Corbyn backs Johnson seat rival with anti-jewish ‘form’

JEREMY CORBYN has endorsed a Labour candidate attempting to unseat Boris Johnson who previously said he would go to war with Israel and claimed the Jewish state had “no right to exist”.

The Labour leader has called on party activists to campaign this weekend in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in support of Ali Milani, who has previously faced widespread criticism over controversial remarks.

Ian Austin, who quit as a Labour MP over anti-semitism, told The Daily Telegraph that the endorsement “tells you everything you need to know about his commitment to tackling anti-jewish racism”.

It came as a Yougov poll suggested that grass-roots support for Mr Corbyn continues to wane, with just 35 per cent of those who backed the party in 2017 indicating that they would want to see him in Downing Street. Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn was facing a backlash last night after he threw his weight behind Mr Milani, a Labour councillor who was selected to contest Mr Johnson’s seat in October last year.

Mr Milani’s previous controversies include a Twitter post published in 2012, in which he suggested Jews were parsimonious.

In 2013, Mr Milani also said “Israel has no right to exist” and “I want to be the president of Israel. They have a self-destruct button, right?”

Last night, he said: “I have profusely and unreservedly apologised ... for the comments made in my teens. I have also tried to be proactive in pushing for education on this issue – specifically in schools and colleges like mine. I did my best to reach out to members of the Jewish community and rebuild trust.”

Last night, Gloria De Piero, a shadow justice minister, announced she was quitting Mr Corbyn’s frontbench and would be standing down at the next election.

She criticised the “lack of tolerance for different viewpoints” in Labour.