Labour MPs blast leader over gong for Shami

LABOUR MPs last night accused Jeremy Corbyn of ‘pouring petrol’ on the party’s antiSemitism row by refusing to give full details of his talks with Shami Chakrabarti over her peerage.

Critics say there remain deeply damaging questions over whether Baroness Chakrabarti, now shadow attorney general, was offered the honour before her ‘whitewash’ report into the party’s handling of complaints of anti-Semitic abuse.

Whitehall sources involved in the honours process claimed that Mr Corbyn made the request for a peerage for the human rights lawyer after he commissioned her to conduct the inquiry – but before its conclusion was

‘Pouring petrol on difficult situation’

released. At a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, MPs voiced concerns about Mr Corbyn’s response to another report, published on Sunday, in which the home affairs committee accused Labour of creating a ‘safe space’ for ‘vile attitudes towards Jews’.

Mr Corbyn accused the report’s authors of ‘disproportionate emphasis’ on Labour. At last night’s PLP, backbencher Wes Streeting demanded Mr Corbyn explain when Baroness Chakrabarti was offered the honour. Sources said Chuka Umunna and David Winnick, of the home affairs committee, also spoke out.

Mr Streeting said Mr Corbyn should have responded to the report’s substance ‘instead of effectively pouring petrol on an already difficult situation’.