A change of culture is needed within the UK’s Labour Party to root out antisemitism that flourished in its ranks while Jeremy Corbyn headed it, according to Keir Starmer, the current leader.
He made his remarks during an online conference of the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), an affiliate of the Labour Party.
Starmer spoke about his efforts to combat antisemitism within the party, which the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission recently found had broken the law regarding three components of equality laws.
“We will only deal with this when we change the culture of the Labour Party, as well as the process [for dealing with antisemitic complains], to make it a party that is a safe place for everyone in it,” he told Ruth Smeeth, a former Labour MK and a national vice chairwoman of JLM.
“For me, success will only come when everyone in our Jewish communities feels safe in the Labour Party and when those who have left feel safe to return, if that’s what they want to do,” Starmer said.
Corbyn’s election as Labour leader in 2015 heralded an influx of far-left members into the party and its leadership. Many of them had deeply anti-Zionist and at times antisemitic views that were expressed on innumerable occasions during his tenure and that were frequently ignored or addressed in an unsatisfactory manner.
“We have to be very clear by saying we won’t tolerate antisemitism, and that has to come from the top of the party, from myself and [Labour deputy leader] Angela Rayner,” Starmer said. “We have to keep on taking action, keep on saying it, that there is no place for this in our party. I have to lead the zero tolerance and make it clear we won’t tolerate this in our party.”
Starmer lamented Corbyn’s response to the EHRC report on antisemitism in the Labour Party, which was published in October. Following the release of the report, Corbyn said antisemitism in Labour was “dramatically overstated for political reasons” by its opponents and the media.
Corbyn was suspended from the party, and although its disciplinary mechanism subsequently reinstated his membership, Starmer withdrew the title of whip from the former leader, meaning he no longer sits in the House of Commons as a Labour MP.
