“In Conversation with… Ken Loach”, held last week at the Stand’s Freemason Hall in George Street, Edinburgh, drew one last question to Loach from the audience that was hotter than he expected. Loach was asked by Pete Gregson why he had thrown him “under the bus”.

Loach had initially been a huge fan of Gregson’s, saying of the video Gregson had made with Rabbi Ahron Cohen, about Gregson’s expulsion from the GMB union for “anti-Semitism”, that “Your case is made very clearly and is unanswerable. Pete, your position is justified and has to be defended. Solidarity!”

He followed this up a year later in a press release from his company, 16 Films, saying:

I find Peter Gregson’s views and behaviour utterly reprehensible, and I unequivocally reject his anti-Semitism. His misogynistic bullying of a young Jewish woman in the GMB union was also appalling. Had I been aware of these views and behaviour when he approached me, I categorically would not have engaged with him. I entirely support the GMB’s decision in expelling Peter Gregson.

This condemnation of Gregson was picked up in a joint press statement with Show Racism the Red Card, a slur that was immediately republished in a digital pile-on by Antony Lerman (blog), Jonathan Cook (blog), Artists for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL). Thus, anyone searching for Gregson’s name on the internet gets the impression from these multiple sources of lefty anti-racism that he is, indeed, a Jew-hater. Gregson has written to all of them (most frequently Loach) asking for their evidence of his anti-Semitic views. None has replied, but Jonathan Cook quietly removed the offending article from his website.

For years Gregson had been writing to Loach, asking him to explain his volte-face. All his letters were ignored, so Gregson decided to challenge Loach at the Stand’s question-and-answer session on 23 August. 

To hear how Loach responded, view the video below:

For those who can’t make out the sound, see the video with subtitles on TikTok:

Part 1

Part 2

• Contact Pete Gregson on 0758 472 2191
• Ken Loach can be contacted via his secretary Emma@sixteenfilms.co.uk
• More info on bogus anti-Semitism slurs against Gregson can be found here

Rabbi Dovid Weiss recently said of Pete:

We have known Pete Gregson personally for several years. He is in no way anti-Jewish; on the contrary, he has tremendous respect for Jews and Judaism, while maintaining his moral position of sympathising with the oppressed people of Palestine.

He goes on to note:

• The intolerant people who have branded Mr Gregson an anti-Semite, follow[…] the usual Zionist tactic of expanding the definition of anti-Semitism to include anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their ideology.

See Weiss’s full letter here.