Labour’s David Lammy MP is demanding the police investigate Leave.EU for ‘hate speech’ after it posted a tweet suggesting Jeremy Corbyn is turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism in order to appease Muslim voters.
The Brexit campaign — the largest group to campaign on either side of the EU referendum in 2016 — asked its social media followers: “Is it any wonder that Labour can’t be bothered to deal with the disgusting anti-Semitism in their party when they are so reliant on the vote’s of Britain’s exploding Muslim population? It’s a question of maths for these people, not justice!”
Labour has been embroiled in anti-Semitism rows for days now, with Corbyn found to have been signed up to a number of racist Facebook groups and Jewish community leaders organising a protest against him outside the Palace of Westminster.
David Lammy, a Blairite former Culture minister known for his strong racial identity politics and “hysterical” public call for MPs to overturn the “advisory” vote to Leave the European Union with a vote to Parliament, took exception to the Leave.EU tweet — and even demanded the police get involved.
“Hate speech is a crime. I am reporting you to the police,” he declared, before demanding that leaving Brexit campaigners Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and “all people that voted to Leave on June 23rd 2016” move to condemn the Leave.EU tweet “immediately”.
He followed up by tweeting the Metropolitan Police Force directly: “Hello @metpoliceuk I would like to report this crime,” he said.
“Please investigate. This tweet is a crime under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006: ‘Use of threatening words or behaviour, or any written material which is threatening or intends thereby to stir up religious hatred’.”
“If you would like to record an allegation of crime, [please send us a direct message] us via the link below,” the Met responded. “This would then be passed on for an officer to look into. Thanks.”
Leave.EU co-founder Arron Banks was defiant when asked about the tweet on BBC World At One, saying: “The fact that it’s upset everybody … probably shows it’s hit the nail on the head.”
The campaign also expressed “astonishment” that the BBC invited on Naz Shah, a Labour MP and Muslim who was herself briefly suspended from the party for anti-Semitic posts online, to criticise them, tweeting: “Nothing sums up the hypocrisy of our political elite’s virtue signalling over our tweet more so than @NazShahBfd being invited on to the @BBCWorldatOne to attack us for highlighting Labour’s reluctance to stamp out anti-Semitism!”