British Labour party criticized for 'anti-Semitic' posters 

The Labour party of UK Prime Minster, Tony Blair, has come in for severe criticism over proposed election posters which have been interpreted as anti-Semitic. One poster features the heads of leader of the opposition, Michael Howard, and his shadow finance minister, Oliver Letwin, pasted onto the bodies of flying pigs. Both men are Jewish. Another shows Mr. Howard swinging a pocket watch on a chain, which critics say echoes Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Reacting to the posters, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Ned Temko, said the proposed campaign "clearly draws on an old anti-Jewish stereotype. The most charitable interpretation is these were an inadvertent mix of insensitivity and cultural illiteracy. A less charitable conclusion is Labour, or at least some within it, sees election-campaign advantages in subliminally reminding voters Mr. Howard is Jewish.."