Sir Keir Starmer suspends Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party

Labour civil war

Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party has suspended former leader Jeremy Corbyn pending an investigation following his comments responding to the Equality and Human Rights Commission report that was released today.

A Labour spokesperson said: “In light of his comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labour Party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation. He has also had the whip removed from the Parliamentary Labour Party.”

Snake oil salesman suspends Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party thus proving his snake oil works…

Reacting to the EHRC report, which found Labour was responsible for “unlawful acts”, Corbyn claimed that “the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents”.

The former leader posted on social media: “Anyone claiming there is no antisemitism in the Labour Party is wrong. Of course there is, as there is throughout society, and sometimes it is voiced by people who think of themselves as on the left.

My statement following the publication of the EHRC report: “Antisemitism is absolutely abhorrent, wrong and responsible for some of humanity’s greatest crimes. As Leader of the Labour Party, I was always determined to eliminate all forms of racism and root out the cancer of antisemitism. I have campaigned in support of Jewish people and communities my entire life and I will continue to do so.

“The EHRC’s report shows that when I became Labour leader in 2015, the Party’s processes for handling complaints were not fit for purpose.

Reform was then stalled by an obstructive party bureaucracy. But from 2018, Jennie Formby and a new NEC that supported my leadership made substantial improvements, making it much easier and swifter to remove antisemites. My team acted to speed up, not hinder the process.

“Anyone claiming there is no antisemitism in the Labour Party is wrong. Of course there is, as there is throughout society, and sometimes it is voiced by people who think of themselves as on the left.“

Jewish members of our party and the wider community were right to expect us to deal with it, and I regret that it took longer to deliver that change than it should.“One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.

That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated. “My sincere hope is that relations with Jewish communities can be rebuilt and those fears overcome. While I do not accept all of its findings, I trust its recommendations will be swiftly implemented to help move on from this period.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s statement on the EHRC report

In his own response to the EHRC findings, Keir Starmer declared today: “If you’re antisemitic, you should be nowhere near this party. And we’ll make sure you’re not.

“And if after all the pain, all the grief, and all the evidence in this report, there are still those who think there’s no problem with antisemitism in the Labour Party. That it’s all exaggerated, or a factional attack.

“Then, frankly, you are part of the problem too. And you should be nowhere near the Labour Party either.”