Corbyn aide ‘defended anti-Semite’

A JEREMY Corbyn aide brought in to bolster Labour’s complaints process sought to block the suspension of a member who defended an anti-Semitic mural.

Leaked emails reveal that Laura Murray said the member should be allowed to stay in the party despite describing the image of a group of ‘hook-nosed’ men sitting at a Monopoly board as ‘great’.

Miss Murray said she should only be suspended if other evidence of her being antiSemitic could be found.

The Labour Party has said advice that suspension could be premature was based on a good faith assessment.

It emerged last night that Miss Murray had been given a job in Labour’s compliance team, which deals with allegations of anti-Semitism.

Yesterday, she deleted her Twitter feed after describing Countdown star Rachel Riley, who has campaigned against anti-Semitism, as ‘dangerous’ and ‘stupid’. Ms Riley, who is Jewish, is pursuing a libel claim after Miss Murray wrongly claimed that she had said Mr Corbyn deserved to be violently attacked ‘because he is a Nazi’.

Last night Jewish Labour MP Louise Ellman said the fact that an aide to Mr Corbyn was in the party’s compliance team meant there were ‘question marks over the independence of the process’.

A Labour Party spokesman said it took ‘all complaints of anti-Semitism extremely seriously and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms.’