Influential Labour Lord Secretly Met With German Far-Right Politician Who Said Not All Nazi SS Members Were Criminals
Lord Glasman held a private meeting in Parliament last week with Maximilian Krah, a senior member of Germany's far-right AfD, reports Zeteo UK's new political editor Shehab Khan.
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A senior Labour peer held a meeting in Parliament last week with a leading politician from Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party who previously suggested not all members of the Nazi SS were criminals, Zeteo UK can reveal.
Lord Maurice Glasman, the founder of the Blue Labour movement and an influential voice on the right of the Labour Party, met Maximilian Krah, who is an AfD member in Germany’s federal parliament.
Krah sparked international outrage in 2024 when he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica: “I won’t say that [someone] was automatically a criminal because he wore an SS uniform.”
The comments were so controversial that even Marine Le Pen’s National Rally cut ties with the German far-right party in the European Parliament.
Glasman told Zeteo UK that the meeting was private, took place at Krah’s request, and was intended to help him better understand the AfD’s political thinking. He said he had no plans to meet Krah again.
A spokesperson for Glasman added, “Lord Glasman regularly engages with people with whom he does not agree, which is the case here. They do not share the same views.”
The meeting has been described as “unacceptable” by anti-extremism campaign groups. It is understood that the Labour Party was not aware of the meeting and played no role in facilitating it. Labour has no formal links with the AfD.
Glasman was elevated to the House of Lords by former Labour leader and current Energy Secretary Ed Miliband in 2011 and is widely regarded as the intellectual force behind Blue Labour, a political movement that combines left-wing economic policies with socially conservative values.
In 2025, he was the only Labour Party figure invited to President Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he said he spent time with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage.
Earlier this year, he called for the Royal Navy to be deployed to prevent migrants from crossing the Channel into the UK from France.
Although Glasman does not hold a formal leadership role within Labour, he remains an influential figure on the party’s right. On Tuesday, he called on Keir Starmer to step aside and backed the former minister and Royal Marine Al Carns as a future prime minister.
The meeting with Krah is likely to raise questions within Labour about the relationships that senior figures within the party have with far-right, anti-immigrant parties across the world.
It will also be uncomfortable reading for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who, during a visit to Berlin in 2024, urged progressive parties to cooperate in opposing far-right movements, such as the AfD, across the continent.
The AfD’s Krah has also faced scrutiny over his links to China. Last year, his former aide, Jian Guo, was jailed for four years and nine months after being convicted of spying for China. Guo had worked for Krah in the European Parliament while Krah was an MEP.
Separately, Krah remains under investigation by German authorities over alleged bribery and money laundering linked to payments he is alleged to have received from China. He denies any wrongdoing.
The AfD is leading in the polls in Germany while also coming under increasing scrutiny for its far-right politics. The country’s domestic intelligence agency classified the party as a right-wing extremist organisation in 2025. The designation is currently suspended while the party’s legal challenge is considered by the German courts.
Nick Lowles, chief executive of the UK anti-extremism campaign group Hope Not Hate, said it was “unacceptable” for a Labour peer to meet with an AfD politician.
“It’s hugely inappropriate to normalise meetings with members of the far right and invite them into the British Parliament,” he said.
“The Labour Party and its representatives should have nothing to do with the AfD.
“Sadly, Glasman has a history of befriending figures on the far right. He has been a strong advocate of Donald Trump and counts Steve Bannon as a friend.”
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Lord Glasman sounds like just the type of politician we can all do without.
Wake up, people of the UK! Don't sleepwalk into fascism.