The leader of the UK’s Labour party, Sir Keir Starmer, described the publication of a damning report on antisemitism which he described as a “day of shame” for the party.
Starmer accepted in full a report by the Equalty and Human Rights Commission which found, after a year-long investigation, that the party broke the law by failing to prevent “acts of harassment and discrimination”.
Under Mr Corbyn’s leadership it “did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it”, said the EHRC, which described Labour’s failure to act as “inexcusable”.
Sir Keir offered an apology to the Jewish community, saying: “The report’s conclusions are clear and stark – they leave no room for equivocation.”
“Most telling of all a clear breakdown of trust between the Labour Party, many of its members and the Jewish community. I found this report hard to read and it is a day of shame for the Labour Party, we have failed Jewish people.”
Speaking at a press conference, he added: “We failed the Jewish people, our members, our supporters and the British public. And so on behalf of the Labour Party: I am truly sorry for all the pain and grief that has been caused.”
The EHRC report found that under Mr Corbyn’s leadership, Labour was responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act, involving harassment, political interference in antisemitism complaints and inadequate training for those dealing with cases.
In two cases, Labour was legally responsible for comments by London mayor Ken Livingstone and councillor Pam Bromley “using antisemitic tropes and suggesting that complaints of antisemitism were fake or smears”, because the pair were acting as agents of the party.
In a further 18 cases it was a “borderline” judgement whether the party was legally responsible for comments by councillors and candidates, while there were many more cases of antisemitic action by rank-and-file members.
The report found evidence of 23 instances of “inappropriate involvement” from the leader of the opposition’s office in the investigation of a sample of 70 complaints of anti-semitism – including one concerning the suspension of Mr Livingstone in which Mr Corbyn is named.
It found that the leader’s office closed down an inquiry into a social media message sent by Mr Corbyn as a backbencher, in which he signalled approval for a street mural showing hook-nosed bankers around a table held up by the bodies of the poor.
The EHRC gave Labour a legally-enforceable deadline of 10 December to draw up an action plan to show how it will live up to its commitment to be “a political party with zero tolerance of antisemitism”.
