Ed Miliband has been accused of “kowtowing to the antisemites” of the Labour Party in a scathing takedown by Richard Tice.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK Deputy Leader took aim at the Foreign Secretary’s decision to impose sanctions on Israel and declared the move a “grave mistake”.
On Tuesday, Mr Miliband announced sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
He confirmed to MPs: “To those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this. You will face the full force of UK sanctions.
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“I can also announce we are sanctioning Lebanese Hezbollah’s financing arm, Al Qaeda al-Hassan.
“Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, so we are also acting this week to report Iran to the UN Security Council for its nuclear violations alongside our allies.”
Following his clash with the Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons, Mr Tice made clear that the sanctions are a “mistake”.
He told GB News: “As I said to the Foreign Secretary yesterday in the Commons, this is a grave mistake.
“It is driven by kowtowing to the antisemites in the Labour Party, the antisemites on the Labour benches, and the Islamists that he’s trying to kowtow to.
“And it is a disaster for the safety and security of British Jews on British streets.”
Mr Tice stressed that the UK’s relationships with both the US and Israel are now at risk of being “damaged”.
He argued: “As well as damaging our security relationship with the United States and indeed with Israel, that provide us with significant intelligence, it’s resulted, as I forecast in the Commons yesterday, in immediate tit for tat sanctions by Israel, which could grow and be very significant indeed.
“This is completely wrongheaded, and frankly, if there are any emboldened incidents against British Jews in the United Kingdom, that blood will be on the hands of the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister, who’s clearly done a dirty deal as part of the coup that he led in the summer with the Foreign Secretary. It’s absolutely appalling.”
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Mr Tice revealed he has received “many messages” from people “thanking him” for standing up against Mr Miliband.
He said: “I’ve had so many messages from people thanking me for being just one of the four or five MPs amongst some 300 plus cowards in the Commons, who otherwise all basically criticised Israel and the Israeli government completely, in ignorance of the overall consequences of this move.”
Challenging Mr Tice, host Alex Armstrong questioned the Reform deputy on comments made by Dan Hodges, who claimed Reform UK is “falling apart” and party discipline is “collapsing”.
He hit back: “Dan who? I’m not interested in what Dan Hodges says, I’m interested in how people vote for Reform every Thursday in council by elections, and every Thursday we’re averaging well above the national poll rating.
“We had a great conference last week, despite all the sort of the noise around the beginning of it, but actually the mood amongst members is strong.
“And look, sometimes people come, people go, that’s the nature of being one of the biggest parties, the biggest party with the biggest membership.
“We push on and we’re doing great, and the fact that we attract so much love and attention from people in this glorious morning just shows how much of a threat we are to the establishment.”
Grilled on whether Home Affairs Spokesman Zia Yusuf is planning to replace Nigel Farage as Reform leader, Mr Tice made clear that the claims by Tim Montgomerie are “completely wrong”.
He concluded: “No, dear Tim, he’s a lovely chap, we like him a lot, but sometimes people are wrong and Tim is just completely wrong.”
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