Tory anger over Fagin jibe
Labour Party chairman Ian McCartney has defended comments he made comparing shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin to Charles Dickens’ character Fagin.
Mr McCartney angered Jewish leaders and the Conservative Party when he linked Mr Letwin to the greedy villain in Oliver Twist.
Speaking at the Scottish Labour Party’s annual conference in Inverness, Mr McCartney attacked Tory spending plans, calling Mr Letwin, the descendent of Jewish refugees from Ukraine, “Slasher Letwin”.
“What would life under Slasher Letwin look like? No Oliver Twist, this man – more of a Fagin,” Mr McCartney said
“This 21st-century Fagin will pick the pockets of Scotland’s pensioners by abolishing the pension credit and then plan for a new generation of poor pensioners by abolishing the second state pension.”
Jewish leaders have condemned the Labour chairman’s comments as irresponsible and offensive. Friends of Mr Letwin said he is very proud of his background and claimed it was insensitive of Labour to use it against him.
Lord Janner, the Labour peer and chairman of the Holocaust Education Trust, said he was “amazed” by Mr McCartney’s comments and Mr Letwin’s spokesman said: “It is sad that Labour have used this character in such a way and refuse to debate our policies in a more serious manner.”
However, Mr McCartney has defended his remarks, stating: “I have spent all my life campaigning against racism and anti-Semitism. No one who reads the remarks in context could interpret them in that way. It is simply a reference to the Tory policy on scrapping the pension credit. This was a comment about Oliver Letwin’s politics and the Tory Party’s policies.”
There have been growing concerns over the re-emergence of anti-Semitism in Britain recently.
Last week a row erupted in the Commons and the media after it was revealed that Conservative MP Ann Winterton made a joke about the Chinese cocklers who died tragically at Morecambe Bay during a dinner. Ms Winterton has had the party whip withdrawn for refusing to apologise for her comments, deemed “completely unacceptable” by party leader Michael Howard.
