Rebecca Long-Bailey sacked as shadow education secretary
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Rebecca Long-Bailey has been sacked as shadow education secretary after sharing an article containing an “anti-semitic conspiracy theory” on Twitter.
Long-Bailey, who was named as shadow education secretary in April, was asked to step down from the Labour Party front bench this afternoon, a spokesperson for leader Keir Starmer confirmed.
The move comes after Long-Bailey shared an article in which actress Maxine Peake claimed the police officers accused of killing George Floyd in America used tactics “learnt in Israel”.
Long-Bailey shared the interview, which appeared in the Independent, with the comment: “Maxine Peake is an absolute diamond.”
Maxine Peake is an absolute diamond https://t.co/uzxPEm8VkI
— Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) June 25, 2020
Before being sacked, she defended her original tweet, posting: “I retweeted Maxine Peake’s article because of her significant achievements and because the thrust of her argument is to stay in the Labour Party. It wasn’t intended to be an endorsement of all aspects of the article.”
A spokesperson for Starmer said: “This afternoon Keir Starmer asked Rebecca Long-Bailey to step down from the shadow cabinet.
“The article Rebecca shared earlier today contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
“As leader of the Labour Party, Keir has been clear that restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority.
“Anti-Semitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it.”
