As Labour whip asks Jeremy Corbyn to apologise, CAA is resolute: “An apology is no substitute for justice”
Labour’s Opposition Chief Whip, Nick Brown, has written to Jeremy Corbyn, the former Leader, urging him to apologise in return for a restoration of the whip.
Mr Corbyn was recently suspended for downplaying the extent of antisemitism in the Party but was then rapidly readmitted to the Party in a shambolic process that represented a con of the Jewish community. Under pressure, Sir Keir Starmer declined to restore the whip to Mr Corbyn, however, maintaining the suspension for three months and implying that the suspension would roll over repeatedly.
Now, Mr Brown has written to Mr Corbyn, urging him to “unequivocally, unambiguously and without reservation” apologise for his inflammatory comments and commit to cooperating with the Labour Party in its implementation of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) recommendations.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “An apology is no substitute for justice. If Labour wishes to be taken seriously, it must investigate both of our major complaints against Jeremy Corbyn under an independent disciplinary process, as well as our complaints against other sitting MPs, and take decisive action. If our complaint against Mr Corbyn is upheld, he must be expelled. The Jewish community and the British public deserve justice from Labour, not more excuses. Labour’s offer to Mr Corbyn to apologise in return for a restoration of the whip is decidedly a step in the wrong direction.”
Previous research by Campaign Against Antisemitism has shown that Mr Brown, who also served as Opposition Chief Whip under Mr Corbyn, has had little to say on Labour’s antisemitism crisis over the past several years.
Campaign Against Antisemitism recently lodged a complaint against Mr Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
