Andy Slaughter Admits Labour 'Complacent' on Anti-Semitism

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Believes Charing Cross Hospital decisive issue in the constituency

Andy Slaughter. Picture: Owen Sheppard

Labour’s Andy Slaughter is sure Charing Cross Hospital has cost the Tories a chance of winning in Hammersmith, but admits his party was “complacent” on tackling anti-Semitism.

The 59-year-old former barrister has been the MP for Hammersmith since 2005, and was a minister in three departments for Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.

He’s a die-hard remainer, who has “banged the drum” for a second Brexit referendum. And he has carried out local polling, which claims 80 per cent of the constituency wants to stay in the EU.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to Mr Slaughter on 26 November, the day after the chief Rabbi of the UK, Ephraim Mirvis, accused Jeremy Corbyn of being anti-Semitic.

Mr Slaughter was asked: why hasn’t the party got a hold on this for the last three years?

He replied, “You’re absolutely right and I’ve thought about this a lot, because I’ve had constituents write to me about this.

“The best explanation I can give is there is a complacency. I’ve known Jeremy for 30 years, and I don’t believe he is personally anti-Semitic. On the contrary, but I think people in the party have been complacent about it.

“We are the party of equality, we have advanced things like equal pay, race relations, sex equality, equal rights, immigration policy. The Labour party has kept thinking ‘this can’t be a problem with us, it must just be one or two bad apples’.

“There clearly is a problem because there have been hundreds of cases investigated.”

Mr Slaughter was asked again: why, for three years, and almost week after week of headlines about anti-Semitism, didn’t the party get its head around this?

He said: “That’s the question Jeremy and people around him do need to answer. I can’t answer that. I can tell you that every time they did something, it was perfectly good in terms of bringing in independent resources, but it was always too little too late.”

He added, “This has been a traumatic event. When I entered politics, the Tories basically supported apartheid, and it was Labour alongside other progressive forces that organised boycotts.

“We’ve clearly lost our way with the situation now. Of course it’s redeemable, but I feel we have been playing catch up… I wish someone had got a grip on it earlier.

“Because no-one who is anti-Semitic has any place in the Labour party and should be expelled.”

Mr Slaughter was interviewed at his constituency office in Greyhound Road, next door to the tower blocks in Charing Cross Hospital.

Earlier this year, the Government scrapped plans to close the major West London hospital, which was part of a reorganisation of North and West London’s health service that began in 2010. A&Es at Hammersmith and Central Middlesex hospitals had already closed since.

Mr Slaughter said: “We won that battle earlier this year, which was a fantastic result. But it also exposed the depth of the financial and staffing crisis in the NHS.

“We also have the biggest backlog in the country for essential work. But not a penny has been brought forward to pay for that essential work.

“You’re talking about everything from equipment to whether the lifts work, asbestos issues and basic maintenance and the buildings being fit for purpose. We’re facing a real crisis.”

He also pointed to the North West London NHS’s huge spending deficit, which is predicted to be £120 million by the end of 2019/20.

Mr Slaughter was then asked about Labour’s Brexit policy. The party has vowed that if it wins the general election, it will negotiate a new deal with the EU and put it to the country in a second referendum, with the option to remain. But he is among the vast majority of people in the Labour party who have long been calling for the party to officially declare itself a remain party.

Mr Slaughter is satisfied that Labour’s new stance is enough to please Hammersmith constituents. But if the Tories win the election, will he be one of those who criticises Jeremy Corbyn for not backing remain earlier, or will he still stand by this Brexit strategy?

He doesn’t quite answer the last question, but said, “If it doesn’t come off and the Tories win, then of course there will be a post-mortem and everyone will blame everyone else.

“But at the moment I am perfectly comfortable with this strategy, because I feel perfectly comfortable in my own skin in this constituency.

“I would like the Labour party to have a clearer remain message, but they’ve done what I needed them to, which is support a second referendum.”

The candidates for the Hammersmith constituency are:

Green - Alex Horn
The Brexit Party - James Keyse
Labour - Andy Slaughter
Liberal Democrat - Jessie Venegas
Conservative - Xingang Wang

Owen Sheppard - Local Democracy Reporter

 

November 28, 2019