In a last-ditch attempt to seize the London mayoral crown, Zac Goldsmith is accusing Labour of frightening Jewish voters into quitting the capital by failing to counteract the “virus” of anti-semitism.
In some of his most outspoken — and potentially alarmist — comments of the campaign, the Tory candidate said Jewish families in London were contemplating fleeing “hate crimes” in the city just as others had fled France in recent years.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Goldsmith accused senior figures in Labour — such as Ken Livingstone and Naz Shah, the Bradford West MP, who were both suspended by the party last week — of using “words designed to put the fear of God into the [Jewish] community”.
He said anti-semitism had been “given a massive boost” by Labour’s “extraordinarily casual” approach.
Goldsmith said he had seen Jewish voters at election events with “anxiety etched on all their faces” fearing “that what has happened in Paris might happen in London”. Some claim that 50,000 Jewish people have left Paris, many of them for London.
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“It’s an appalling thought that people who have been there for many generations [are] going through the same sort of thought process as people went through in the 1920s and 1930s in other parts of Europe.
“Hate crimes are increasing, coupled with the fact that the second-biggest party in this country is behaving as it is.”
Goldsmith rounded on Sadiq Khan, his Labour rival, accusing him of having supported Livingstone in 2006 when the then London mayor likened a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.
He said: “You can’t ride two horses on this issue. This is not the first time Livingstone has made anti-semitic remarks. In 2006 Sadiq Khan was one of a handful of people who came publicly to his defence. On this issue, there is no grey. It is black and white. You can’t look both ways.”
A spokesman for Khan said Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign had been negative and divisive. “They know Sadiq has been leading the call for Labour’s leadership to tackle anti-semitism and that he condemned Ken Livingstone’s disgusting remarks within minutes,” he said.
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Public polls show Khan leading by about 20 points but Goldsmith said: “I’m confident. I have to say that, but I believe it. I’m not paying attention to the polls. We know the polls have a pretty shabby history recently.”
Goldsmith will visit every London borough between now and polling day and on Tuesday afternoon he will launch a 24-hour campaign blitz across the capital.
On Friday, when we met, he was campaigning with Boris Johnson at his side in Bexleyheath and Orpington — key outer London targets where Johnson stacked up votes in 2008 and 2012.
The visit coincides with the announcement of a plan to inject £20m into London’s 600 high streets and appoint a retail champion to bring them back to life. The money has been found from an underspend of the Greater London Authority budget. “I’m not going to micromanage how that money will be spent,” Goldsmith said. “It could be spent on parking, it could be spent on shop fronts.
“If you remove the incentives that the traffic wardens have to catch people out, then they become humans. You can have a normal conversation.”
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His main priority between now and polling day is to boost the turnout of Tory voters.
“My job is to make people understand that they have to vote. Not voting in this election is a choice. We can take London to the next step or a giant step backwards. Under Sadiq Khan we’d have bickering and blame and deadlock for four years.”
If Goldsmith fails, he will have a higher profile to fight his campaigns to leave the EU, promote green issues and oppose a third runway at Heathrow. But could it earn him a ministerial post in David Cameron’s next reshuffle?
“At this point I’m not thinking beyond next Friday,” he said.
