Corbyn is unfit to be PM, says Jewish group
The Jewish Labour Movement yesterday passed a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn and said he was “unfit to be prime minister”, as the party’s anti-semitism crisis worsened. It accused Mr Corbyn and the Labour leadership of having “fundamentally failed” to address the problem and said a government led by him “would not be in the interest of British Jews”. The motion was passed “almost unanimously” at the group’s annual general meeting.
THE Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) yesterday passed a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn and said he was “unfit to be prime minister” as the party’s anti-semitism crisis worsened.
It accused Mr Corbyn and the Labour leadership of having “fundamentally failed” to address the problem and said a government led by him “would not be in the interest of British Jews”.
The motion was passed “almost unanimously” at the group’s annual general meeting, despite a plea from a leading ally of the Labour leader not to “personalise” the issue.
Shami Chakrabarti, the shadow attorney general, said the anti-semitism row was bigger than Mr Corbyn and he “won’t be leader forever”.
The JLM meeting took place after Labour again found itself embroiled in a row over its handling of anti-semitism complaints.
The Sunday Times said it had seen leaked internal documents which it says showed the party’s system for dealing with complaints had been beset by delays, inaction and interference from the leader’s office.
Some members investigated for posting comments online such as “Heil Hitler” and “Jews are the problem” had not been expelled despite complaints being made a year ago, while Mr Corbyn’s office had been involved in approving, delaying or blocking at least 101 complaints, the paper claimed.
Labour said lines from internal emails had been “selectively leaked” to “misrepresent their overall contents”, and added it was “committed” to rooting out anti-semitism within the party.
The JLM motion said the “failure to deal” with anti-semitism in Labour “ultimately rests with Jeremy Corbyn”. It concluded: “Jeremy Corbyn is therefore unfit to be prime minister and a Labour government led by him would not be in the interest of British Jews.”
Labour MP Ruth Smeeth said she felt “sick” after the meeting but Jewish members had made clear that “enough really must be enough”.
Lady Chakrabarti, who led a review into anti-semitism allegations, had urged the JLM not to agree the motion. She told Sky News: “My plea to the Jewish Labour Movement is to stay in the Labour movement and to tackle racism together, not to personalise it and make it about Jeremy Corbyn, because he is one person and won’t be leader forever.
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and its organisations. We are determined to tackle anti-semitism and root it out of our party.”