Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from his party over his response to the EHRC’s report into antisemitism in Labour during his leadership.
The report found Labour broke the law by failing to prevent “discrimination” under his leadership after years of complaints about how allegations of antisemitism were dealt with in the party.
Mr Corbyn claimed in a Facebook post on Thursday that the scale of the problem was “dramatically overstated for political reasons” by opponents of his leadership and later insisted he was not “part of the problem”.
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Jewish Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said: “This is the right decision following Corbyn’s shameful reaction to the EHRC report.
“Labour is finally saying enough is enough, antisemitism can never be tolerated in our party. Now we can finally move on.”
Samuel Osborne29 October 2020 14:54
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Samuel Osborne29 October 2020 14:45
John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, has said Mr Corbyn’s suspension was “profoundly wrong” and has urged calm within the Labour party.
The MP for Hayes and Harlington tweeted: “On the day we should all be moving forward and taking all steps to fight antisemitism, the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn is profoundly wrong. In interests of party unity let’s find a way of undoing and resolving this.
“I urge all party members to stay calm as that is the best way to support Jeremy and each other. Let’s all call upon the leadership to lift this suspension.”
Samuel Osborne29 October 2020 14:22
The message below was circulated last night to Labour MPs, according to LabourList’s Sienna Rodgers, warning that “no one should be on the media talking about the report” unless asked to do so by the party’s leadership:
Conrad Duncan29 October 2020 14:14
You can also find a detailed round-up of the situation this afternoon below:
Conrad Duncan29 October 2020 14:07
Our political correspondent, Ashley Cowburn, has some comments below on the suspension from Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner:
Conrad Duncan29 October 2020 14:05
Another journalist reporting that it was not Sir Keir Starmer’s personal decision to suspend Mr Corbyn:
Conrad Duncan29 October 2020 14:01
Jeremy Corbyn responds…
In a statement, the former leader of the Labour Party said:
“I will strongly contest the political intervention to suspend me. I’ve made absolutely clear those who deny there has been an antisemitism problem in the Labour Party are wrong.
“I will continue to support a zero tolerance policy towards all forms of racism.”
Conrad Duncan29 October 2020 13:57
Two reports below are suggesting that the decision to suspend Mr Corbyn came from Labour HQ and not from Sir Keir Starmer’s office:
Conrad Duncan29 October 2020 13:55
Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomes Corbyn suspension
Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, has welcomed the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party.
“We welcome the decision of the Labour Party to suspend Jeremy Corbyn,” she said in a statement.
“Having presided over the descent of a proudly anti-racist party into a party that broke equalities law in its treatment of Jews, his shameless comments today showed that he remains part of the problem and is an obstruction to the resolution of the issue.”
Conrad Duncan29 October 2020 13:49
