Britain's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell waded into the internal controversy around anti-Semitism that has engulfed the Labour Party in recent days. Saying that action to tackle the problem of anti-Semitism in the party should have been implemented "ages ago," the shadow chancellor appeared to blame the previous Labour Secretary General Ian McNicol who resigned in late 2017.
Mr. McDonnell however said he believed that Christine Shawcroft, a party official who resigned from a disputes resolution body over her refusal to back the sacking of a Labour councillor accused of anti-Semitism, should not be made to resign from the party's National Executive Committee as well.
The dispute has become yet another faultline in Britain's main opposition party as well as a point of criticism of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
Labour's NEC has in recent months been taken over in party elections by supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, such as Momentum founder Jon Lansman, who seeks to take Britain in a dramatically different direction from that pursued by previous Labour Governments. On March 21, another Corbyn supporter, Jennie Formby won election to become the Labour Party's secretary general.