Meet the Sikh Labour MP who had key role in expelling antisemites

There are not too many untold stories left about the fight to rid the Labour Party of the stain of antisemitism, but there is one quite significant one that has been overlooked until now.

In front of me in Westminster sits Gurinder Singh Josan, one of 11 members of Britain’s Sikh community elected to parliament last month.

Josan, now MP for his home seat of Smethwick in the West Midlands, won half the votes cast and is understandably proud that as “a child and grandchild of immigrants” he received such a powerful mandate from locals.

But behind the scenes, before his electoral triumph, Josan is also proud of the role he played in processing thousands of unresolved, or in some cases unlooked-at cases of antisemitism in Labour, nearly all relating to the bad old days under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

From his position on Labour’s national executive committee, Josan, with a sense of disgust and shame at the failure of the then-Labour leadership to tackle the problem, volunteered to sit on disciplinary panels overseeing hundreds and hundreds of cases.

At one point, in the summer of 2020, he confirmed Labour had processed more cases of antisemitism in three months than it had in the previous three years.

In an online post to Jewish Labour members at the time, he encouraged them to rejoin the party under Keir Starmer’s leadership. “There has been a real change in tackling antisemitism in the Labour Party,” he wrote. “I promise you the Labour Party is under new management. It is safe to come home.”

Today, with Keir Starmer in Downing Street and 11 Sikh MPs and 12 Jewish MPs now representing the party in parliament, you would forgive Josan for relaxing for one moment, and just enjoying the victory.

But he is having none of that. Later that evening, in one of the MP’s favourite Westminster bars, I find him locked in discussions with MPs from the same pro-Starmer wing of the party.

With forthcoming internal Labour elections this summer, he is determined to ensure Labour To Win’s majority on the NEC becomes even more weighted in favour of his wing of the party.

He is also full of praise for the way the pro-Starmer wing of the party controlled the selection process for Labour’s candidates going into the election. The increased number of both Jewish and Sikh MPs reflected what he said was an overriding commitment to “increase diversity within the parliamentary Labour Party”.

“It’s about breaking down any barriers that exist between the party and communities,” says Josan. “I think we did that by really ramping up our due diligence in our selections this time.

“In the past, things have come out afterwards that are obviously damaging to the individual and their families and friends. But it also has a big impact on the party.

“The due diligence was very important. And that’s where people were excluded, sometimes on issues around antisemitism. I don’t make any apologies for that.”

Josan, who first developed close relations with Jewish Labour activists at university, and who helped set up Sikhs For Labour to push community members forwards in the party similar to the way
the Jewish Labour Movement does, is proud of the increased representation from both communities on the government benches.

“Representation really matters,” he stresses. “It’s important that there are people not just in parliament but at every level who understand their communities, be that the Sikh, Jewish or any community in this country.”

Josan says there are clearly similarities with the Sikh and Jewish communities – around heritage, around family, around aspiration – that he says also reflect what he calls “British values”.

Josan is of the view the fight against antisemitism in Labour was not just vital to restoring the Jewish community’s trust in the party, it was also about “really questioning what kind of Labour Party are we”.

“Fundamental discrimination against anyone because of their race and faith, for that to happen in the Labour Party, the party of equality, is just nonsensical,” he adds. “There’s a place for education, a place for people to learn, but there is also a case where it is necessary for the party to take robust action.”

Josan is also keen to reflect on the rise in the election of independent candidates, some of whom are now MPs, who held “niche views” particularly on issues around Gaza, Israel and the Palestinians.

He argues against a “knee-jerk” reaction to growing support for such candidates. “We should try and understand. If people have a concern about Gaza and Palestine, we need to try and understand what that is.”

But Josan adds that the same stance should be taken to former Labour voters who turned to Reform at the election.

“We need to understand it. To go out of your way to vote for someone, especially when it’s someone you know in the back of your mind isn’t going to win, to be prepared to do that, shows there’s something we need to understand.”

Josan says he believes that the Labour Party needs to reflect the society we are in and that that society changes over time.

But he adds: “There are people who are on the extremes, with all of these groups. We obviously have no truck with those.”

Josan says he has always believed Labour should be a “broad church”, the caveat being that this must be a “broad church” who “believe in Clause 1 of the Labour Party rule book”.

“And Clause 1 is about maintaining a democratic presence in parliament. So it’s about people who believe in a democratic process. If you believe in this process, we might disagree on individual issues and policy areas.

“But if you believe a democratic process is the best way to achieve change, we have to understand that in the Labour Party, getting Labour candidates elected is the best way to achieve change.”

But I put it to Josan that in the Jewish community there are still some concerns that the hard-left anti-Israel crowd are waiting for a chance to pounce again and attempt to seize power away from the Starmer wing of the party.

“The Labour Party has moved on massively, even before the EHRC report. Keir Starmer set a mark in terms of where he wanted Labour to be,” he says. “We are in a much better place.”

Josan says he also understands that members of the Jewish community in this country who have relatives in Israel will “understandably” have added concern about a new Labour government’s policies towards the Middle East.

Labour’s manifesto, he points out, continues to commit it to supporting efforts to bring a two-state solution and eventual resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

“That doesn’t solve the short-term problems,” accepts Josan, who says Labour must also focus on today’s crisis. “The missiles are still being fired at Israel, the pressure is still there.”

But he is nonetheless supportive of the longer-term efforts now being taken, particularly by Starmer and foreign secretary David Lammy, to try to kickstart a viable peace process. This would, it says, be “the single biggest thing the Labour Party could do in that region.”

Josan adds: “We have got to have policy focus both on the immediate and on the long-term as well.”