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This is a cross-post from the Huffington Post by John Mann MP:

In 2006, a cross-party group of MPs reported on their Inquiry into anti-semitism which I had commissioned. That report featured 35 recommendations for government, parliament and civil society. A great number of those recommendations have been successfully actioned, but one in particular has proven difficult to implement.

The report advised that the Electoral Commission should: “[...] draw[s] up a contract of acceptable behaviour which outlines the duty of all election candidates to exercise due care when addressing issues such as racism, community relations and minorities during political campaigning.”

In the government’s 2007 response to the Inquiry they advised that this matter was one for the Electoral Commission. The commission has advised that codes beyond the reach of the law were unenforceable by them. The issue can therefore only be resolved by a clear code agreed and enforced by the political parties. In other words each political party keeps its own house in order, using a transparent process agreed by all parties.

To that end, I have commissioned a new inquiry into electoral conduct, with a particular focus on discrimination – in all forms, not just anti-semitism. In doing so, I have drawn on the lessons learned from the previous inquiry. We have a respected chair in Natascha Engel MP who leads the backbench business committee. We have a group of distinguished parliamentarians from both houses and we have representation from five of the parties represented in our parliament.

This cross-party approach is key, especially given electoral malpractice is a cross-party blight. One does not have to look very far to find examples of conduct unbecoming of public representatives and their agents.

The 2004 campaign for Bethnal Green and Bow was marred by what was described as anti-semitic campaigning on the part of some campaigners against Oona King, the then Labour candidate.

The Labour party circulated proposed elections posters in 2005 of then Conservative Party leader Michael Howard depicted as a Fagin-like character. Whilst concerns were raised at the time, there remains a vacuum of responsibility for election-time publications. Neither OFCOM nor the PCC have taken responsibility, deferring to the political parties to self-police.

In 2010, ex-MP Andrew Pelling who had the whip removed by the Conservative party after serious allegations were made against him by his ex-wife, had his depression used against him in a briefing widely distributed by local Conservatives.

Then in 2012, the Liberal Democrats issued a leaflet in south-west London describing a ‘straight-fight’ between their party’s candidate and the Conservative candidate also standing for the council who happened to be gay. Stonewall CEO, Ben Summerskill suggested there were “things whispered on doorsteps” in Kingston that would be shocking to many. The ‘straight fight’ or ‘straight choice’ mantra was used during the 1983 Bermondsey by-election in which Simon Hughes faced Peter Tatchell. Hughes has since apologised for what he said were inappropriate leaflets.

Part of the problem in investigating electoral conduct is that it is broadly unquantifiable. High profile cases like those above make the press but many other stories are not publicised – Lee Scott MP for example spoke in a parliamentary debate about a leaflet distributed in his constituency claiming he was an “enemy of Islam” alongside a picture of him in a Jewish head covering. This inquiry is an opportunity to reach a better understanding of the extent of the problem.

The purpose of the inquiry however, is not to drag the parties through the mud, to shut down free speech or to exasperate with tails of misconduct. Rather, we hope to bring to the fore examples of good and replicable practice. Working outside of an election cycle, we would like to see considered thought given to a transparent, workable and enforceable framework on electoral conduct which can be agreed by the political parties. This will give clarity for candidates and agents, for the parties and ultimately confidence to constituents about how concerns will be addressed.

The call for evidence has been issued and details are available at www.antisemitism.org.uk

John Mann MP is the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism. He tweets @JohnMannMP and the group can be found @APPGAA.

The recent battle between the Society of Black Lawyers and Tottenham Hotspur underlines the case for action in tackling some of the most unsavoury elements of supporter culture.

For those that missed it, the Society of Black Lawyers Chairman, Peter Herbert, drew fire from Tottenham fans and others by calling for the police to prosecute those holding banners proclaiming loyalty to the ‘Yid Army’ or chanting the phrase during games. Tottenham attempted to differentiate between antisemitic abuse it labelled as “real” such as hissing to simulate the noise of gas chambers, and the chanting of ‘yid’, calling for a determined and concerted effort from all parties to deal with the problem. Meanwhile, they welcomed the police statement that there was ‘no deliberate intent to cause offence’. They, I presume, support the common supposition that the chant is a predominantly Jewish crowd reclaiming the word or perhaps self-parodying.

Sadly, such suppositions are almost certainly false. Given the Jewish population of the UK is about 250,000 it is likely that less than 5 percent of spurs fans are Jewish.  In which case, a majority of non-Jewish fans are likely chanting ‘Yid Army’; presumably unknowing of the provenance of the word or the anti-Semitic abuse it provokes from some opposing team supporters. One could argue the case that Jewish fans could sing the term if they so wished, but it would be impossible to demarcate who could and couldn’t chant ‘Yid Army’ as a self-defining term. Rather stewards should have a policy of zero tolerance and continue to look for and report all abuse – including the Y-Word.

The well known comedian and author David Baddiel together with his brother Ivor, produced a film called ‘the Y-Word’, which our group helped to launch in parliament. It depicts clearly the shocking repercussions of the adoptive Jewish chanting as a platform for outright antisemitism. In discussing the film, Baddiel has suggested that a predominantly white team in Brixton adopting the N-Word as their badge of honour and chanting ‘N***** Army’ would be banned without hesitation. Of course, he is right.  I fear his analysis may also be right, that any culture which has shunned other race-hate words but accepts the Y-word, perceives anti-Jewish racism to be somehow less offensive or significant. 

However, the Spurs chants are not the only ones of concern. David Jones, manager at Sheffield Wednesday, recently had to endure offensive chants from Leeds fans – something he says he has put up with for over a decade. Meanwhile Leeds fans were subjected to taunting chants about the death of two of their fans in Istanbul 12 years ago.

As our group has pointed out, clubs have the power to act. The chants tend to emanate from a hard core who are season ticket holders. The FA should be working with the clubs to construct a strategy for clamping down on the abusive singing.

So too do other football fans, myself included, have a responsibility to speak out. I don’t want to have to cover my children’s ears when I’m at a football match, nor do I want to see this ugly racist chanting being mirrored at Sunday league grass roots games. I want the passion and excitement that football inspires and the lessons about sportsmanship and teamwork to have as wide a reach as possible. Surely, a family friendly game is a game with endless potential.

Football has come a long way in the past 20-30 years. Whilst there has been a recent spate of racist incidents, they have been followed with serious inquiries which will hopefully lead to resultant action. The kind of crass racist abuse of black players that emanated from the terraces in the 1980s has been met with countervailing forces, all be it not totally eliminated. I believe we need a renewed effort to face down aggressive and abusive chanting of all kinds.

Spurs fans defiantly sang ‘we’ll sing whatever we want’ in response to the Society of Black Lawyers criticisms, surely it’s for the FA to stand up and sing back in full voice, ‘No!, you won’t’.

John Mann MP

This is a cross-post from the Huffington Post:

Now that the dust has long since settled from the Euro 2012 championships it is perhaps a chance to review the successes and failures of the tournament, not on the field but rather in terms of tackling the incidents of racism and antisemitism which I had been forecasting for many months.

Many will have seen my warnings in the run up to the games, or the fears of violence documented by the BBC Panorama team in their ‘Stadiums of hate’ programme which included Hitler salutes, monkey-noises, violent attacks on south-asian fans and the admission by Sol Campbell that his family would be avoiding the tournament altogether.

First, it is worth congratulating the English FA. Despite my early concerns, they proved to be well organised and communicative about their plans. They liaised with the appropriate experts and many will have seen the successful visit they undertook with England players to Aushwitz with the Holocaust Educational Trust. It is to their credit that educational materials will be produced so that the impact of that day on the players might be used to inspire children to stand up against antisemitism and other forms of racism.

Our FA’s behaviour might be a credit to English football in this case, but it clearly was not an inspiration for some foreign teams and their players. A quick online search reveals a plethora of horrifying incidents which should have UEFA and FIFA worried indeed.

There was the inter-national violence I had specifically predicted, between Russian and Polish fans who clashed during an authorised march by the fans to mark a national day of liberation. At least 120 people were arrested and 10 people were injured. This could have been avoided had the authorities been properly prepared.

Perhaps the most high profile incident of racism took place in Krakow during the Netherlands training session. Dutch captain Mark Van Bommel was outraged by monkey chants directed at black players forcing the team to move their training. Quite incredibly the Dutch FA laid the blame on dispossessed Krakow fans, leading Van Bommel to criticise his own FA for ignoring the problem. UEFA, initially slow to react did at least put out a public statement, all be it mealy mouthed and non-committal.

That was sadly not the only time racial abuse was levelled at black players. Within days, monkey chants had been directed by Russians at the Czech Republic’s sole black player, Theodor Gebre Selassie and at Italy’s Balotelli by Spanish and Croatian fans. The Russian Football Union and the Croatian FA were charged by UEFA for the racist chanting and after several days the Royal Spanish Football Federation was also fined.

Again, such behaviour was sadly all too predictable. The anti-racism efforts of UEFA were woefully underfunded, the warnings unheeded and the fines ultimately insufficient. UEFA President Platini placed ultimate trust and authority in the referees, dismissed specific examples of racism in Ukraine and Poland as part of a general rise in racism and went on to threaten bookings for any player that walked off the pitch should they find themselves the victim of racist abuse. This threat was later downplayed by both the Premier League referees and Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) highlighting a shocking lack of co-ordination in the approach to tackling discrimination.

My visits to Poland, Ukraine and UEFA headquarters proved only that no-one was prepared to listen. The most I got from UEFA, despite giving them precise warning about particular teams, games and off-field trouble was a plastic bag and a t-shirt.

UEFA can no longer pass the buck. The fines should be increased and teams should be banned from playing if their fans are consistently racially abusive. I am seeking a meeting with Brazilian, Qatari and FIFA officials to try and ensure they do not fall down where UEFA have. This problem is not going away. To tackle it needs serious planning and action. Unless football’s governing bodies urgently review their procedures the beautiful game will continue to be ugly.