Starmer hits back in anti-Semitism dispute
A SENIOR Labour frontbencher has hit back at trade union boss Len McCluskey over his attack on “Corbyn-hater” Labour MPs whom he accused of trying to portray the party as a “morass” of anti-Semitism.
The Unite general secretary, a long-standing ally of the Labour leader, warned on Wednesday that the actions of Mr Corbyn’s backbench critics were leading to renewed demands for the return of mandatory reselection of Labour MPs.
However, Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday that it was “obvious” the party has an issue with antiSemitism and those who deny it are “part of the problem”.
“I disagree with Len McCluskey. Jeremy Corbyn has made it clear, and it is obvious, that we have got a problem with anti-Semitism. We have got to deal with it robustly and effectively,” he told BBC Radio 4’s
Today programme. “Part of that is the disciplinary procedure, which needs to be much quicker and much more effective, but there is also a cultural question.
“Part of that cultural question is to stop those denying that there is even a problem. That is part of the problem. So I am afraid I disagree with Len on this.”
Writing in the New Statesman magazine, Mr McCluskey accused MPs in Labour’s centrist faction of “working overtime trying to present the Labour Party as a morass of misogyny, anti-Semitism and bullying”.
While he insisted that he was fiercely opposed to antiSemitism, he singled out five MPs – Chris Leslie, Neil Coyle, John Woodcock, Wes Streeting and Ian Austin – who he said are “polluting” the leader’s efforts to tackle the problem.
Mr Corbyn was canvassing yesterday at the Jain Temple in Kenton, north-west London, ahead of the local elections next month.