Labour councillor in tweets controversy

A newly-elected Haringey Labour councillor is facing calls to quit over a series of controversial social media posts that have been linked to her.

Joy Wallace is now under investigation by the Labour Party after the past Twitter posts were revealed by The Jewish Chronicle last week, less than a month after she was elected to represent Fortis Green ward on 5th May.

A Twitter account allegedly belonging to Cllr Wallace – which is no longer online – suggested a rabbi had been “paid and handsomely rewarded” for criticising former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Radio 4. Another post claimed members of the Labour Party expelled for alleged antisemitism were “Palestine sympathisers”.

A post from February 2020 questioned Home Secretary Priti Patel’s Asian heritage, suggesting that her colour might be the result of the skin disease vitiligo. The tweet said: “There you go #pritipatel she does not consider her parents refugees/migrants or indeed her ENTIRE family are ethnic people… because she has straight hair and nose. Her skin might be vitiligo or a strong sunbed?!”

Haringey’s Liberal Democrat opposition group has since unearthed further historical tweets from the same Twitter account. According to the Lib Dems, one of the posts comments that a Jewish man criticising Jeremy Corbyn at a Board of Deputies of British Jews conference might find “the Israeli way and life is best for him”. Another post seemingly endorses a conspiracy theory linking George Floyd’s killing to claims US police forces had learned tactics from the Israeli secret service.

More than 8% of residents of Fortis Green ward are Jewish, a higher proportion than the borough average, and almost 7% are Asian. The ward was previously represented by three Liberal Democrat councillors, but Labour gained two seats from the opposition group during the recent election.

Lib Dem leader Luke Cawley-Harrison said: “I am appalled by the lack of due diligence taken by Labour when they selected their candidates. Our Jewish communities were told that they could trust Labour once again following years of the party in Haringey being plagued by instances of antisemitism, but it seems nothing could be further from the truth.

“She [Cllr Wallace] must do the right thing and offer her resignation as a councillor immediately.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

Cllr Wallace and Haringey Labour have been approached for comment.

The latest controversy comes after another newly-elected councillor, Ibrahim Ali, was suspended by Labour. Cllr Ali’s suspension is understood to be linked to his previous work with campaign group Cage and his defense of director Asim Qureshi’s description of Islamic State militant Mohammed Emwazi – known as ‘Jihadi John’ – as a “beautiful young man”. Cllr Ali told a parliamentary committee that Qureshi’s comments were “in no way in reference to the person that [Emwazi] became or what he did”.