This is David Gold.
Here he is again at International Holocaust Memorial Day in Newham Town Hall with the Deputy Lord Lieutenant, MP Lyn Brown (in the days when she would still be seen in the same room as Mayor Robin Wales) and Mayors Biggs (LBTH) and Wales (LBN). Gold has what we euphemistically refer to as a colourful past, nothing illegal, but he did not make his money in a manner that sanctimonious Labour leaders find acceptable.
And now he Chairs the Premier League team that plays at the London Stadium.
Newham’s Jewish population has shrunk to a percentage of a percentage with probably fewer than 1000 Jews still resident in the borough. Gold is one of, if not the pre-eminent Jewish businessman in Newham.
So, it was not inappropriate that he be invited to participate in IHRD remembrance events.
That is, it was not inappropriate until the new mayor decided that she didn’t want the founder of the Sunday Sport at her event. There is just a faint whiff of leftist opprobrium towards “unclean Jewish Capitalists” about this.
In the light of Newham Labour Council’s recent brushes with antisemitism, even she must see the irony of excluding the most prominent Jewish local businessman from the event.
We will continue to do our bit for as long as we can, secure in the knowledge that others will continue to light a candle long after us.
- Gena Turgel MBE, survivor of the Holocaust (1923-2018)
Wednesday 27th January 2021. A Time to Remember.