Greville Janner

Greville Janner, Lord Janner of Braunstone, born 11 July 1928, is a Labour peer and an active member of the British Jewish community. He has been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since 13 October 2014.

From 1970 to 1997 Janner was the Labour MP for Leicester North West and then Leicester West.

Janner's website notes that: He joined the army at 18, serving as the youngest War Crimes Investigator in the British Army of the Rhine and worked at weekends with survivors in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons camp.

Janner has campaigned against the AUT boycott on Israel.

JC Power 100

In 2008, The Jewish Chronicle declared 'the top spots' on their second annual list of those who 'wield the greatest influence on British Jewry'. Janner is listed at number 20. The criteria for being listed is described as 'those with a vision for Jewish life in this country and who did their utmost to bring it about using either money; persuasion; religion; culture; political or social leadership; or simply inspiring through word and deed'. In order for someone to be listed in the top 20, it was generally necessary to demonstrate influence in more than one of the spheres.

The article describes how...

'The Labour peer’s high standing in the inaugural Power 100 partly signified his role as an “incubator” of communal talent by giving starting jobs to leaders of the future. That influence may be waning as the indefatigable Cardiff-born political operator approaches 80. He represented Leicester constituencies in the Commons from 1970-97 before moving to the Lords. A modernising Board of Deputies president in the 1980s, he remains an impassioned voice on restitution and other Shoah issues as chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust. He speaks nine languages and is a member of the Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians'.

Others included in the list were Lord Levy (number 9), Ron Prosor (number 10), Daniel Finkelstein (number 11), John Mann (number 17), Jonathan Freedland (number 18), Julia Neuberger (number 19), Trevor Chinn (number 14), Prime Minister Gordon Brown (number 29) & Poju Zabludowicz (number 30).

Sexual offences

In April 2015 it was decided by the CPS that Janner would not be charged with child sexual abuse offences because his dementia meant he was not fit to take part in court proceedings. The charges were from events in the 1970s and 80s and in 1991 Janner told Parliament he was innocent. During the investigation more than twenty alleged victims were interviewed and police files one the case were studied for nine months. The verdict was reached as director of public prosecution Alison Martin felt Janner's condition meant there is no current or future risk of offending.

Affiliations

• Parliamentary Committee for the release of Soviet Jewry, founded in 1971
• Board of Deputies of British Jews, Director 1979 to 1985
• Inter Parliamentary Council Against Anti-semitism, 1982 - present
• Commonwealth Jewish Council, Founder and president 1982 - present
• British Israel Parliamentary Group, Vice-Chairman
• World Jewish Congress, Vice-President since 1991
• Founder and President of the Inter Parliamentary Council Against Antisemitism (1985- ).
• He is Chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust and of the Lord Forte Charitable Trust.
• Member of both the Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians'.
• All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia chairman from November 2010 - January 2011: he quit after he and party vice-chairman Kris Hopkins failed to persuade colleagues to sack a body called iEngage as the group’s secretariat at the group's first meeting in November 2010.

Notes

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