Issued by HarperCollins/Tom Bower and the Palestinian Return Centre re: Dangerous Hero: Corbyn’s Ruthless Plot for Power
London, 9th January 2020
This joint press release is issued by the Palestinian Return Centre, generally known as the PRC, which is a corporate not-for-profit organisation which advocates for the return of Palestinian refugees to Palestine and by HarperCollins and Tom Bower, as the publishers and author of a biography of the present Labour Party leader entitled Dangerous Hero: Corbyn’s Ruthless Plot for Power, which was first published in February 2019.
The book included two short passages which referred to Mr Corbyn addressing the PRC in 2013 and alleged that the PRC had blamed the Jews for the Holocaust. The PRC have pointed out that this allegation stems from the misreporting in the media of a meeting hosted by the PRC in October 2016 in the House of Lords. During that meeting a member of the audience suggested in the course of discussion that the Jews had brought about the Holocaust by campaigning for an economic boycott and thereby declaring war on Germany. The person concerned was not speaking on behalf of the PRC and his comments were not endorsed by the PRC members present as some newspapers suggested. The PRC made a statement following the House of Lords event publicly disagreeing with the audience member’s comments and reiterating its position that the group does not tolerate any form of anti-Semitism nor Holocaust denial statements.
HarperCollins and Mr Bower accept this account of the meeting and withdraw the allegation which they regret making. Mr Bower relied on a contemporaneous newspaper report of the House of Lords event, which had not been amended or corrected, but he and the publishers are happy to acknowledge the PRC’s justifiable complaint now the true position is known. No such suggestion will appear in any future editions of the book.
All concerned accept that the PRC does not and never has blamed the Jews for causing the Holocaust, which the PRC regards as one of the greatest crimes in history.