BLAIR BLAST AT CORBYN’S HATE PROBE
Too soft on anti-Semitism
TONY Blair has slammed Jeremy Corbyn for not being “robust” enough in tackling anti-Semitism.
He came out in support of MP Luciana Berger, a strong critic of the Labour leadership, who was facing a vote of no-confidence.
Mr Blair believes the way the party is being run is “shameful”.
Speaking yesterday he said: “Of course we should eradicate antiSemitism from the Labour Party. We are supposed to be a progressive political party, how can we say it’s tolerable to have a certain level of anti-Semitism in the party?
“Would we say more generally it is tolerable to have a level of racism within the Labour Party? No. Of course you can’t have that.
“There are parts of the left that do have a problem with anti-Semitism and you see this in their attitudes towards the state of Israel. Their continual focusing on Israel all the time, over a long period you are left with the feeling that they are – in a sense – targeting it because it is a Jewish state.
“The fact that someone like Luciana Berger – who is a smart, capable, active member of Parliament – the fact that she should even be subject to a no-confidence motion with this type of allegation swirling around is shameful.”
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said Labour must “go further and faster” in tackling the antiSemitism problem.
Contradicting the alleged comments of his party’s General Secretary Jennie Formby, he said that it was not “impossible” to eradicate anti-Jewish hatred.
He added: “One antiSemite in the Labour Party is one too many.”