Chris Williamson (politician)

Christopher Williamson (born 16 September 1956) is a former British member of parliament for Derby North which he represented from 2010 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. Elected as a Labour Party MP, he was barred from standing as a Labour candidate in the 2019 general election following his suspension for comments about Antisemitism in the Labour Party. He stood as an independent, but did not retain his seat and lost his deposit. Williamson hosts the programme Palestine Declassified on the Iranian government-owned TV channel Press TV with David Miller, a former academic sacked by the UK's Bristol University in 2021, as the only other regular participant.

Chris Williamson in 2017

Quotes

• [On women-only train carriages] It would be worth consulting about it. It was pooh-poohed (when Jeremy Corbyn suggested it), but these statistics seem to indicate there is some merit in examining that.
  Complemented with having more guards on trains, it would be a way of combating these attacks, which have seen a very worrying increase in the past few years.
  I'm not saying it has to happen, but it may create a safe space. It would be a matter of personal choice whether someone wanted to make use of it.
  • "Shadow minister suggests women-only train carriages to cut down on sex assaults", PoliticsHome (22 August 2017).
  • Corbyn raised the issue during the 2015 Labour leadership election. Williamson's comments were criticised by Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Jess Phillips.

• [On antisemitism in the Labour Party] I'm not saying it never ever happens but it is a really dirty, lowdown trick, particularly the antisemitism smears. Many people in the Jewish community are appalled by what they see as the weaponisation of antisemitism for political ends.
  It is pretty repellent to use that to attack somebody like Jeremy Corbyn, who has spent his whole life fighting for social justice and standing up for the underdog.
  But I feel people have stopped listening to the smears and lies and dirty tricks. I think for all the talk about Venezuela and antisemitism, and the latest thing is sexism now, Jeremy’s overwhelming landslide victories in the leadership elections and the general election mean people have stopped listening to the smears.
  • "MPs should have no say over who leads Labour, argues shadow minister", The Guardian (28 August 2017).
  • Williamson described the critical response to Corbyn's treatment of these issues at the time as "proxy wars and bullshit."

• Hands off Gilad Atzmon - sign the petition! [initial tweet, soon deleted]
• Earlier today I tweeted a petition about an Islington Council ban against the Blockheads performing with their chosen line-up. The council has blocked jazz musician Gilad Atzmon from playing with the group [...] Since then I've learned that Atzmon, a former Israeli soldier, is not confined to the jazz world. I am told that in various blogs and in speeches he has adopted anti-Semitic language. [...] I wasn't aware of this until after I tweeted the petition. As soon as I was informed, I deleted the tweet. I've always condemned all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, and strongly disassociate myself from Atzmon's anti-Semitic views.
  I therefore apologise for tweeting this petition and any distress or offence it may have caused.
  • Tweets cited in "Labour MP sorry for backing musician accused of anti-Semitism" BBC News (21 December 2018).

• The party that has done more to stand up to racism is now being demonised as a racist, bigoted party. I have got to say I think our party's response has been partly responsible for that because in my opinion… we have backed off too much, we have given too much ground, we have been too apologetic.
  • Extract from a speech delivered at a Momentum meeting in Sheffield (February 2019), cited by Elizabeth Bates in "Chris Williamson: Labour has been too apologetic about anti-Semitism", The Yorkshire Post (28 February 2019).
  • Williamson was referring to allegations of antisemitism in the UK Labour Party being made at the time.

• I deeply regret, and apologise for, my recent choice of words when speaking about how the Labour party has responded to the ongoing fight against antisemitism inside of our party. I was trying to stress how much the party has done to tackle antisemitism.
  • Apologises for his comments in Sheffield, cited in "Labour splits exposed as MP is suspended over antisemitism remarks" The Guardian (27 February 2019).

• The pearl clutching hyperbole by sections of the "left" about this [David Miller] tweet is depressingly familiar.
  Stop letting the bad faith racist Zionist movement frame our narrative. That's what killed the Corbyn project, and it was the liberal left who wielded the knife.
  • Tweet quoted in "David Miller condemned after vowing to make list of 'over-represented Jews'", The Jewish Chronicle (9 August 2023).
  • In a tweet, Dr David Miller had said "Jews" were not facing discrimination, were "over-represented" in high-status occupations in Europe and the Americas and were in a position to target marginalised groups.

About Williamson

In alphabetical order by author or source.

• The idea of an all-powerful Israeli or Zionist lobby is one that has found swathes of appeal among the British left. It is common for British Jewish organisations or institutions to be referred to as an "pro-Israel lobby group." By using such a term as a preface to a UK Jewish organisation, the implication is being made that those Jews hold dual loyalty or are working against the interests of their own country. Ironically, it's on Iranian state broadcaster, Press TV, where former Bristol University professor David Miller and former Labour Member of Parliament Chris Williamson respectively produce and present a series called Palestine Declassified almost entirely devoted to trying to prove that British Jewish organisations have a Zionist or Israeli affiliation, thereby (it is claimed) doing the nefarious bidding of the Israeli state.
  • "Antisemitism and Radical Anti-Israel Bias on the Political Left in Europe", Anti-Defamation League (8 August 2023).

• Hats off to Chris Williamson, Labour MP – a genuine human being.
  • Vanessa Beeley in a Facebook post (20 August 2018), as cited in "Labour can be Jo Cox's party or Chris Williamson's – it cannot be both" New Statesman (21 August 2018).

• Chris Williamson is a very good, very effective Labour MP. He's a very strong anti-racist campaigner. He is not antisemitic in any way.
  • Jeremy Corbyn speaking to the Derby Telegraph in January 2019, as cited in "Labour splits exposed as MP is suspended over antisemitism remarks" The Guardian (27 February 2019).

• Labour's insistence that the party is an implacable foe of anti-Jewish racism is rendered laughable every day that Chris Williamson remains a Labour MP. The anti-racist charity Hope Not Hate is right to demand he be stripped of the Labour whip. If the Labour party fails to make that move, then it will have passed judgment on itself – and that judgment will be damning.
  • Jonathan Freedland "Labour doesn't have zero tolerance of antisemitism if Chris Williamson is an MP" The Guardian (27 February 2019).

• Chris Williamson is a politician made for the digital age in its worst respects: he baits Jews in a way that is relentless, provocative and inflammatory.
• Last November, hours after the massacre of 11 Jews at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Mr Williamson tweeted an attack on the Board of Deputies of British Jews. It came from a far-left site called Skwawkbox, which has referred to a "Jewish 'war on Corbyn'".
  • Oliver Kamm "Chris Williamson: An MP made for the worst aspects of the digital age" The Times (28 February 2019).

• Everybody knows Chris is not an antisemite. If you pass on defending him for some tactical advantage, we are all losers. It's a slippery slope.
  • From an interview with Ken Loach for the Morning Star newspaper, as cited in "Ken Loach says Tories are more likely to be antisemitic than Labour supporters" The Jewish Chronicle (24 September 2019).

See also

• Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party