Baroness Luciana Berger has given her maiden speech in the House of Lords telling peers she never wanted to leave the party in “dark years” when antisemitism was rife.
Speaking during Thursday’s Employment Rights Bill debate she said: “While I never wanted to leave Labour during the dark years when antisemitism was rife in the party, I am so glad to have been able to return to my political home under the leadership of Sir Keir Starmer.”
The former Labour MP who represented Liverpool Wavertree for almost a decade, left the party in the spring of 2019 in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of the antisemitism scandal and after facing a torrent of abuse.
Berger was a founding member of the short-lived Change UK party and then stood for the Liberal Democrats in the 2019 general election but lost.
She rejoined Labour in February 2023 after an “incredibly heartfelt” invitation from Starmer.
Berger added:”I hope to make a difference in this place, but will endeavour to do it slightly differently from my great-great-uncle. Lord Shinwell resigned the Labour Whip in 1982 in protest at left-wing militancy and sat as an independent until he passed away just before my fifth birthday.”
She continued: “Lord Shinwell famously had a piece of the ceiling of this place fall on his head.
“During my time here, I very much hope to protect my skull. Of course, Lord Shinwell was also the last person to throw a punch in the other Chamber when a Member told him to ‘Go back to Poland’.
“Although I will never shy away from necessary challenge, I will always aim to use the power of my words, rather than my fists.”
Berger said: “Today, in a world today of increasing violence and populism, where dark elements threaten, it is here, in our Parliament, that the painstaking work of democracy is done.
“As part of that work, I will dedicate myself to serving in this House, and the people beyond it, with humility, diligence and all the passion and insight that I can offer.”
MPs Margaret Hodge (second left), Jess Phillips (third left) and Luciana Berger (second right) at a demonstration outside a Labour party disciplinary hearing
Photo credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Reflecting on her upbringing, Berger told peers: “I grew up in Wembley Park and spent my weekends studying at Brent Town Hall Library.
“I loved the diversity of my neighbourhood. My dad is from Northampton, where all his family worked on the market, across the county. I started my working life helping my grandfather on his market stall, selling ladies’ fashions, and in London in my parents’ interior furnishing shop.
“I am certain that I was never paid the minimum wage in the family businesses, but what I did gain was an opportunity to listen and connect to so many different people.”
At Birmingham University she said she immersed herself in student politics.
“I joined Labour because I passionately shared the party’s values and goals of striving for equality, social justice and a world free of discrimination,” she said.
“Labour also spoke to my core Jewish values of tikkun olam —how we adequately take action to improve and repair our communities.”
Fellow Labour peer Baroness Hazarika later said: “We’ve very much been through the good, the bad and the ugly together, but none more ugly than the shameful years when she suffered untold misery, abuse and threats simply for being a young Jewish female MP.
“It is a time that really shamed our party and, on behalf of all of us, I am so deeply, deeply sorry for what she had to endure.
“Her dignity, her strength, her courage, her grace during that time was inspiring and incredible. She didn’t hide, she stood up to the bullies, to the antisemites and she made the Labour party and the wider world take action.”
