Jeremy Corbyn faces showdown with furious Labour MPs over anti-Semitism crisis as party branded ‘institutionally racist’
The embattled leader is scheduled to address a meeting of the Parliamentary group tonight having vowed to tackle the ‘social cancer’ of hatred towards Jews
JEREMY Corbyn faces a showdown with furious Labour MPs over the party’s anti-Semitism crisis after it was branded “institutionally racist”.
The embattled leader is scheduled to address a meeting of the Parliamentary group tonight having vowed to tackle the “social cancer” of hatred towards Jews.
But he is likely to still come under fire as a number of his critics have been targeted in the past week for deselection by hard-left activists as the battle for control of the party ratchets up.
Mr Corbyn acknowledged that Britain's Jews had faced a "difficult time" as the row over the way he has handled the issue of anti-Semitism has simmered all summer.
Tonight's meeting provides a chance for MPs and peers on both sides of the divide to air their grievances, but the atmosphere will be even more heated after Chuka Umunna’s comments yesterday.
The former frontbencher made the "painful" claim Labour was institutionally racist.
But he vowed to stay on as a party member, telling Sky News: "Part of the reason that I joined the Labour party, my party, my family started supporting the party was because it was an anti-racist party and I think the failure to deal with the racism that is anti-Semitism is particular and clearly is a problem."
And the former equalities watchdog Trevor Phillips made an extraordinary attack on Mr Corbyn, calling him "an anti-Semite and a racist".
And he said the party had been taken over by bigots who "want to eliminate anyone who disagrees with them".
In response Diane Abbott, a key ally of Mr Corbyn and the shadow Home Secretary, tweeted: “Labour now has the most anti-racist leader in its history.
“But exactly at this point it is suggested Labour is institutionally racist? This isn't fighting racism. It's fighting Jeremy Corbyn.”
Mr Umunna made his comments after being urged to apologise for saying Mr Corbyn should "call off the dogs" to stop centre-left MPs being driven out of the party.
Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery told Sky News that Mr Umunna's call was "disrespectful" and "offensive".
He said: "Calling anybody a dog is absolutely outrageous in the extreme, and Chuka Umunna of all people should know that."
Mr Corbyn, in a Rosh Hashanah message, said: "I would like to reiterate that the Labour Party stands in solidarity with the Jewish community in the fight against anti-Semitism.
"We will work to eradicate the social cancer of anti-Semitism wherever is surfaces, including in our own party.
";We need change and I hope this year we can make this happen.
"Let us all re-commit to doing things differently, working together for community and social justice and changing not just ourselves but our society."
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And he has also spoken of his "pain" at being called a racist and compared to Enoch Powell during the anti-Semitism row.
Mr Corbyn told Holyrood magazine: "I have found these accusations very painful because my whole life has been about opposing racism and I saw at first-hand in Jamaica the hurt inflicted by Powell's words."
He added: "I was in Jamaica when Enoch Powell made his 'Rivers of Blood' speech. When the speech came through, there were a lot of people in Jamaica, quite rightly, very, very angry.
"I was teaching in a school where we had facilities to listen to the speech and we read about it, and the reaction was enormous."