The Labour Party has restored the whip to an MP who was suspended after accusing Israel of genocide in a post about Holocaust Memorial Day.
Kate Osamor was stripped of the whip in January following a backlash from Jewish leaders to remarks she made in a constituency newsletter.
But on Wednesday, Labour readmitted the MP for Edmonton following an internal investigation as she acknowledged her comments had been “insensitive and inappropriate”.
Her reinstatement came hours after Natalie Elphicke, a Conservative MP widely regarded as having been on the Right of the party, announced her defection to Labour just moments before Prime Minister’s Questions.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “The Chief Whip has today restored the Labour whip to Kate Osamor MP.
“This follows a full investigation by the Labour Party into complaints received about a social media post she made in January.”
Ms Osamor said: “I am grateful to the Labour Party for their investigation into my conduct and I accept the outcome in full.
“I want to unreservedly apologise again for my comments. I made remarks which were insensitive, inappropriate, and which I apologise for and regret. I will continue to reach out to Jewish stakeholders and the community.”
She added she was “committed to ensuring that I don’t fall short of the highest standards” and said she looked forward to continuing to represent Edmonton.
In remarks made in a newsletter sent to constituents on January 26, Ms Osamor described Holocaust Memorial Day as “an international day to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, the millions of other people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Gaza”.
She went on to issue an apology for “any offence caused” after the Jewish Leadership Council said her views were offensive to both Holocaust survivors and the wider Jewish community.
Ms Osamor was among 36 Labour MPs who endorsed Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership bid in 2015 and she was his parliamentary private secretary for four months, eventually receiving a promotion to the role of shadow international development secretary.
While in the shadow cabinet, she defended her support for a boycott of Israeli goods and said the boycott, divestment and campaign (BDS) “works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians”.
In 2020, she was ordered to issue an apology to parliament two years after verbally abusing a reporter who approached her at home to ask about her involvement in the sentencing of her son for drug possession and intent to supply.
She reportedly threatened the journalist with a baseball bat after using House of Commons headed paper to write a character witness for her son, Ishmael Osamor.
Labour has struggled with internal tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict ever since the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas and the subsequent military response from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Support for the party among Muslim voters fell at last week’s local elections amid continued anger at Sir Keir’s initial refusal to demand a ceasefire, something he has since done.
The main beneficiaries of this were the Green Party, which called for a ceasefire the week after the October 7 massacre, George Galloway’s Workers Party and numerous pro-Palestinian independent candidates.
Ten of Sir Keir’s frontbenchers were sacked or resigned in November after they broke with what was the party line at the time to support an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire.