UK Labour Party suspends British-Nigerian MP and may still “discipline” her
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Kate Osamor, a British-Nigerian Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom, has been suspended by her Labour Party (LP) and is being investigated for tweeting that Israeli killings in Gaza should be remembered as a genocide on Holocaust Memorial Day.
She remains an MP but suspension means her “whip” (or participation in LP parliamentary affairs) is suspended while she is investigated for her comments.
Osamor has been an MP continuously since 2015, representing Edmonton, and was Shadow Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2018.
She is the second most famous British-Nigerian female MP after Kemi Badenoch who last year vied for the leadership the Conservative Party and is now Business and Trade Secretary under the administration of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The Guardian (UK) reports Osamor was due to meet party whips on Monday after issuing an apology over the message she sent on the eve of the day marking the murder of 6 million Jews during the second world war.
She had distributed the message to her party members, saying Holocaust Memorial Day should be observed, but other genocides should also be remembered – listing Gaza as one of them.
Osamor, who served as Shadow Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s top team, shared a photograph of herself signing the Westminster remembrance book of the Holocaust Educational Trust.
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Osamor may still face discipline
She also wrote that there was an ‘“international duty” to remember the victims of the Holocaust, as well as “more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza”.
She later tweeted: “Holocaust Memorial Day is a day to remember the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and the genocides that have occurred since. I apologise for any offence caused by my reference to the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza as part of that period of remembrance.”
Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, told Sky News that Osamor had met the chief whip to discuss her comments and was due to meet officials again this week.
“What is happening in Gaza is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe that is recognised,” he said. “But there are specific reasons why the Holocaust is considered as it is. It’s important on Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember that.
“And I understand Kate has apologised. There’s been a conversation with the chief whip. There’ll be further conversations next week, but of course we take anything in this space extremely seriously.”
Asked if Osamor was likely to be disciplined, Reynolds added: “There will be those conversations, and I can tell you that they have already been scheduled for the week ahead. Of course, whenever we have a situation like this, we take it extremely seriously.”
LP Leader Keir Starmer has supported Israel’s “right to defend itself” in Gaza against Hamas, but more recently called for a sustainable ceasefire and hit out at the “intolerable” casualties.
His position has caused tensions within Labour. Many in the party have pressed him to be more critical of Israel’s military action, which has caused an estimated 24,000 deaths.
Momentum, the pressure group on the left of Labour, said it was an “outrageous decision [that] further damages Labour’s reputation for anti-racism under Keir Starmer, and should be immediately reversed”.