A veteran activist accused of anti-Semitism has been expelled by Labour for conduct “grossly detrimental” to the party’s aims and values.
Jackie Walker, who was exposed by HuffPost UK for criticising Holocaust Memorial Day, was kicked out following a lengthy investigation.
She was suspended in 2016, days after a video showed her telling a training event at Labour’s conference that there wasn’t a definition of anti-Semitism she “could work with”.
Walker, a former vice-chair of the grassroots pro-Corbyn group Momentum, has also suggested in the past that Jews were partly responsible for the slave trade.
Labour’s National Constitutional Committee (NCC), its most senior disciplinary body, decided to expel Walker following a day-long hearing on Tuesday.
A party spokesperson said: “The National Constitutional Committee has found that the charges of breaches of party rules by Jackie Walker have been proven.
“The National Constitutional Committee consequently determined that the sanction for this breach of the rules is expulsion from Labour Party membership.”
During her training event in September 2016, Walker had falsely claimed that Holocaust Memorial Day did not commemorate other genocides. “In practice, it’s not actually circulated and advertised as such,” she said.
“I was looking for information and I still haven’t heard a definition of antisemitism that I can work with.”
Walker has heavily criticised the procedures used by the party and walked out of her hearing, to be greeted by her cheering supporters outside the NCC meeting in London.
In response to those claims, a spokesperson said: “Jackie Walker has made a number of incorrect and misleading claims about this process.
“The procedures ensure due process and fair hearing, including the opportunity for individuals to fully state their case at their hearing. The process is the same for everyone and the order of the events is clearly explained to those involved in advance.”
When the hearing began on Tuesday, Walker insisted on reading out a pre-prepared statement immediately. The NCC panel refused her request, as it breached procedures under which the party first presents the charges and then the individual states their case and responds to questions.
Walker delayed her hearing date repeatedly, while taking part in events and promoting a film about her suspension, sources said.
A spokesman for the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) said: “Despite a clear and unambiguous case of prejudicial and grossly detrimental behaviour against the party, this expulsion comes two-and-a-half years too late.
“In the intervening time, Ms Walker and others have been key to perpetuating a culture of denial and obfuscation. She was free to make a mockery of the Party’s processes because she was a political ally of the leadership, NEC members and had support from MPs.”
JLM, which hasn’t yet decided if it will remain affiliated to Labour following the anti-Semitism row, added that its members would be “angry it took so long, and angry that many people will want to say this is ‘job done’ on anti-Semitism in the party”.
It is exactly a year since the Jewish community’s “Enough is Enough” protest in Parliament Square.
Labour general secretary Jennie Formby revealed recently that the party had expelled just 12 members for anti-semitism in the past 12 months, after investigating 673 alleged cases.
The NCC is an autonomous, quasi-judicial body independent of party staff, the general secretary’s office and the leadership. It is the only body with the power to expel members.
Under Labour’s rules, once a complaint is referred for an NCC hearing, the case against the individual in question is prepared and prosecuted by the party but the decision is in the NCC’s hands.
The case presented by the party was about a pattern of behaviour displayed by Walker over time, including many comments on social media.
