Chris Williamson: Former MP's Israel comment prompts hate crime probe

Police said they had received "multiple reports" about the comment

Police are to investigate whether a former MP committed a hate crime in a social media post about Israel.

Chris Williamson, ex-Labour MP for Derby North posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday night that "Israel has forfeited any right to exist".

Derbyshire Police said they had received "multiple reports" about the comment.

The force said it would now consider whether the post constituted a hate crime.

A spokesperson said: "The force has received multiple reports relating to a tweet posted by Chris Williamson on the evening of 17 October regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict.

"We take reports of potential hate crimes seriously while also being mindful of freedom of speech and the rights of individuals to express their views.

"Sometimes the opinions will be made robustly and may cause offence but that does not necessarily mean that a law has been broken.

"It is important that we consider all elements of this report and we have recorded a non-crime hate incident to establish if any crime has been committed.

"This will be reviewed in due course and, once a decision has been reached, those who have reported the incident will be contacted directly, and an update posted on the force channels."

'Waste of police time'

In response, Mr Williamson said accusations of hate crime were "bogus".

He also described the complaints as "an obvious waste of police time", which he said was itself an offence under the Criminal Law Act.

Mr Williamson was elected as Labour's MP for Derby North in 2010 and re-elected in 2017 after losing the seat to the Conservatives in 2015.

He stood as an independent in 2019 after being suspended by the party in a row over anti-Semitism.