She was once referred to as “probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years”. Amidst calls for her resignation, Chakrabarti was accused of hypocrisy by the Student Rights project of the Henry Jackson Society for being “the director of a human rights group while legitimising murderous regimes” as a governor of LSE. “This “whitewash for peerages” is a scandal that surely raises serious questions about the integrity of Ms. Chakrabarti, her inquiry and the Labour leadership”.
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“It is beyond disappointing that Shami Chakrabarti has been offered, and accepted, a peerage from Labour following her so-called “independent” inquiry”.
The elevation of a human rights lawyer of Indian origin to the House of Lords as a Labour peer on Friday caused a controversy after the party’s deputy leader criticised the timing of her nomination.
The row emerging around Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to nominate civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti for a place in the House of Lords highlights the Labour party’s key problem: The leadership team is an absolute mess. “This is a risky moment for our country and we share vital human rights values that need defending more than ever before in my lifetime”.
The peerage system, which contains elements brought over from times when Britain was ruled by monarchs, is often criticized as undemocratic because it involves the appointment to the upper house of members who are not elected directly by the constituents, but who are instead appointed based on their perceived merits.
Chakrabarti, 47, herself has said she is “honoured” to accept the “challenge and the opportunity to help hold the government to account”. John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw, an outspoken critic of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party told LBC Radio: “The rewarding of someone with a peerage for doing this kind of work is quite shocking – it is the worst kind of politics. I know Shami Chakrabarti believes in transparency”, he said. Her appointment is the only nomination to the House of Lords put forward by the Labour Party in former-Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation honours list.
Last month, she admitted in an interview to a Jewish TV channel that she had interviewed Corbyn about why he had described Hamas as “his friends” but had failed to mention it in her report. “You can ask me… but I’m going to evade it”, she said.
Labour MP Wes Streeting said: “With just one Lords appointment, Corbyn has undermined criticism of Cameron’s list and the remaining credibility of his anti-Semitism inquiry”.
For Labour, which is on the verge of a break-up due to deepening internal schisms, this latest controversy is bound to cause further divisions within.
The decision has also been criticised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which said it compromised the independence of an inquiry into antisemitism in the party, recently headed by Chakrabarti for Labour.
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“If anybody still took Shami Chakrabarti’s report or Jeremy Corbyn’s declared opposition to antisemitism seriously, this must be the final straw”, Jonathan Sacerdoti, the organization’s spokesperson, said in a statement. Both of her parents were immigrants to the UK.
