Maxine Peake

Maxine Peake    (actress)

Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Twinkle in Dinnerladies and Veronica Ball in Shameless, barrister Martha Costello in the BBC legal drama Silk, and Grace Middleton in the BBC drama series The Village, as well as starring in the Black Mirror episode Metalhead. She has also played the title role in Hamlet.

Corbyn supporter

In July 2015, Maxine Peake endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. She wrote on her website: "For me, Jeremy Corbyn is our only beacon of hope to get the Labour Party back on track, get the electorate back in touch with politics and save this country from the constant mindless bullying of the vulnerable and poor."

In 2016, along with other celebrities, Maxine Peake toured the UK to support Jeremy Corbyn's bid to become Prime Minister. In April 2017, she endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the UK/2017 General Election. She said: "I am a Corbyn supporter. My mind boggles why people treat him like the anti-Christ, but it goes to show people are a lot more right-wing than they like to believe."

In November 2019, along with other public figures, Maxine Peake signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the UK/2019 General Election.

Neck kneeling

On 25 June 2020, Maxine Peake's wide-ranging interview with journalist Alexandra Pollard was published in the Independent newspaper. In the article she was reported as saying that the practice of police officers in the United States kneeling on someone's neck, one example of which led to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, was "learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services". The Independent amended the original article to add a note that "the allegation that US police were taught tactics of 'neck kneeling' by Israeli secret services is unfounded". Maxine Peake tweeted:

"I feel it’s important for me to clarify that, when talking to The Independent, I was inaccurate in my assumption of American Police training & its sources. I find racism & antisemitism abhorrent & I in no way wished, nor intended, to add fodder to any views of the contrary."

Antisemitic conspiracy theories

Maxine Peake's statement was seen by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as "antisemitic conspiracy theories". Shadow Education Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey retweeted the article, leading to her sacking from the Shadow Cabinet by Keir Starmer. John McDonnell, shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn, said that "criticism of practices of the Israeli state is not antisemitic" and that Peake's statement was not antisemitic.

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:How Keir Starmer Sabotaged Rebecca Long-Bailey	Article	26 June 2020	Ronan Burtenshaw	Rebecca Long-Bailey’s approach to schools reopening had been entirely vindicated: she backed teachers and their unions as they changed the political terrain and forced the Tory government into a concession. This was politics in the best traditions of the labour movement but was anathema to Sir Keir Starmer.
Document:Keir Starmer's ‘antisemitism’ sacking is a signal that Israel is safe in his hands	Article	29 June 2020	Jonathan Cook	Crackdown by UK Labour leader on left-wing rival will subdue critics of Israel in his party ahead of Israel's annexation move

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References

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 30 June 2020.
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