LABOUR party chiefs have dropped their investigation into North Swindon MP hopeful Kate Linnegar.
The party’s National Executive Committee had been looking into Facebook posts apparently shared by the prospective parliamentary candidate that some branded anti-Semitic.
However, the Swindon Advertiser understands the investigation has now been concluded. No further action will be taken, a party insider said.
In June, Westminster gossip blog Guido Fawkes had published messages that appear to show Ms Linnegar sharing articles that talk of “Holocaust-mongers” and another defending Jackie Walker, who was stripped of her Labour membership over anti-semitism accusations. The posts were shared to the Swindon People’s Assembly Facebook page in 2016 by Ms Linnegar.
A Twitter feed for Swindon People’s Assembly had also shared posts targeting Zionists, those who support the setting-up of a Jewish homeland in Israel. Dating back to 2016, the posts uses phrases like “another Zion slave” and described Zionists as “fake Jews”.
Ms Linnegar distanced herself from the Twitter posts. At the time, she told the Swindon Advertiser: “The Twitter account was set up when we started Swindon People’s Assembly some years ago. The person running it was so inactive at tweeting that we forgot it even existed. We haven’t seen this person at Swindon People’s Assembly for a long time.
“When we were alerted to what had been tweeted, we asked the person to delete it as the views were not those of Swindon People’s Assembly, me or the Labour Party. This person is not a Labour Party member.”
Yesterday, campaigners said they were disappointed to learn the party investigation had been dropped. Euan Philipps of Labour Against Antisemitism said: “Jeremy Corbyn has made much recently that there is zero tolerance of anti-Semitism in his party, but it looks like that message hasn’t reached his party’s governing body.”
“Ms Linnegar shared posts defending Ken Livingstone, after he claimed ‘Hitler was a Zionist’, and Jackie Walker, who was suspended from Labour and lost her position in Momentum over reportedly anti-semitic quotes.
“It is no good boasting of speeding up disciplinary cases, as Mr Corbyn has done, if the result is no action being taken. Letting people like Ms Linnegar off is not zero tolerance; in fact, it is the complete opposite.”
The SwindonAdvertiser has approached bothKate Linnegar and the regional Labour Partyoffice for comment.
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