Labour MP John Mann quits to become government anti-semitism tsar

[Valin]

Harry's Place

7 September 2019

From Caroline Wheeler in The Sunday Times

“John Mann has told The Sunday Times he was standing down after 18 years as a Labour MP

The Labour Party was plunged into civil war again this evening as a veteran MP revealed he is quitting the Commons to take up a full-time role as the government’s anti-semitism tsar.

John Mann told The Sunday Times he was standing down after 18 years as a Labour MP and said Jeremy Corbyn was unfit to be prime minister for his mishandling of the anti-semitism crisis that has engulfed the party.

His decision came as Diana Johnson became the first victim of Labour’s new trigger ballot process. After 14 years’ service as MP for Hull North, she will now face a battle to be reselected.

With Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) expected to block a general election tomorrow, Mann’s decision to quit raises the prospect of an early by-election in his marginal seat of Bassetlaw, in Nottinghamshire.

The 59-year-old MP, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group against anti-semitism, today launches a blistering attack against the Labour leader, who he claims has given the “green light to anti-semites”.

(Snip)