Stars savage him over anti-Semitism
LEADING public figures including writers, actors and the former head of the equalities watchdog lined up last night to urge people not to vote for Jeremy Corbyn.
In an open letter, they said they would refuse to vote Labour because of its association with anti-Semitism.
The 24 signatories include actors Joanna Lumley and Simon Callow, authors John Le Carré and Fay Weldon, historians Tom Holland and Dan Snow, Countdown host Nick Hewer, and Jimmy Wales, the London-based founder of Wikipedia, who has previously been sympathetic to Labour. It was also signed by Trevor Phillips, a former Labour politician and ex-chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Labour is under investigation by the EHRC over claims of institutional anti-Semitism and that it unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish.
Two of its female Jewish MPs, Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman, have left the party after facing anti-Semitic abuse. And last week Ian Austin, a Labour MP raised by Holocaust survivors, quit the Commons and urged people to vote for Boris Johnson.
The open letter, published in the Guardian, said: ‘Mr Corbyn has a long record of embracing anti-Semites as comrades.
‘We listen to our Jewish friends and see how their pain has been relegated as an issue, pushed aside by arguments about Britain’s European future. For those who insist that Labour are the only alternative to Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit, now, it seems, is not the time for Jewish anxiety. But antiSemitism is central to a wider debate about the kind of country we want to be.
‘We endorse no party. However, we cannot in all conscience urge others to support a political party we ourselves will not.’
A Labour spokesman said last night: ‘We take allegations of anti-Semitism extremely seriously, we are taking robust action and we are absolutely committed to rooting it out of our party and wider society.
‘Perhaps it’s not surprising that a number of the individuals who have signed this letter are Conservatives and Lib Dems.
‘But what is most concerning is that several of them have themselves been accused of outright anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and misogyny.’