Gordon Brown urges culture change over anti-Semitism claims in Labour

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Gordon Brown pleaded with Jewish voters &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;not to give up” on Labour as the party was mired in another round of infighting over its response to anti-Semitism claims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Former British prime minister Mr Brown said there had to be a cultural shift in the party and Jeremy Corbyn had to show he could enforce the necessary changes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Addressing the claims of anti-Semitism among some parts of the party&comma; Mr Brown said&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is not just a problem of policy&comma; it is a problem of culture and the culture has got to change&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During an event in Hampstead Synagogue in north London&comma; Mr Brown called for the automatic expulsion of people against whom there is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;irrefutable evidence” of anti-Semitism&comma; adding &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;these cases clearly exist”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Asked by an audience member whether he would advise the Jewish community to vote Labour&comma; he said&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I  would urge you&comma; tempting as it may be&comma; not to give up on the party who in its origins was a party that fought racism in this country&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another audience member suggested Mr Corbyn may need to stand down for everyone to be able to move forward on the issue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Brown said he would not be drawn on Mr Corbyn’s future but added&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I  am going to say&comma; there has to be change of policy&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Can the present leader conduct and enforce that change of policy&quest; That is for him to answer&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"twitter-tweet" data-width&equals;"550" data-dnt&equals;"true">&NewLine;<p lang&equals;"en" dir&equals;"ltr">Using expensive media lawyers in attempt to silence staff members is as futile as it is stupid&period; It’s not the Labour way and I deplore it&period; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;b1omggQJp5">https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;b1omggQJp5<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&mdash&semi; Tom Watson &lpar;&commat;tom&lowbar;watson&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;tom&lowbar;watson&sol;status&sol;1147796842958196737&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">July 7&comma; 2019<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;platform&period;twitter&period;com&sol;widgets&period;js" charset&equals;"utf-8"><&sol;script><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Brown’s intervention came after Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson hit out at a clampdown on former staff blowing the whistle on the party’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations ahead of a BBC Panorama documentary due to be aired on Wednesday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Sunday Times reported up to half a dozen ex-employees have torn up non-disclosure agreements &lpar;NDAs&rpar; to speak to the programme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the newspaper&comma; Carter Ruck – acting on behalf of Labour – has written to Sam Matthews&comma; the party’s former head of disputes&comma; warning he could face legal action for breaking his NDA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another former aide also received warnings last year from a different law firm representing Labour&comma; the paper said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Watson said&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Using expensive media lawyers in attempt to silence staff members is as futile as it is stupid&period; It’s not the Labour way and I deplore it&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; shadow chancellor John McDonnell dismissed claims he had called for Mr Corbyn to fire two of his closest aides&comma; Karie Murphy and Seumas Milne&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr McDonnell rejected the claims&comma; telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I have confidence in them&comma; of course I do&period; I have not told anyone to be sacked or anything like that&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"twitter-tweet" data-width&equals;"550" data-dnt&equals;"true">&NewLine;<p lang&equals;"en" dir&equals;"ltr">&quot&semi;I&&num;39&semi;m sick of it&quot&semi; &&num;8211&semi; Barry Gardiner heatedly dodges questions about divides in the Labour Party&period; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;hashtag&sol;Ridge&quest;src&equals;hash&amp&semi;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">&num;Ridge<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Follow Sunday politics live here&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;yWVccVG3mx">https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;yWVccVG3mx<&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;VjnJCvFfPx">pic&period;twitter&period;com&sol;VjnJCvFfPx<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&mdash&semi; Sophy Ridge on Sunday &lpar;&commat;RidgeOnSunday&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;RidgeOnSunday&sol;status&sol;1147783073351835658&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">July 7&comma; 2019<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;platform&period;twitter&period;com&sol;widgets&period;js" charset&equals;"utf-8"><&sol;script><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shadow Cabinet minister Barry Gardiner also sought to play down the row&comma; telling Sky News&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The idea that they put forward that there’s a civil war in the Labour Party – let’s look at the real divide in this country&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The real divide in this country is not within the Labour Party&comma; the real divide in this country is between what the Conservatives are trying to do with our country and the rest&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also defended the party’s use of gagging clauses&comma; insisting they were not being used to cover up wrongdoing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Gardiner said he would welcome an objective investigation of anti-Semitism in Labour but &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;my understanding of this programme is that has not been balanced and impartial in that way”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It involved talking to former party staff members who had a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;political axe to grind”&comma; he claimed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A spokesman for Panorama said&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Labour Party is criticising a programme they have not seen&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are confident the programme will adhere to the BBC’s editorial guidelines&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In line with those&comma; the Labour Party has been given the opportunity to respond to the allegations&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"twitter-tweet" data-width&equals;"550" data-dnt&equals;"true">&NewLine;<p lang&equals;"en" dir&equals;"ltr">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I would vote Remain&comma; I would want to campaign for Remain”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shadow Chancellor <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;johnmcdonnellMP&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">&commat;johnmcdonnellMP<&sol;a> tells <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;hashtag&sol;marr&quest;src&equals;hash&amp&semi;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">&num;marr<&sol;a> that Labour Brexit policy is still developing as Jeremy Corbyn wants &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;to build consensus” <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;GR1WOTM3CL">pic&period;twitter&period;com&sol;GR1WOTM3CL<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&mdash&semi; BBC Politics &lpar;&commat;BBCPolitics&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;BBCPolitics&sol;status&sol;1147808014482546689&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">July 7&comma; 2019<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;platform&period;twitter&period;com&sol;widgets&period;js" charset&equals;"utf-8"><&sol;script><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The party is also struggling to reach a united policy on Brexit&comma; with Mr Corbyn expected to have further consultations with trade union bosses about Labour’s stance on supporting another referendum&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Gardiner&comma; who has previously insisted Labour is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;not a remain party now”&comma; said&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We have always been a remain and reform party&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We tried to reconcile ourselves with what the democratic will of the people was at that referendum and we tried to do that sincerely&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But we have always said we would not accept a no-deal&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr McDonnell said Labour had to decide on its Brexit policy &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;sooner rather than later” because the new prime minister could call a snap election and his party’s attempt to bridge the gap between Leave and Remain voters had failed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said he would vote to stay in the EU in another referendum and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;would want to campaign for Remain”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr McDonnell told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that Mr Corbyn was consulting trade unions and there would be further shadow Cabinet discussions to decide the party’s stance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I actually think he is doing the right thing&comma;”<&sol;em> he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Everything about Jeremy is about building consensus and I think on this issue you need to bring people with you&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed5c3cbe7ba">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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