Wes Streeting, Member of Parliament for Ilford North, said:
“I am heartbroken at the circumstances that have led to seven good colleagues leaving the Labour Party.
“Mike Gapes has been my friend and mentor for nearly two decades and I hope he will remain my friend for many years to come. He is Labour through and through. If the Labour Party isn’t big enough to accommodate Mike, then the Party is in serious trouble.
“Similarly, I have known Luciana Berger for 15 years. She is principled and courageous. The Labour Party will be judged harshly, by voters and by history, for the hounding out of a Jewish woman in these circumstances. This is a shameful day in the long and proud history of our Party.
“I have no intention of leaving and no intention of going quiet, either. Some hard truths have been delivered about the culture and political direction of our Party. Unless we face up to them, there will not be a Labour Government. That would be a betrayal of all those our party was founded to represent.
“I have always believed that the Labour Party represents the best hope for social justice, equality and security for our country and that our movement is bigger than any one leader. The vast majority of Labour Party members are decent people who joined the Labour Party in pursuit of equality and social justice. This miserable chapter in our history doesn’t have to be how the story ends. But that depends on how we are led and how we respond in the coming days, weeks and months.”
ENDS