Former Labour councillor Jenny Manson defects to new left party

A former Labour councillor has resigned from the party after nearly 60 years and joined the new left-wing “Your Party” over the Labour government’s political and military ties to Israel.

Jenny Manson, co-chair of Jewish Voice for Liberation (JVL) - which was until last week called Jewish Voice for Labour - had been in the Labour Party nearly all her life. 

She joined as a teenager and then signed up to Oxford University’s Labour Club as a student to protest against then British Prime Minister's Harold Wilson's immigration legislation, which favoured white immigrants over others.  

Manson, who is Jewish, was a Labour councillor (1986-90) in the London borough of Barnet and stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate in 1987. 

At a JVL event at The Casa bar in Liverpool, held on Tuesday during the Labour Party’s annual conference, Manson explained to an audience of mainly left-wing activists why she has resigned from Labour.

Prominent Labour MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell also attended.

'What I care about is justice and support for the vulnerable'

- Jenny Manson

“I actually moved to the left as I've got older, and sometimes I think that's more common than people realise,” Manson told Middle East Eye after the event.

She said the genocide in Gaza was the biggest factor in pushing her to resign her membership last week.

“I feel I'm witnessing something like the Holocaust on my television,” Manson said. 

“I was born in 1948, so I didn't witness the Holocaust. And of course, I'm terribly conscious of it.

“But we are witnessing not only war crimes, but such cruel war crimes. I can’t conceive of this level of cruelty.”

'Silencing pro-Palestinian voices'

Manson’s disenchantment with the Labour Party began in 2020 when Keir Starmer, now prime minister, became leader. She had been a strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer’s predecessor.

Manson was placed under investigation by the party in August 2021 for alleged antisemitism after saying on BBC Newsnight that the problem of antisemitism under Corbyn had been “exaggerated” by Labour’s right wing. 

She ultimately received an apology from Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC). But she found the experience deeply troubling.

'The Labour party is a broad church with a very narrow door, and that door seems to be ever narrowing'

- Martin Forde KC

Although she believes that antisemitism was a serious problem in Britain, Manson also thinks many accusations of antisemitism in Labour have been cynically aimed at silencing pro-Palestinian voices.

She now feels Labour is no longer the party she joined and campaigned for over decades. 

“What I care about is justice and support for the vulnerable. I've seen no justice and no support for the vulnerable,” she told MEE.

She believes the new left-wing party, in whose founding Corbyn is a key figure, offers hope for the future.

“I actually know Jeremy very well and like him very much,” Manson told MEE. 

“I’ve met two or three of the independent MPs.”

She said she wants to see “proper public services. We want a much better redistribution of wealth.

“I'm not against the idea of some sort of coalition at some stage with Greens.”

This comes as earlier this week 21 members of the Leyton and Wanstead Constituency Labour Party announced they were resigning "to help to build an alternative socialist party".

A report by barrister Martin Forde, commissioned by Labour’s NEC and released in July 2022, found that allegations of antisemitism within the party were "treated as a factional weapon" by officials in Labour’s party headquarters and in Corbyn's leadership office.

Forde himself spoke over Zoom at the event on Tuesday morning.

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“The Labour party is a broad church with a very narrow door, and that door seems to be ever narrowing,” Forde said.

He added that he believes antisemitism complaints are dealt with more harshly by the party than Islamophobia or anti-black racism complaints.

Helen Marks, a Jewish former Labour activist, also spoke at the event. She explained that she had been arrested recently at a protest against the government’s ban on direct action group Palestine Action.

“The law is restricting everyone’s freedom to protest,” she said. “And we have to guard against this autocratic government.”

Chris Romberg, a Jewish ex-army officer, also described how he had also been arrested at a protest against the ban.

Alexei Sayle, a well-known left-wing Jewish comedian, spoke over Zoom in support of Manson.

He described meeting people on the “right of the Labour party” who were “rude, factional, ignorant, stupid” and “personally vile”.