Notorious Bristol University Professor who attacked Sir Keir Starmer over “Zionist money” has been suspended from Labour, but not for antisemitism
A notorious academic at the University of Bristol who attacked Sir Keir Starmer over “Zionist money” behind his leadership campaign has been suspended from the Labour Party, but not, according to the Jewish Chronicle, for antisemitism.
According to a report, Prof. David Miller asserted that his and other recent suspensions “were designed to target members who understand the racism of Zionism, ‘which is very obviously incompatible with membership of the Labour Party.’”
Prof. Miller has previously claimed that, because Sir Keir was “in receipt of money from the Zionist movement,” he was “obviously not going to” conduct “a proper investigation” into the leaked Labour report into the handling of antisemitism cases and supposed factional infighting at Party headquarters. The remarks were apparently made after he took part in an online broadcast with the disgraced former Labour MP, Chris Williamson. He also talked at that event about what he referred to as the “witch hunt” against Labour members accused of antisemitism.
Prof. Miller, a sociology lecturer, has a history of spouting conspiracy theories about Zionism and conspiracies involving various Jewish community organisations and figures that has reportedly discomfited his Jewish students. The University of Bristol has repeatedly failed to take action against him.
It is extraordinary that even the Labour Party, which remains an institutionally antisemitic Party, has suspended Prof. Miller, but the University of Bristol continues to do nothing despite his impact on Jewish students.
On 28th May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.