Anti-Corbyn Labour MPs refuse to apologise over 'false antisemitism smear' on Pro-Corbyn Shadow Minister
Three Labour MPs, all of whom are vehemently opposed to the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, have ignored widespread calls to apologise after joining in with now entirely debunked attacks on a pro-Corbyn Shadow Cabinet Minister suggesting that she had intentionally refused to answer "hard questions" from journalists about Labour's long-standing antisemitism furore. On Saturday, a selectively-edited video was posted to Twitter by Gareth Milner, a journalist for the hard-right CapX website and a former Tory staffer, showing an advisor to Labour's Shadow Business Secretary, Laura Pidcock, arguing with journalists about their line of questioning at the Durham Miners' Gala. The video shows Pidcock's advisor tell journalists that it was "really unfair" of them to primarily focus their questions on the current debate around Labour antisemitism and not the Miners' Gala, as they had apparently told him they would:
"[...]that was really unfair - you said you'd be talking about the Gala [...] is there anybody who wants to talk about the Gala?"
https://twitter.com/sw1a0aa/status/1149979020769079296 Responding to the video, Wes Streeting, a Labour MP and a longstanding critic of Jeremy Corbyn, tweeted that Labour Shadow Ministers should "get used" to "hard questions on Labour's appalling handling of antisemitism", and asserted that Pidcock should "attack racism, not the media": https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/1149981722064445440 Following Streeting's attack, two other anti-Corbyn Labour MPs, Phil Wilson and Rosie Duffield, both tweeted their own takes, with Wilson stating that he has "no problem answering the anti-semitism question", whilst Duffield questioned whether Pidcock wanted the media to simply "ignore" the Labour antisemitism furore: https://twitter.com/MPphilwilson/status/1149997576990670848 https://twitter.com/RosieDuffield1/status/1149988419805876224 However, shortly after the three attacks, Pidcock responded, claiming that that she had actually answered questions about Labour's antisemitism furore from the assembled journalists "at length", stating:
"I answered those questions [on Labour's antisemitism situation] at length actually, and then my Parliamentary Assistant reminded the gathered journalists of the subject of the session. This was ignored again. While I continued to answer the questions asked, at the end of the session my assistant and I pointed out that this wasn't fair, because it wasn't what we'd agreed."
"In the meantime, someone who was in the press session (and a former Tory staffer, as it happens) filmed this and posted the footage to Twitter in a way which suggests I was refusing to answer difficult questions. I did not. In fact. I answered those questions on antisemitism for around 10 minutes. Whether journalists choose to use that footage is a matter for them, but that is the truth of the matter."
https://twitter.com/LauraPidcockMP/status/1150489161721417730
Furthermore, Ian McDonald, another journalist who was also present at the Gala, tweeted to confirm Pidcock's account, stating:
"I filmed the whole interview that @LauraPidcockMP did with SKY and the BBC. This clip has the end of the BBC interview and the whole of the SKY interview and all the discussions in between. As you will see, it confirms Laura's account."
https://twitter.com/IanKMcDonald/status/1150497059251916801 In addition to the above proof, a video has also since emerged showing Pidcock actually answering these questions on Labour antisemitism at the Gala: https://twitter.com/ToryFibs/status/1150691082579189766 However, rather than apologise for his premature attack, Streeting attempted to claim that his criticism was "not that Laura failed to answer questions" but that he supposedly disagreed with her answers: https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/1150688574175666177 Wilson also responded with the same excuse, claiming that he did not "say Laura hadn't answered questions on antisemitism" but that he disagreed with her responses: https://twitter.com/MPphilwilson/status/1150719821857918978 Both Labour MPs have, as yet, refused to stipulate exactly which of Pidcock's answers they disagreed with. Furthermore, the videos showing Pidcock's answers on Labour antisemitism had not actualy been made public at the time of the three Labour MPs' attacks. Unsurprisingly, the refusal of three Labour MPs to apologise came in for significant criticism, with Labour supporter James Foster stating:
"What @MPphilwilson @wesstreeting & @RosieDuffield1 have shown is that their real motivation is attacking @UKLabour MPs who support @JeremyCorbyn.
"Their responses, which contradict their initial tweets, affirms this.
"Rather than apologise to @LauraPidcockMP they’ve doubled down."
https://twitter.com/JamesEFoster/status/1150728746296598528 Numerous other Labour supporters were just as scathing in their criticism: https://twitter.com/tristandross/status/1150760285067759622 https://twitter.com/Rachael_Swindon/status/1150692988982575105 https://twitter.com/CorbynHope/status/1150696092985696257 https://twitter.com/yorkierosie/status/1150698047468425217 https://twitter.com/UKDemockery/status/1150743618405240833 https://twitter.com/FarlaneTeri/status/1150705716967219201 https://twitter.com/CCleePolitical/status/1150702180736872448