Lord quits over Corbyn re-election
Re-elected Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted that Labour was united in tackling anti-Semitism as a senior peer member quit the party, claiming the leader was surrounded by allies who were “hostile to Jews”.
Re-elected Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted that Labour was united in tackling anti-Semitism as a senior peer member quit the party, claiming the leader was surrounded by allies who were “hostile to Jews”.
Lord Parry Mitchell said Corbyn will never become prime minister but his allies have got Labour “by the throat”.
The former frontbencher, who is Jewish, blamed Corbyn for being “lukewarm” about tackling -anti-Semitism.
But Corbyn hit back, insisting there was “absolute unity” in Labour in opposing “any form of anti-Semitism, any form of racism”.
Mitchell said the Momentum movement of Corbyn supporters had seized control of Labour and the party was now a “lost cause”.
The entrepreneur launched a scathing attack on Corbyn following his landslide victory over challenger Owen Smith last weekend.
“Jeremy has no leadership qualities whatsoever, his little group like him and they think he’s the messiah, but he will never become the leader and prime minister of this country,” Mitchell told the BBC on Sunday.
“I’m Jewish and I’m very strongly Jewish and I make no bones about it, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Jeremy himself is very lukewarm on this subject. He’s never been as vociferous in condemning anti-Semitism as he should be, and when he does make a mention of it he combines it with other forms of racism, so he will never say specifically as far as anti-Semitism is concerned.
“But even more than that, he surrounds himself with a coterie of people who hold violent, violent anti-Israel views and allied with it they are very hostile to Jews so, in my view, they’re pretty bad guys.”
The Labour leader said it was not fair for Mitchell to claim that it was “very difficult” to remain in the party if you are Jewish and support Israel.
Corbyn told the BBC, “It’s unfortunate he would say that, because it’s not a fair comment, and I would hope that he would reflect on that because clearly there are diverse views within the party on issues in the Middle East, but there is absolute unity in the party of opposing any form of anti-Semitism, any form of racism in the party. That is very clear.”
Meanwhile, the vice-chair of Momentum Jackie Walker claimed this week allegations of anti-Semitism within the party have been exaggerated and “weaponised” in an attempt to undermine Corbyn and his supporters and silence critics of the Israeli state.
UK Jewish News
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