Labour civil war deepens with Diane Abbott retweeting call for Tom Watson to go amid anti-Semitism row

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott took a swipe at Tom Watson
PA Wire/PA Images
Kate Proctor12 July 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Labour’s civil war intensified today as Diane Abbott retweeted a call for deputy leader Tom Watson to consider quitting in the ongoing row over anti-Semitism.

The shadow home secretary took a swipe at her frontbench colleague through Twitter after he publicly attacked the party’s General Secretary, Jennie Formby, over her handling of the crisis.

She retweeted remarks by Claudia Webbe, who sits on the party’s ruling body and heads its disputes panel, who said: “@tom_watson you’re engaged in public attacks on the Labour Party’s General Secretary @JennieGenSec despite your clear knowledge she is receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer. This is not behaviour befitting of the Office of Deputy Leader. You should consider your position?”

Jeremy Corbyn-ally Ms Abbott denied that she was calling for Mr Watson to resign but said that he was wrong to criticise the general secretary while she was ill.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson 
PA

A series of retweets by Ms Abbott, sent in the past 24 hours, all highlight Labour colleagues defending Ms Formby against Mr Watson’s criticism and refer to her ongoing treatment for cancer.

A spokesman for Ms Abbott said: “Diane does think it is wrong to attack Jennie Formby. But she is certainly not calling on Tom Watson to resign. Her own tweets set out her position.”

Ms Abbott tweeted: “Tom Watson knows perfectly well that he cannot make ‘demands’ of Jennie Formby. She is only answerable to the NEC [National Executive Committee]. And very wrong to imply that she is dealing with this matter with anything less than her usual professionalism.”

Her unhappiness at Mr Watson’s behaviour is the latest twist in Labour’s civil war over how it has dealt with cases of anti-Semitic behaviour by members.

Labour's general secretary Jennie Formby
Getty Images

The party has been under fire following Wednesday night’s BBC Panorama documentary which alleged Ms Formby and director of communications Seumas Milne intervened in particular cases. Labour has condemned the programme as one-sided and has complained to the BBC.

Today Labour peer and former chair of the party, Baroness Hayter, told the BBC that ruling body the NEC was in need of serious reform.

The reforms would include revealing how many outstanding cases of anti-Semitism there are and how quickly they are being heard.

She also said the NEC must be able to see Ms Formby’s submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is independently investigating Labour over alleged anti-Jewish behaviour.

Baroness Hayter told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They need to know... what is being said on their behalf to the EHRC because they are responsible.”

Ms Formby hit out at Mr Watson for “traducing her reputation” while she has chemotherapy.

The row between Ms Formby and Mr Watson ignited yesterday when he said the Panorama documentary had made him feel “shocked” and “chilled”.

He wrote an open letter to her saying that whistleblowers had been treated in an unacceptable way, and that she must publish her submission to the EHRC.

He also raised allegations she had deleted emails relating to cases — a suggestion Ms Formby denies.

In his letter to Ms Formby, Mr Watson said the people who spoke to the programme were “very brave to go before a camera and tell their stories”.

“The way that they have been smeared, including by Labour spokespeople, is deplorable,” he said.

“Even if some in the party did not want to hear what they had to say, it is unacceptable to attempt to undermine their integrity and characters in this manner.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in