Hodge: Leadership may be anti-Semitic

A JEWISh Labour MP said she had come to the conclusion that her party’s leadership may be anti-Semitic.

Dame Margaret hodge is facing disciplinary action after she confronted Jeremy Corbyn in parliament and told him he was perceived as a racist.

She said on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s hour: ‘All of us feel our identity and our values are being challenged by this sudden surge in anti-Semitism, which is not only allowed by the leadership, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that may also be views held by the leadership themselves.

‘The row in itself does demonstrate rather graphically why I’ve never felt he [Mr Corbyn] is the best person to be leader of the Labour Party.’

She added: ‘I’ve given my life to the Labour Party. I’m going to fight tooth and nail to bring it back to the values that brought me into it some 55 years ago.’

Dame Margaret criticised the leadership for having failed to conclude investigations into other allegations of anti-Semitism by the end of July as promised.

She said she had ‘no idea’ what the allegations against her were, and said it was ‘ridiculous’ how her case was handled compared to that of NEC member Pete Willsman. Mr Willsman was let off after making an apology for saying some members of the Jewish community were ‘Trump fanatics’ who made up anti-Semitism cases.

She said she had chosen to confront Mr Corbyn in anger at what she said was the party’s ‘arrogance’ over a new code of conduct on anti-Semitism. She denied reports she had sworn at him.

A spokesman for the Labour party said it ‘follows a clear and fair process when we receive complaints’.