Luciana Berger

Luciana Berger in 2017

Luciana Clare Berger (born 13 May 1981) is a British former Member of Parliament who represented Liverpool Wavertree from the 2010 to 2019. Previously a member of Labour Co-op, she left in 2019 co-founding The Independent Group, later Change UK, before joining the Liberal Democrats. She rejoined Labour in 2023 at the invitation of Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader.

After the election of Labour's former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, Berger was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet in September 2015 as the first Shadow Minister for Mental Health. However, she resigned in June 2016 in the mass resignations of shadow ministers shortly after the referendum vote in favour of Brexit. Her situation was severely affected, as a Jewish woman, by Labour's antisemitism crisis and she suffered abuse (leading to criminal convictions for some of the perpetuators) throughout her parliamentary career.

Quotes

2005–2009

• To my dismay, for all the talk about the values of equality, diversity and respect at last week's NUS conference, in practice nothing could be further from the truth, in relation to anti-semitism. A leaflet was readily available on the GUPS stalls at the conference for two days. The text was the typical anti-semitic work; the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Once again, complaints were met with unacceptable delays and silence.
  Many people claim that being anti-Israel/Zionist isn't being anti-semitic. But why does hatred of Israel lead them to turn a blind eye to the Protocols on a GUPS pamphlet? Furthermore, while the UJS has always preached a two-state solution and peace, time and time again we see others reject it. This is evident in the attack on a UJS peace stall at the European Social Forum. University authorities are also dismissive of these issues - look at the Israeli boycot motions put to this month's Association of University Teachers conference.
  • "Why I had to resign" The Guardian (15 April 2005)

• I think the insensitivity surrounding all parties' approach to asylum and immigration has a lot to say for the rise in not only anti-Semitism but any form of racism directed at immigrants. All parties have been responsible for not dealing with the issue in an appropriate manner.
• I have to be very careful what I say here. I'm disappointed by the fact that they are playing to other parties' policies in order to discuss it all. Whereas the Labour Party in the past have been so strong and so active in combating and standing up for themselves, I'm surprised that on this particular issue, it's unfortunate that it's been played into.
  • Interviewed by Melissa Kite in "Labour should have fought back on immigration, says Euan Blair's girlfriend" The Telegraph (17 April 2005)

• While I accuse no one of anti-Semitism, this year NUS has been a bystander to Jew-hatred [...] In the past three days, at the heart of our democratic union, to my horror, I have seen the events of the year replayed.
  • Speech at the NUS conference, cited in Daniella Peled "British student groups anti-Semitic, Jews say" Jewish Telegraphic Agency (18 April 2005)

2010–2014

• Only active government can shape markets, create new ones, and create green growth. Individuals and businesses cannot do it alone: they need a government by their side. That's why the Labour government introduced the Climate Change Act in 2008 to enshrine carbon targets in law, and to move Britain from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy. We planned to achieve 40% low-carbon electricity by 2020, and to create 400,000 new jobs in green businesses.
  This government inherited a range of green initiatives, such as the green investment bank, which they've watered-down, or punted into the long grass. The Tory-led government's blinkered focus on the deficit means they are not making the right strategic decisions for now or for the next generation. Their promised green economy road map will appear many months after the publication of their energy bill.
  • "The government is sabotaging British attempts to forge a green economy" The Guardian (11 March 2011)

• [Being asked if she was someone's aide at a climate change conference] I'm nobody’s aide! I find a lot of people say, you know, "When do we get to meet the MP?" And, er, no, I am the MP.
  • Interview in "Luciana Berger on having to work harder than the rest" Total Politics (28 May 2012)
  • Berger was then a member of Ed Miliband's Official Opposition frontbench with the climate change brief.

• [On abusive Twitter posts] Online hate needs to be taken as seriously as offline hate – but it isn’t. Twitter’s response isn't good enough. It has a responsibility to do more to protect its users. The site is letting me and many others down who have been the subject of lots of hate ... It could start by proactively banning racist words which aren't allowed to printed in newspapers or broadcast on TV that could never be used in a positive way – such as kike – a derogative and anti-Semitic term for describing a Jew.
  • Interviewed by Emma Barnett, as cited in "Twitter must block anti-Semitic words, says abused Labour MP" The Telegraph (18 December 2014)

2015–2019

• [On receiving a vast number of hate messages on Twitter.] It’s personal and sometimes very extreme in its nature. Sometimes it's pornographic, sometimes violent, often very misogynistic. At its peak, there were 2,500 tweets. Some people who were shown just one message couldn’t believe it, so to receive thousands is difficult.
  • Interviewed by Catherine Deveney "Luciana Berger: 'I have been contending with issues surrounding my safety and security for years'" The Observer (28 August 2016)
  • The 2012 mural, painted by Mear One on a wall in Tower Hamlets, was defended by Jeremy Corbyn when it was about to be overpainted. Berger had written to him asking why he had defended a work considered to contain Antisemitic tropes.

• [On the categories of antisemitic abuse she was receiving] First, there are people who say it’s all a smear and accuse me of "faux anti-semite outrage" and "bullshit of the highest order". This attack has come even after Jeremy has acknowledged in the strongest terms that the mural was anti-semitic.
  Second, there are those who say the mural is "absolutely true" and that they support it, that "global banks are ripping everyone off because they are run by Jews".
  The third strand is to accuse me of having "two masters", that I'm "Tel Aviv’s servant" and a "paid-up Israeli lobby operative" as well as being an MP. It’s anti-semitism of the worst kind, suggesting I'm a traitor to my country. They call me "Judas", "a venal piece of detritus", a "Zionazi" and an "absolute parasite", telling me to get out of the country or go back to Israel.
  The last strand are the messages from people who tell me to "f*** off", resign, call me "another red Tory that needs deselecting" and make physical threats.
  • "Four types of vicious abuse; just one way to deal with it" The Sunday Times (1 April 2018)

• Over 40 Labour MPs and peers joined the demo against antisemitism. Every one of us did so because we are anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigners, and will always challenge all forms of racism, no matter where they appear.
  We protested, and will do again if we must. Protest forms an important part of our Labour tradition. So does dissent and disagreement. We should always "dare to be a Daniel" and speak out against the prevailing winds.
  No Labour MP should ever be cowed by the Labour machine into silence, against the voice of our own conscience. As a Jew, I defend my right to speak at rallies against antisemitism.
  Mr Loach, in calling for Labour MPs to be expunged from the party, undermines Labour’s local election campaigns across the country.
  • "Ken Loach’s threats to Labour MPs who oppose antisemitism is damaging our party" The Times (12 April 2018).
  • Following the "Enough is Enough" protest against Labour's antisemitism in Parliament Square, London on 26 March 2018, film director Ken Loach told an audience in Bristol that participating anti-Corbyn Labour MPs should be "kicked out" of the party.

• [On deciding to openly challenge Jeremy Corbyn] It was the Friday before the Monday of the Enough Is Enough demonstration outside Parliament.
  I hadn't actually seen it [the mural] before then, despite it being discussed on blogs and written about in the JC before.
  But I didn't get a proper response [from Mr Corbyn], then there was the fight to get the party to adopt the IHRA definition in full, which even at the last moment there was an attempt to undermine.
  Then there was what became known as the 'summer of antisemitism' - all the connections Jeremy had made, his statements of July, August and September - it really has got worse.
  More recently, two weeks in a row at the meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, we had a motion that was unanimously supported by party colleagues calling on the leadership to release the information about antisemitism cases - and we were held with utter contempt.
  This has been something the leadership has sought to dismiss and turn a blind eye to every step of the way.
  That is why I have come to the conclusion the party is institutionally antisemitic.
  I said 'Enough is Enough' and I challenged it from within. Now I mean Enough IS Enough.
  • Interview quoted in "Berger: I want to give the Jewish community a new political home", The Jewish Chronicle (19 February 2019)
  • Published not long after the foundation of the short-lived Independent Group of MPs.

• The volume and toxicity of stuff thats come from the left for daring to speak out, for daring to address this, because it's so incongruous with the values that I'm supposed to share with people on the left around anti-Semitism.
  People believe that there is a place for anti-Semitism on the left, that's what I found particularly challenging and difficult over in particular this past year.
  Not that it hasn't occurred at all before but it's certainly been given oxygen and I only have to reflect on what I've seen and the volume of it and from those accounts that use the hashtag #JC4PM in their biography.
  • Interviewed by Ayesha Hazarika on LBC, as cited in "Luciana Berger On The "Volume And Toxicity" Of Left-Wing Anti-Semitism" LBC (24 February 2019)
  • Berger had resigned from the Labour Party (along with six other MPs) earlier in the week to form The Independent Group.

• I'm glad that I left the Labour party [...] Everything that has happened since then proves that I was right to leave. The great party that I joined is a shell of its former self.
• The abuse didn't stop when I left the Labour party. I have a threshold for how bad it is. If I take a screenshot of something it's pretty bad. Just in the last few days I've taken quite a number of screenshots. They have all come from the left.
• [When asked who was responsible for continuing issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party] I sat in meetings with Jeremy Corbyn. Ultimately the leader is responsible and must take responsibility.
  • Quoted in "Luciana Berger on antisemitism, misogyny and the Labour party trigger ballots" New Statesman (28 October 2019)

• The last local constituency meeting I attended was so awful, so toxic, there was no humanity in the room. [...]I went into detail about the threats I'd been subjected to — messages handed in to my office saying I was going to get stabbed and raped and have acid thrown on me. I was categorically committed to Labour. I worked seven days a week, true to the values that led me into politics, but because I would not commit to Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister that night, I was dead to them. I thought, "I just cannot be part of this any more."
  • "The Interview: Luciana Berger talks election week, anti‑semitism and quitting Labour for the Lib Dems", The Times (7 December 2019)
  • Berger was the Liberal Democrat candidate in Finchley and Golders Green at the 2019 United Kingdom general election. In June 2019, she resigned from Change UK along with five other MPs.

About Luciana Berger

Quotes in chronological order.

• Why do people with antisemitic views think today's Labour party is the right place for them? And why are so many people on the left still averting their eyes? The exit from the party of the Liverpool MP Luciana Berger is a case in point, bluntly summed up by the leftwing Jewish journalist Rachel Shabi: "A Jewish MP left Labour because of the tide of antisemitism directed at her and I don’t think the terrible significance of this has sunk in for chunks of the left."
  • John Harris "The unanswered question: why do antisemites think Labour is the party for them?" The Guardian (4 March 2019)
  • Rachel Shabi's original tweet was posted on 20 February 2019.

• It is almost four years to the day since you left our Labour Party. I say 'our' deliberately. You left because you were forced out by intimidation, thuggery and racism. Yours was a principled and brave move. But it was one you should never have been forced to take. That day will forever be a stain on Labour's history.
  I don’t need to explain to you the litany of failures that left you — a Labour MP with a huge future ahead of you — no longer feeling welcome in your own party. Instead, I want to once again apologise.
• What you experienced was intolerable and unacceptable. The abuse you suffered was disgusting. You were left isolated and exposed. Shamefully, those who should have defended you stood by.
  The Labour Party — our party — has always prided itself on being a party of equality, collectivism, solidarity and anti-racism. But during those dark days we were none of those things.
  Before you were forced out of the party, you were an outstanding member of parliament ... Both the Labour Party and British politics are poorer places without you. I would be honoured to work alongside you in continuing to build a Labour Party we can be proud of again — a Labour Party that can win again.
  • Letter from Keir Starmer, Labour Party leader to Berger dated 15 February 2023, as cited in "Jewish MP Luciana Berger rejoins Labour after antisemitism apology" The Sunday Times (25 February 2023)

See also

• Antisemitism in the UK Labour Party