On June 7th, a group of Jewish residents in the northeast, living in the new mayoral region for which the Labour Party is currently selecting its candidate, issued an Open Letter expressing its concern at the Party’s decision to exclude Jamie Driscoll, the sitting Mayor of North of Tyne from its selection process. Here Benny Ross, one of the signatories, introduces the letter and explains why it was issued.

Northeast England has a very small Jewish population. Its biggest component, the ḥaredi (strictly orthodox) enclave in Gateshead, has limited interaction with the outside world. The rest of us mostly live in or near Newcastle, which has two synagogues, and range from moderately observant to secular Jews.

On the whole, the organised Jewish community and its official leadership tend towards conservatism, unwavering support for Israel, and a strong aversion to stepping out of line. In these conditions, finding even ten Jews who would dare to publicly question the Jewish establishment’s narrative is a difficult task. So we can only admire the Labour machine’s achievement in provoking twelve of us to sign an open letter.

We hold widely differing views on politics, Zionism, religion and other matters, but we appreciate the Mayor’s commitment to the region and its people; we know that he treats residents, negotiating partners and opponents with respect; and we resent being used as a stick to beat him with.

An open letter to Labour and to news media in northeast England

7 June 2023

We the undersigned live in the areas that are to be merged into a new mayoral region. We are all also Jewish. We all take pride in our religious and cultural heritage, but we don’t expect that heritage to be dragged into factional disputes within a national political party.

We note with concern that Labour’s decision to exclude Mayor Jamie Driscoll from standing for mayor of the proposed North East Mayoral Combined Authority has been linked in some reports with attempts to insinuate that he encourages or tolerates antisemitism.

We call upon the Labour party, the Jewish Labour Movement, Jewish Voice for Labour, the Representative Council of North East Jewry and the Board of Deputies of British Jews to state unequivocally and truthfully:

• that the decision to exclude Jamie Driscoll from the shortlist was not prompted by the local Jewish community or its representatives
• that it was purely a manoeuvre to keep a popular and successful mayor out of a more prominent position where his perceived position on the left of Labour could potentially be embarrassing to the current Labour leadership
• that Jamie Driscoll is not and has never been an antisemite, but is in fact a principled campaigner against all forms of racism, including antisemitism
• that any attempt to smear Mayor Driscoll’s integrity by making oblique references to alleged Jewish concerns or allegations against him would be inappropriate, potentially libellous, and could well have the unintended effect of generating hostility against Jewish people or organisations.

We call upon other Jewish residents to join us in signing this open letter, which will be sent to local news media and to the organisations named above.   

Signed:  (alphabetical order)

Jenny Benn

Gay Bernstone

Alice Bondi

Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts

Jenny Friend

Sol Gamsu

 Lin James

Sherene Meir

Rita Elizabeth Mendelson

Benny Ross

Jenny Secretan

Adam Stock

cc:        Mayor Jamie Driscoll

The Labour Party, Kings Manor Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6PA

Jewish Labour Movement

Jewish Voice for Labour

Board of Deputies of British Jews

Representative Council of North East Jewry

BBC Radio Newcastle

BBC Look North

Metro Radio

ITV News Tyne Tees

The Journal

The Chronicle

Northern Echo

Northumberland Gazette

Hexham Courant

Benny Ross has lived in Newcastle upon Tyne since 1998. After many years volunteering as a cheder (Jewish Sunday school) teacher, he became a teacher in real life. Being Jewish is important to him, but he doesn’t think Jews are more important than other people.  

Image: Jamie Driscoll. Source/Author: North of Tyne Combined Authority, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.