Labour anti-Semitism row: John Mann's daughter says party failed to act over rape threat
2 min read
The daughter of Labour MP John Mann has hit out at the party's response to anti-Semitism, saying that "nobody" from Labour high command contacted the family following a rape threat made against her.
Mr Mann - the outspoken MP for Bassetlaw who chairs the all-party group on anti-Semitism - revealed in a heated House of Commons debate this week that his family had been targeted for horrific abuse following his work to highlight the issue.
The MP told colleagues how his wife had been threatened with rape and sent a dead bird in the post, while Special Branch had been drafted in to track his daughter's movements following a string of threats.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Heather Mann warned that anti-Semitic abuse was now becoming "the norm", and slammed Labour's response to a host of threats made against her.
"When my mother was sent the dead bird in 2012, party officials rightly and repeatedly ensured she was safe," she said. "Yet since my father raised in detail the latest threats against us in private to the parliamentary Labour Party three weeks ago, nobody from the national party has bothered to check on us. Nobody."
The Labour MP's daughter - a postgraduate student at Oxford University - also took aim at Jeremy Corbyn, accusing him of failing to listen to MPs as they gave testimony on the abuse they had suffered.
"It angers me that by the time my dad spoke in last Tuesday’s debate on anti-Semitism, Jeremy Corbyn had left the chamber," she said.
And she pushed back against those who claimed that the anti-Semitism row was being exaggerated to damage the Labour leadership.
"The abuse received by my dad and other MPs, including Ruth Smeeth, continues to be ignored or denied," Ms Mann said.
"Some Labour Party members are even questioning whether these latest threats against my family are real. It’s my, my mum’s and my sister’s safety we are talking about.
"We are a strong family. But I understand what so many Jewish Labour supporters are now feeling. I demand leadership from my party."
Ms Mann's highly critical remarks come after Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne vowed that Labour's new chief Jennie Formby would prioritise a clampdown on anti-Semitism.
"I want to see the new general secretary take this task as the number one priority and root it out of the Labour party," the frontbencher told PoliticsHome's sister title The House. "There is absolutely no place for it in the Labour party."
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