She said she has yet to receive an apology for the abuse she received for speaking out on antisemitism
LABOUR MP Rosie Duffield has revealed that Sir Keir Starmer has not spoken to her since 2021 in a candid new interview.
Speaking to Camilla Tominey today, Ms Duffield also revealed how she had received no apology for abuse she suffered for speaking out about antisemitism.
She said: “I've never had an apology for the kind of three or four years of absolute hatred I received from the left wing of the party for standing up against antisemitism.
“It was horrendous. There were female MPs mostly that were deselected that found that they couldn't carry on, it was so awful. I'm not Jewish, so it wasn't as bad for me. I got so much abuse for standing up for my Jewish colleagues.”
Asked if she has had a conversation with the Labour leader she said: “No, we last spoke in September 2021, just before our conference, amid a big controversy about me liking a tweet again, about only women having cervixes or something. No, we haven't had a conversation.”
She continued: “It would be really nice to have some support at some point. It really, really would be nice to have a conversation to understand what he thinks about all of this and to understand if he's going to support women more vocally who now in my case, I line up with the party's change of policy.
“So I don't really understand what I'm supposed to have done so wrong. I mean, that wasn't an antisemitic tweet, and I withdrew my like in case it offended anyone.
“But all of my Jewish friends, and the reason I think this probably got out this story is because I've had to as part of the case that's been going on for nine months, I've had to approach people to give me statements.
“Jewish friends and allies in the Lords, in the Commons and in bodies like the board of deputies to write a statement supporting me and to say that I'm not antisemitic. So I suspect that's where this story came from.”
She added: “It would be nice to know that he's got the back of MPs who have this kind of thing. It's not nice. We get a lot of abuse, women get a lot of abuse.
“We're getting a lot of abuse over the Middle East crisis on either side, so it would be nice to feel that we're more sort of a together group that he feels that he's maybe supporting a bit more broadly.”
