Jenny Manson, Co-Chair of JVL, resigns from Labour
JVL Introduction
After being a member of the Labour party for sixty years Jenny Manson, co-Chair of Jewish Voice for Labour, has had enough.
She has resigned.
She first joined as a “Young Socialist” in 1965. In reaction to Labour’s discriminatory policy towards immigrants she and others were part of a self-styled “Disaffiliated Labour” group at Oxford in 1966 though none of them resigned individually.
Active in her local Labour party, a branch chair etc, she was a Labour councillor in Barnet 1986 to 1990 and prospective parliamentary candidate in Hendon North in 1987. In 2018 again, backed by Momentum and local JVL supporters she put her name in the ring to be PPC for Finchley and Golders Green in 2018. John McDonnell supported her but, in the face of near violent opposition from right-wing anti-Corbyn Labour members locally, she decided rather to focus on her work with Jewish Voice for Labour.
But now enough is enough.
In her resignation statement Jenny says
- The Labour government has failed to recognise the genocide in Gaza or to take any action against the full scale of all the Israeli government’s war crimes.
- It is also impossible to support a party that has abandoned all ethical standards and betrayed the vulnerable. The government courts and copies the right. I am the daughter of a refugee. The Labour cabinet demonises refugees and all other immigrants, and feeds xenophobia, racism and intolerance.
She goes on to refer to the refusal of Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper to respond to the letter 300 plus Jews wrote to them on 5th August:
“At ‘Your Show’ in Liverpool on September 29th and the press conference for the “the wrong sort of Jews…are right” on the morning of 30th September, I will call out HMG for its contemptuous rebuff of the letter signed by more that 300 Jews, addressed to Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper demanding action to support the Palestinian people.”
This letter of 5th August 25 (linked to below as Appendix 1 )was updated with additional signatures on 12th August. Its opening words were:
“We are Jews who oppose the genocide by Israel against the Palestinian people, the reality of which is agonisingly on show every day on radio, television and social media. Opposing the brutality of genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing taking place in Gaza and the West Bank, including taking direct action, is not antisemitic. Nor is it terrorism. We consider the proscription of Palestine Action as illegitimate and unethical.”
There was no response from the Prime Minister or the Home Secretary or their offices but they heard from a junior minister at the Foreign Office (FCDO), Hamish Falconer. His reply is linked to below.
It repeats the weasel words we are already familiar with. Despite the occasional condemnation of what Israel is doing the government has no intention of exerting serious pressure to cause it to act differently in any way.
So with regard to Israel’s current offensive in Gaza “we [the government] urge it to reconsider immediately”. We are supposed to be delighted to know that “we [the government] took decisive action, stopping exports to the IDF that might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL in Gaza” – while continuing to supply spare parts for F-35 jets.
It is equally reassuring to be told that, while the government is committed to the right for people “to exercise their fundamental rights to protest on different issues”, on the proscription of Palestine Action ““those who seek to support this group may yet not know the true nature of the organisation”. Trust us…
Trust us to evade every issue that matters…
We can give some credit to the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) however. As a further Appendix, we link to the evidence Jenny Manson and others were invited to submit to the FAC to aid their deliberations on Israel-Palestine earlier this year, where it contributed to a strong statement of dissent from current government policy. You can read the report here
Jenny’s resignation statement is posted in full below.
RK
This article was originally published by Yourshow on Wed 17 Sep 2025. Read the original here.
BREAKING: Jenny Manson resigns from Labour
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Well done Jenny, It sounds like it was a very difficult decision for you, but the right one. I am surprised that you lasted this long.
Starmer and his team’s brazen complicity in the genocide is outrageous. The longer it goes on, the more will question being in a party that is run by someone who is an accomplice in the genocide.
Thank you for a thoughtful piece
Jenny, full support to you. I am not a Jew yet joined this group to help gain a broader perspective on matters relating to Israel and Palestine. Long ago I was shaken by the oppression and aggression against Palestinians. As with many, it was clear a long time ago that the offensive against Palestinians was genocide. I have written on several occasions to my local MP – who has just stepped down from his position as Chair of the LFI to take up his position as PPS to Starmer (reward?).
Not before time, dear Jenny; I am so glad you have finally done it. And much appreciation and many thanks for all what you do.
Fingers crossed for a new party on the left materialising.
You’ve done your upmost Jenny, and after being a labour member for so long, I can’t imagine this was an easy decision, but it was the right decision. I can’t imagine how you are feeling at the moment, take care x
Respect to you, Jenny. As Helen Stollar says above, I’m surprised that you stuck it out for so long. People like you, with a lifelong service to the Party and its original values, are the biggest loss to Starmers Racist Courtiers. It has become crystal clear, ever since the mask was ripped off by the Palestinian struggle on October 7th, that its purpose is to support genocide and the Establishment. Labour’s attacks on the disabled, the poor, the elderly and those without a voice, is shameful. I hope now, you can release yourself from the chains and shackles of that party and carry on dedicating yourself to the cause of humanity, peace and freedom.
“its original values”
Which were what Neil G ? All I can conclude, is that if it’s so far from whatever these supposed original values were, perhaps it wasn’t never really that good in the first place, but maybe I’m wrong.
It seems like Jewish Voice for Labour is quite headed towards being Zero Zero For Zero. It’s off to a fringe role in either the Greens or Your Party, where you belong (and much worse to come after the next elections, which you also richly deserve).