The Prime Minister has welcomed the defection of Brighton Labour councillor Anne Meadows to the Tories at Question Time in the House of Commons.
Theresa May took the opportunity to take aim at anti-semitism in the Labour Party as she answered a question from Conservative backbencher and former Brighton councillor Maria Caulfield.
Mrs May criticised bullying aimed at Councillor Meadows, who was not reselected for the forthcoming local elections in May.
Councillor Meadows continues to represent Mouslecoomb and Bevendean ward on Brighton and Hove City council, making the party the largest group on the council.
Mrs Caulfield also represented Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, winning the seat in 2007 and serving the ward at the same time as Councillor Meadows, before becoming the Conservative MP for Lewes in 2015.
At Prime Minister’s Questions Mrs Caulfield said: “Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming Councillor Anne Meadows who has today left the Labour Party in neighbouring Brighton and Hove, has crossed the floor and joined the Conservatives, who are now the largest group on Brighton and Hove City Council?
“And the reason Councillor Meadows has left the Labour Party is because of the rise of anti-semitism and bullying that she and her colleagues have experienced under Momentum activists, so much so that only seven of the 23 will be restanding in May.
“Does the Prime Minister agree that now anti-semitism is rife throughout the whole of the Labour Party?”
Mrs May said: “Can I first of all agree with my honourable friend. As she says, a long-serving Labour councillor, Anne Meadows, in Brighton and Hove, has today chosen to leave Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and join the Conservatives and that is due to bullying and anti-semitism she has received from Momentum and the hard left.
“And that’s the harsh reality that decent moderate Labour councillors are having to face every day due to Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to stand up to bullying and racism in his party.
“And we welcome her with open arms into the Conservative Party. I’m sure she will be an excellent Conservative councillor.”
Later in a debate on anti-semitism Mrs Caulfield said: “At Prime Minister’s Question Time this afternoon, I spoke about Anne Meadows, a councillor – a Labour councillor – since 1994.
“I know Anne because I was a Conservative councillor with her in the ward of Moulsecoomb and Bevendean – I was the first Conservative councillor there for 20 years.
“Anne is a fierce, patriotic Labour woman. You did not mess with Anne. I found that to my cost when I was a fellow councillor.
“To see a woman like that having to leave the Labour Party because of anti-semitism against her husband is absolutely shocking.
“What did her local Labour MP (Lloyd Russell-Moyle) tweet today? That this was nothing more than a bare-faced career move by Anne.
“There was no sympathy for the plight of Anne and her husband. That tells us where we are today.
“If we think that anti-semitism is something that happened in the past and could never escalate to the same levels, we are fooling ourselves and denying what has happened.”
