Star date: 25th June 2020

RE-TWEET SEES SALFORD MP SACKED BY KEIR STARMER

Salford and Eccles MP Rebecca Long Bailey has been sacked as Shadow Education Secretary by Labour Party Leader, Keir Starmer, this afternoon after re-tweeting a Maxine Peake interview that featured in the Independent.

The actress had said in the interview that "The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd's neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services", an allegation that the paper later wrote was "unfounded".

Full details here...

This afternoon, Salford and Eccles MP, Rebecca Long Bailey has been sacked as Shadow Education Secretary by Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer.

The Salford MP had re-tweeted the link to an interview with Salford resident and actress Maxine Peake by the Independent, in which the Peterloo star had said on the subject of Black Lives Matter: "Systemic racism is a global issue...The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd's neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services."

The paper originally added in brackets to the article that: "A spokesperson for the Israeli police has denied this, stating that 'there is no tactic or protocol that calls to put pressure on the neck or airway'". It later added: "This article has been amended to further clarify that the allegation that US police were taught tactics of 'neck kneeling' by Israeli secret services is unfounded. The original version did carry a denial from Israeli police, however we are happy to further clarify the matter..."

Keir Starmer later justified his decision..."I'm just very clear about my focus and that is rebuilding trust with the Jewish community. I do not consider sharing that article furthered the course of rebuilding trust with the Jewish community and that's why I stood Rebecca Long-Bailey down."

In response, Rebecca Long Bailey tweeted... "Today I retweeted an interview that my constituent and stalwart Labour Party supporter Maxine Peake gave to the Independent. Its main thrust was anger with the Conservative Government's handling of the current emergency and a call for Labour Party unity.

"These are sentiments are shared by everyone in our movement and millions of people in our country. I learned that many people were concerned by references to international sharing of training and restraint techniques between police and security forces" she added.

"In no way was my retweet an intention to endorse every part of that article" she explained "I wished to acknowledge these concerns and duly issued a clarification of my retweet, with the wording agreed in advance by the Labour Party Leader's Office, but after posting I was subsequently instructed to take both this agreed clarification and my original retweet down.

"I could not do this in good conscience without the issuing of a press statement of clarification" she added "I had asked to discuss these matters with Keir before agreeing what further action to take, but sadly he had already made his decision.

"I am proud of the policies we have developed within the party from our Green Industrial Revolution to a National Education Service and I will never stop working for the change our communities need to see" she concluded "I am clear that I shall continue to support the Labour Party in Parliament under Keir Starmer's leadership, to represent the people of Salford and Eccles and work towards a more equal, peaceful and sustainable world..."

Update: 5:45pm

Salford Kersal Conservative Councillor Rabbi Arnie Saunders tells the Salford Star:

“For somebody in her position it was irresponsible to re-tweet something that quite frankly was rather crass. It was stated that the Israeli police trained the Minneapolis police, which has been denied. But even if it was true, how does that make them responsible for what a rogue policeman did?

“It’s absolutely crass and irresponsible and I think the Salford Labour Party should also distance themselves from it, particularly as it’s not the first time a Salford Labour politician has been embroiled in anti semitic controversies.”