fifty members, the new region will be the hub of JLM’s work in the North West.

Reacting to the publication of the Chakrabarti Inquiry report, the Jewish Labour Movement have released this statement:

"This is a sensible and firm platform which gives the Party an opportunity to get off the back foot and on to the front foot in setting a new standard for tacking racism and anti-Semitism. 

The report has accurately diagnosed the nature of the problem.  There will rightly be a debate and discussion about the specifics of the very detailed recommendations on rules, regulations and processes.

But all the talk about high standards will need to  be borne out by implementation. This will require strong leadership.

One of the very first tests will be how the party deals with the ongoing disciplinary case against Ken Livingstone. There can be no future for a politician with his track record in a post Chakrabarti report labour party. 

We at JLM will be meeting with the party leadership  in next few days to begin discussions around implementation."

ENDS

UPDATE: 6 July 2016

Read JLM National Chair, Jeremy Newmark on the Chakrabarti Report in The Jewish News - here.

Luciana Berger MP to become JLM Parliamentary Chair
We are pleased to announce that Shadow Mental Health Minister Luciana Berger has been elected as Parliamentary Chair of JLM.  This new post was created following the governance review carried out earlier this year.  As Parliamentary Chair, Luciana will chair our new Parliamentary and Political Council.  This is the main vehicle through which Labour parliamentarians will engage with our work. 

Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree, Luciana was elected to Parliament in 2010. She was appointed Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change, and then Shadow Minister for Public Health, campaigning for the NHS.  At the general election in 2015 Luciana was re-elected with  70 per cent of the total number of votes in the constituency on the highest ever General Election turnout.  In September 2015 she was appointed the first-ever Shadow Minister for Mental Health to serve at Shadow Cabinet level. 

Luciana is a popular figure in the UK Jewish Community with a reputation for longstanding involvement in fighting racism and antisemitism.  

Luciana said:  "I am excited to be joining JLM's leadership team as the movement is preparing to mark its centenary of affiliation to the Labour Party.  JLM has a key role to play in strengthening what should be a natural alliance between the Labour Party and the Jewish community.  I look forward to helping nurture that relationship."

JLM National Chair Jeremy Newmark said: "It is fantastic to have a parliamentarian of Luciana's calibre as our new Parliamentary Chair.  Her inspiring leadership will be another important building block in our work to enhance the role of JLM within the Labour Party."

Luciana recently joined JLM members to campaign for Sadiq Khan at one of our phone banks

Ivor Caplin to Chair JLM South East Region
After JLM’s successful re-launch earlier this year, we are now moving on to the next stage of changing the way we organise locally. These groups will be aligned with the regional structure of the Labour Party and work closely with regional boards and local CLPs in each region.  We are pleased to announce that Ivor Caplin will be the first Chair of our new South East Region.  Ivor was MP for Hove between 1997-2005.  During this time he served in the Labour Goverment as a PPS, FCO whip and Minister for veterans at the Ministry of Defence. He was also the first Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on English Language Teaching. Ivor is actively involved in Brighton & Hove Jewish community where he currently serves as chair of their 250th anniversary celebrations.


Ivor Caplin, former MoD Minister & new JLM SE Regional Chair

Commenting on the release of parts of Baroness Royall's report, JLM Chair Jeremy Newmark said:

“Baroness Royall conducted a fair, balanced and rigorous process. She gained the trust and confidence of everybody she engaged with.

Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn has commissioned an internal Inquiry into antisemitism and other forms of racism within the Labour Party.

We publish below details of the remit/terms of reference for the Inquiry as released by the Leader's Office earlier today.

This is an independent Inquiry commissioned by the Leader.  JLM is publishing these details in order to assist and encourage those of our members who want to make submissions and engage with the process.

(Please note that this Inquiry is separate from the Labour Party Inquiry commissioned by the NEC and led by Baroness Royall.  That Inquiry is investigating a set of specific allegations of racism & antisemitism as well as some related wider issues.  Baroness Royall is expected to report back to the NEC next week.)

Earlier today, JLM National Chair Jeremy Newmark made the following statement about events following the revelation that Naz Shah MP had posted antisemitic statements on Facebook some time before her election as an MP:

“Naz Shah is a politician who is clearly on a political journey, from a Respect firebrand in the choppy waters of local Bradford politics to the Labour Party. She courageously stood up to George Galloway’s bigotry at the General Election. However, her historic remarks and posting were repugnant and completely unacceptable.