Corbyn decision to hand Shami Chakrabarti a peerage under fire as he is accused of prejudicing anti-semitism inquiry
Tom Watson and Keith Vaz among those to express their concerns but Diane Abbott defends leader
LABOUR was waging a new civil war on Friday night over Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to hand civil liberties chief Shami Chakrabarti a peerage.
Deputy Leader Tom Watson slammed his boss’s move a “mistake” and revealed he had been kept in the dark about it.
Mr Watson had led calls for Labour to boycott David Cameron’s crony-packed resignation awards list – thinking the party would be safe because Mr Corbyn had previously said he would not appoint to the House of Lords.
Meanwhile Shadow Health Secretary Diane Abbott called for Labour MP Wes Streeting to “consider his position” for saying the peerage “stinks”.
And Keith Vaz, Labour chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, demanded to know whether Ms Chakrabarti had been offered a seat in the Lords before conducting her “independent” review into anti-Semitism in the party.
Mr Vaz said: “It will actually severely prejudice that inquiry if it turns out that she was offered a peerage in order to conduct the inquiry or during the inquiry.”
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That came after leading Jewish groups slammed the peerage for Ms Chakrabarti, whose report had angered them for going soft on anti-Jewish hate.
Marie van der Zyl, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “This ‘whitewash for peerages’ is a scandal that surely raises serious questions about the integrity of Ms Chakrabarti, her inquiry and the Labour leadership.”
And Mr Streeting hit back as Ms Abbott, saying: “I have considered my position and I agree with the Chief Rabbi, who says the credibility of the Chakrabarti Report lies in tatters.”
