Tony Benn’s granddaughter branded a ‘disgusting little Tory mouthpiece’ in vile online abuse

The granddaughter of Labour legend Tony Benn has been branded ‘a disgusting little Tory mouthpiece’ and bombarded with online abuse after criticising Jeremy Corbyn’s attempts to deal with the anti-Semitism crisis.

Emily Benn- who resigned as a Labour councillor for Croydon Council in 2016 to move to New York for a job with bank UBS-  tweeted on Friday saying Jeremy Corbyn’s attempt to address the concerns of the Jewish community in an article in The Guardian was ‘utter rubbish’.

She added he had taken ‘no responsibility’ and there will be ‘no change while he is leader.’

Following the tweet, Ms Benn , 28- who is currently a graduate research assistant at The John F.Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in the United States- received a number of shocking tweets. 

The backlash against the former parliamentary candidate comes after Jeremy Corbyn’s attempts to deal with the anti-Semitism crisis have been widely criticised.

Emily Benn with her grandfather Tony Benn at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth

 In one tweet she was told: ‘The great Tony Benn would have been ashamed to call this disgusting lying mouthpiece girl as his granddaughter.’

Ms Benn replies: ‘Thank you so much for letting me know Mariam.

‘I shall take your opinion on board.’

In another piece of abuse, Ray Ellis, who claims to be a a national officer with The Communications Union, CWU, says: ‘Could probably power a medium sized town from the energy generated by your grandfather’s rate of rotation in his grave.’

In a further tweet replying to someone else about Tony Benn: ‘Possibly. He was much kinder than I am.

‘But I have more than a hunch he would be horrified if he could see the vicious nonense (sic) Emily tweets, especially about his friend and ally Jeremy Corbyn.’

Ray Ellis later deleted the tweet and apologised. 

Ray Ellis (pictured on Sky News) from the Communication Workers Union which is affiliated to The Labour Party, has since deleted the tweet and apologised

Ray Ellis (pictured on Sky News) from the Communication Workers Union which is affiliated to The Labour Party, has since deleted the tweet and apologised

 Emily Benn responds by tweeting: ‘Hey @CWUnews- Just wondering if you think this is an appropriate way for your National Officer to behave?

‘Attempting to use the memory of a dead relative to shame someone?

‘It’s 1. Rubbish, and therefore 2. I don’t care, but- to me at least- seems lacking in basic decency.

The Twitter backlash typically focuses attacks on Ms Benn through her grandfather Tony Benn.

A number of the trolls make the strange and hurtful assumption they know the late Mr Benn better than his own granddaughter.

Today MP Ian Austin warned that the Labour Party could lose the next election if it does not deal with the anti-Semitism in the party.

Writing in The Mirror, he said: ‘On Friday he wrote an article that made matters worse by completely failing to make the changes that are needed. Instead, he repeated some of the things that caused the problem.

‘He needs to start listening and adopt the standard international definition of anti-Semitism and all its examples. 

‘He must respond properly to the reasonable requests made by the Jewish Leadership Council, Board of Deputies and Jewish Labour Movement and kick the racists out of our party.’

In the article described as ‘utter rubbish’ by Ms Benn, Mr Corbyn said: ‘I do not for one moment accept that a Labour government would represent any kind of threat, let alone an ”existential threat” to Jewish life in Britain, as three Jewish newspapers recently claimed.

‘That is the kind of overheated rhetoric that can surface during emotional political debates.

‘But I do acknowledge there is a real problem that Labour is working to overcome.

‘People who dish out antisemitic poison need to understand: you do not do it in my name.’

Jeremy Corbyn sought to address the concerns of the Jewish community by insisting he wil root out anti-semites from Labour

Jeremy Corbyn sought to address the concerns of the Jewish community by insisting he wil root out anti-semites from Labour

The timing and content of the article has been widely criticised.

Gideon Falter, the head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: ‘We thought it was impossible for Jeremy Corbyn to make this worse but he has done.

‘He’s going to continue to tell British Jews that he knows best what anti-Semitism is. 

‘All parties have racists in them but Jeremy Corbyn has allowed it to run rampant which has emboldened those who are already in the party.

‘There’s no action that Jeremy Corbyn can take that will deal with this crisis. We believe that Jeremy Corbyn in government would have the same effect on anti-Semitism nationally that he has had in his party.

‘Ever since Stephen Lawrence and the Macpherson report it has been the gold standard that minorities are best placed to define the racism against them.

‘But Jeremy Corbyn has said that Jews, uniquely, can’t be trusted to define anti-Semitism and that he knows best.’ 

How timing of piece sparked another row 

The timing of Corbyn’s article – hours before the start of the Sabbath – angered members of the Jewish community.

The Sabbath, or day of rest, has been a central feature of Jewish culture for thousands of years.

It began in commemoration of the seventh day of the Creation story, on which God is said to have rested.

But unlike the Christian tradition, with Sunday designated as the rest day, Judaism’s day of rest – called Shabbat by Jews – begins just before sunset on Friday, and ends after sunset on Saturday.

According to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, ‘Jewish law requires Jews to refrain from various acts of “work” on the Sabbath. Prohibited acts include travelling (other than on foot), cooking, writing, carrying, the switching on and off of electricity, using a telephone and any transaction of a commercial nature, such as shopping.’

Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard wrote on Twitter: ‘So keen is Corbyn to engage with Jews that he publishes this (awful) piece on a Friday night, for a Saturday paper. So not a single observant Jew can engage with it.’

The Board of Deputies note that for an observant Jew there is ‘no compromise’, apart from when there is a risk to life, or when children or family need emergency medical attention. 



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