David Cameron
Photo: Reuters
Britain: Tories Jewish gaff
Conservative Party has been branded insensitive to needs of Jews with its annual conference in Bournemouth taking place on Yom Kippur
The British Conservative Party has been branded insensitive and ignorant to the needs of the Jewish community with its annual conference in Bournemouth taking place on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar - Yom Kippur.
As a party with several Jewish MPs including Oliver Letwin and Malcolm Rifkind, non-Jewish Tory supporters are surprised at how Yom Kippur wasn't flagged up before choosing the dates for this year's conference.
"What message does this send out to the Jewish community, if the party if not sensitive to their needs," said one Tory supporter. "We are reaching out to all sections of Britain’s diverse community, but I fail to understand how we could have forgotten it was Yom Kippur, there are many Jews who would want to attend, but now cannot."
One Jewish Conservative Party member told SomethingJewish of his disappointment over the way the conference has been organized:
"I had planned to attend this year's conference, but when I saw it started on the eve of Yom Kippur, it meant it would be impossible to be there for the first day or second day. I will be there on Tuesday and Wednesday, but of course, would have liked to been there for the first two days."
A Conservative Party insider told that its leader David Cameron will be investigating the matter.
"As a party that welcomes all, we are sorry that members of the Jewish community will be unable to attend, this was not deliberate and David will look into why we have held this year's conference over Yom Kippur and to see what steps we can take to avoid such a diary conflict to happen again in the future."
Courtesy of Something Jewish
