The Greens’ deputy leader urged legal action against his own party over the suspension of local election candidates accused of anti-Semitism, it has emerged.
Mothin Ali is reported to have told a meeting of the ‘Greens for Palestine’ group they needed to ‘get some serious legal advice’ and ‘start with some class action’.
He also said he is ‘very worried’ about suspensions and how they were being handled by the party, according to leaked recordings reproted in a newspaper.
In the run-up to local elections on May 7, the Greens have faced severe scrutiny of their candidates for council contests across England.
Zack Polanski, the party leader, admitted earlier this month that vetting candidates was a ‘real challenge’ for the Greens due to their recent rapid surge in membership.
But he also said he has confidence in ’99 per cent’ of his candidates and insisted that having to take action in ‘a handful of cases’ is ‘not some kind of big scandal’.
According to The Times, Mr Ali held a private meeting with the ‘Greens for Palestine’ group that was attended by three suspended Green council candidates.
He advised the group on how to continue campaigning despite being suspended, and told them to leave ‘Greens for Palestine’ groupchats or ‘the public ones anyway’, the newspaper reported.
Mothin Ali is reported to have told a meeting of the ‘Greens for Palestine’ group they needed to ‘get some serious legal advice’ and ‘start with some class action’
The meeting is reported to have been attended by Mark Adderley, the husband of Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha, who had been suspended by the Greens
Speaking about how suspensions were being handled by the party, Mr Ali is said to have told the meeting: ‘Their attitude at the moment is that if 500 members get upset, it’s not a big deal compared to 226,000.
‘It’s that same Labour attitude of ‘you’ve got nowhere else to go’. What we need to do is we need to get some serious legal advice.
‘We need to make sure that we are putting the party on notice straight away, and we need to start with some class action.
‘Because it won’t be the end. They’re coming after more and more people.’
The Green deputy leader is also said to have accused the party of circumventing the traditional disciplinary process and using a ‘fast track to expulsion’ intended only for ‘extreme cases’ to suspend candidates accused of anti-Semitism in media reports.
The meeting is reported to have been attended by Mark Adderley, the husband of Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha, who had been suspended by the Greens.
He was standing as a party candidate in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood in elections for Croydon Council.
Action was taken against Mr Adderley after it emerged he had made a series of remarks comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and also appeared to suggest Israel was responsible for the Bondi beach terror attack in December.
He is said to have told the meeting: ‘The list of complaints simply states things as anti-Semitic. It doesn’t provide any sort of nuance… It’s a definitive list as if already tried and found guilty of anti-Semitism.
‘None of the comments do I regret, none of the comments do I not back up and none of them are in any way anti-Semitic or the propagation of conspiracy theories.
‘I mean, the language ‘propagation of conspiracy theories’ encourages us not to connect obvious dots and it’s just intolerable.’
Other attendees of the meeting are said to have included Saiqa Ali – a candidate in Lambeth who was revealed to have complained the Government is ‘over-represented with Zionist Jews’; as well as Ifhat Shaheen – a candidate in Hackney who is reported to have said the October 7 terror attacks on Israel was Palestinians ‘inevitably try[ing] to defend themselves’.
The Green Party is understood to have asked to be sent the full recording of the meeting, in order to see Mr Ali’s comments in context.
A spokesman said: ‘The comments were an appeal for people to stay in the party and continue to participate in its internal democracy, seeking legal advice about their individual circumstances, if they wished to.’
A Labour Party spokesperson said: ‘It’s astonishing that the Green Party deputy leader is privately advising these suspended candidates to keep campaigning – and even to sue their own party.
‘Mothin Ali is directly organising against his own party, and Zack Polanski needs to outline what action he’s going to take.
‘Some of these candidates have made appalling antisemitic remarks and peddled dangerous conspiracy theories that have no place in our politics.
‘Yet senior Green officials are defending them, and their leader still refuses to call them out publicly. Zack Polanski needs to urgently get the Green Party’s house in order.’
