A FORMAL complaint has been issued against an MP after he said some Labour Party members are being purged or set up with false allegations.

Labour Against Anti-Semitism (LAAS) said it has written to party leader Sir Keir Starmer, calling for the Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle to be removed.

Last month, Mr Russell-Moyle made a speech at an event as part of The World Transformed, a socialist festival which coincided with the Labour Party conference in Brighton.

A video shows how he said: “I want to apologise from all of us but me in particular, because if we have made you feel like you’re alone, if we have not reached our arm around you enough in these tough times when you are being purged or set up with false allegations.

“I not only apologise, I will endeavour to do better because we have to support each other. We have to support each other and we have to stay in the party.”

During the speech, he also claimed that Sir Keir was “not a politician for the Labour Party”.

Afterwards, LAAS posted on Twitter to say that a letter had been sent to Sir Keir to “urge him to remove the whip” from the 35-year-old.

The Argus: Lloyd Russell-Moyle said that Sir Keir Starmer was "not a politician for the Labour Party".Lloyd Russell-Moyle said that Sir Keir Starmer was "not a politician for the Labour Party".

​The Argus has seen a copy of the complaint which accuses Mr Russell-Moyle of "maliciously dismissing anti-Semitism as a smear", according to LAAS.

LAAS spokeswoman Fiona Sharpe said: “Keir Starmer has taken some positive steps to remove anti-Semitism from the party, and we urge him to take immediate action and remove the whip.”

Mr Russell-Moyle, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group which is made up of left-wing Labour MPs, addressed the issue on Twitter.

He said “there are anti-Semites that have rightly been expelled from party” but there was also people “who have been threatened with expulsion or investigation for no reason."

"No arm should be put around people legitimately removed from Labour", he added in another tweet, "but those wrongly threatened for supporting trans rights or supporting Labour MPs has created a chilling effect which has made activist feel vulnerable and not respected. It’s to those we should show solidarity."

Last week, the Guido Fawkes website – which is known for its support of Boris Johnson – ran an article with the headline “Moyle for the chop”.

The piece suggested that “if Starmer is serious about detaching Labour from the hard-left, his outriders think Russell-Moyle’s now ripe for the picking”.

In October 2020, a report by the UK's human rights watchdog found Labour to be responsible for "unlawful" acts of harassment and discrimination during Jeremy Corbyn's four-and a-half years as party leader.

When Sir Keir was elected Labour leader last year, he said tackling anti-Semitism was a top priority, promising to "tear out this poison by its roots" in his acceptance speech.

Since then, a number of Labour members have been suspended after being accused of breaching different party rules.

 

Mr Russell-Moyle told The Argus: “Any member of the public is entitled to make a complaint about any Labour member they believe has broken Labour rules.

“Labour has a robust system in place to investigate complaints if they deem them to have met a certain threshold and if needed I will respond.”

A Labour Party spokesman said: "The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate action is taken."

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