A group of Labour councillors in Wandsworth, south London walked out of a Council Chamber meeting on Wednesday before a vote to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
The move caused an uproar, with Conservative colleagues on the Council calling the councillors’ behaviour “shocking” and “shameful,” according to the UK Jewish News.
The local lawmakers – who the report identified as Aydin Dikerdem, Maurice McLeod and Jo Rigby – left rather than participate in the non-binding vote that would have added the IHRA definition to the Council’s code of conduct.
The measure asked councillors to give their support to “amendments to staff and member codes of conduct to make it clear that their provisions should be interpreted as fully adopting the IHRA definition.”
The Council originally adopted the IHRA definition in October 2021 but subsequently had to hold a second vote after the governing association for Greater London councils requested that each individual council add the definition to their constitutions and codes of conduct.