Jay Rayner accuses Guardian of employing anti-Semites
Restaurant critic Jay Rayner has accused The Guardian of employing anti-Semites and its editor of lacking the courage to take them on – turning up the heat on the identity crisis gripping the Left-wing news organisation.
In a message to friends on Facebook, Mr Rayner, who this week quit the paper’s sister Sunday title The Observer after 28 years, launched an excoriating attack on Katharine Viner, the Guardian’s editor, over her alleged failure to properly address anti-Semitism.
Mr Rayner said: “For years now being Jewish, however non-observant, and working for the company has been uncomfortable, at times excruciating.
“Viner likes to deny it but there are anti-Semites on the daily’s staff and she has not had the courage to face them down.”
He added: “For years now I have made a point of sending her a back channel email each time the Guardian has published another outrage. It will be a joy to know that I’m not a part of that any more.”
The alleged failure to stamp out anti-Semitism is understood to be a factor in Mr Rayner’s decision to leave the newspaper. He described its comment section as “a juvenile hellscape of salami-sliced identity grievance politics”.
In recent years, Ms Viner has grappled with controversies including an allegedly anti-Semitic cartoon of Richard Sharp, the then-BBC director general, and an opinion article entitled “Israel must stop weaponising the Holocaust”.
The newspaper last year sacked cartoonist Steve Bell over an unpublished drawing of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The image was interpreted by some as a reference to Shylock, the Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice who demands a “pound of flesh”.
Mr Bell defended his cartoon, saying it was “impossible to draw this subject for The Guardian now without being falsely accused of using ‘anti-Semitic tropes’”.
‘Craven’ Observer sale
Mr Rayner’s damning verdict on Ms Viner’s leadership also extended to strategy. She is currently spearheading an attempt to offload The Observer to Tortoise Media, a loss-making start-up founded by the former BBC News director James Harding.
Mr Rayner, son of the late agony aunt Claire Rayner, branded Ms Viner’s pursuit of the deal “absurd and deranged”, ahead of a crucial board vote on Monday.
In his message, he also branded the planned sale of the Observer “craven” and took aim at Ms Viner for her role in it. He said: “It represents a failure of duty of care to her staff, and crass mismanagement.”
Guardian journalists are to stage a strike for four days next month as anger about the sale boils over. On Friday, Ms Viner invited staff to meetings in her office to “hear your views and share some of my thoughts” on the deal.
The National Union of Journalists has branded the sale a “betrayal”. It has also accused Guardian bosses of “inappropriate” attempts to root out strikers after asking staff whether they intend to take part in the industrial action.
Anna Bateson, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group, has defended the sale, insisting it would ensure a sustainable future for The Observer. However, she has warned of “difficult decisions” if it does not go through.
Mr Rayner, who presents Kitchen Cabinet on BBC Radio 4 and will join The Financial Times in a few months’ time, said The Observer would “always be a part of me” after landing his first column at the newspaper in 1988 at the age of 21.
But he added: “I’m not sorry to be leaving Guardian newspapers ... I have a new job and I’m very happy about it.”
A Guardian spokesman said: “We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously. The Guardian Media Group has a zero tolerance approach to antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and discrimination. We have robust processes in place. When any allegations are made, we investigate them and deal with them swiftly.
“We recognise the strength of feeling about the proposed sale of the Observer. Our priority is to support our staff and serve our readers, so that the Guardian and the Observer can continue to promote liberal journalism and thrive in a challenging media environment.”