The Conservative Party was forced to issue an apology last night after mistakenly accusing leader of Gedling Borough Council John Clarke of anti-Semitism
The Conservatives yesterday issued the letter, sent to Gedling Eye, from Eric Pickles MP which called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to suspend Cllr John Clarke after accusing him of making anti-Semitic remarks on a social media account.
But Pickles mistook Cllr John Clarke of Gedling Borough Council with John Clarke, who sits on Black Notley Parish Council in Essex.
In the original letter Sir Eric Pickles wrote: “This is an opportunity for you to demonstrate that Labour is committed to the new definition of anti-Semitism and I would urge you to seize it and suspend John Clarke as a member of the Labour party, and from the Gedling Borough Council group.”
An updated version of the letter was later sent out instead referring to Councillor John Clarke of Black Notley Parish Council in Essex, who has recently been under fire after sharing a tweet which appeared to contain racist slurs against Israel.
The Essex councillor has denied he holds anti-Semitic views.
Following the mistake, a spokesman for the Conservative party told Gedling Eye: “We apologise to Councillor Clarke for the mistake made.”
