• THE New Journal of March 29 carried an extraordinary letter by a Labour candidate, Rebecca Shirazi, in which she falsely argued that she had been “directly” attacked by the Conservative group leader, (Labour has been at the forefront of the fight against racism for decades).

The author went on to claim in the letter that she was the “only Jewish candidate running in Frognal & Fitzjohns” while simultaneously (and seemingly without irony) also complaining of those who “try to politicise Jewish voters… in time for the local elections”.

These were bizarre claims not least as nominations for local elections had not yet closed. At the time of writing the slate of candidates running in the ward had not yet been announced.

I don’t yet know who the other candidates running in the local election might be. But I myself have Jewish heritage as I set out in a previous letter to the New Journal (Labour’s plan is to eliminate all opposition across the borough, January 25).

As I explained then my grandmother and her Jewish family fled Nazi Germany, arriving eventually in Camden, where she went on to train as a doctor at the Royal Free.

Several of my family members attend a local shul. So I don’t appreciate any political opponent implicitly judging, on my behalf, how Jewish I may or may not be.

The candidate went on to say that the Labour Party had been on the “right side of history when it comes to women’s, LGBT, and ethnic minority rights, including Labour’s long-standing commitment to fighting against anti-Semitism…”.

Putting aside the crass attempt to politicise these claims, particularly in the middle of a substantial national crisis of anti-Semitism, there is no single party who has got these questions right.

Take LGBT rights, for example. Yes, significant progress came under the Tony Blair Labour government with civil partnerships.

But the Conservatives also introduced important advances with same-sex marriage under David Cameron, or decriminalising homosexual acts in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. Both parties also had less proud periods: Section 28 for the Tories is an obvious example.

In the early 2000s Labour over-turned the ban on lesbians and gays in the military, but only did so after they were forced to by losing a case at Strasbourg.

Back in the 1970s Labour had their first openly lesbian MP, Maureen Colquhoun. She was subsequently deselected.

Labour’s candidates would do better to concentrate on their local policies. We hear again and again from residents who tell us they have watched what happened in Haringey when the hard-left took over the borough and are worried about it happening here.

They want us to fight to bring back weekly bin collections, to oppose over-development, and to ensure there are more police officers protecting our streets. That’s what the Conservative candidates in this ward are doing.

HENRY NEWMAN
Frognal & Fitzjohns Conservatives