A
Labour MP suspended after she posted offensive online comments about Jewish
people is now being investigated by police, it can be revealed.
The
remarks by Bradford West MP Naz Shah – who has been re-admitted to the party –
are the subject of a highly sensitive inquiry by West Yorkshire Police.
The
probe into her conduct, launched after police received several complaints, is
in its final stages.
Officers
have already taken advice from prosecutors and are preparing to pass a full
file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) within days.
The
move could lead to Mrs Shah being charged with inciting religious hatred, an
offence punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Last
night West Yorkshire Police said an ‘investigation is ongoing’, the first time
it has confirmed the MP is under suspicion.
The
revelation is likely to trigger a furious row in the Labour Party, which
re-admitted Mrs Shah ten weeks after suspending her for making allegedly antisemitic
comments. Critics demanded to know if Labour was aware she was under police
investigation when it welcomed her back to the fold.
The
investigation into Mrs Shah is being overseen by officers in West Yorkshire’s
Protective Service team, which is responsible for many sensitive inquiries.
Asked whether the MP had been interviewed under caution, a police spokesman
said: ‘We’re not prepared to offer any further comment at this time.’
It
is understood officers have already discussed the case with prosecutors in
detail ahead of passing over a full file of evidence. Mrs Shah, 42, was
suspended by Labour in April amid widespread condemnation after calling for the
mass transportation of Israeli Jews to the US. The controversy was sparked by
discovery of Facebook posts she made in 2014, before being elected to
Parliament.
A
second post compared Israel’s policies to those of Nazi Germany. And a third
called on her friends to back a poll criticising Israel. Jewish groups
described her posts as ‘gross and brazen antisemitism’. The public outcry led
to Mrs Shah issuing an apology, saying ‘it does not reflect my views’. She was
stripped of the Labour whip but was allowed back two-and-a-half months later.
Concern
over antisemitism within the Labour Party has been growing since Jeremy Corbyn
became leader, backed by hundreds of thousands of newly-joined, hard-left
activists.
The
issue was further inflamed when a report into antisemitism in the Labour party
by Shami Chakrabarti was condemned as a whitewash in August.
A
spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘If it is true that there
is an ongoing police investigation into antisemitic hate crime allegedly
committed by Naz Shah, and Labour was aware of it but decided to end her
suspension before the police investigation had concluded, then this is yet
further evidence of the Party’s abject failure to grasp its antisemitism
problem.’
Mrs
Shah was not available for comment last night.
