• Shopping Cart Shopping Cart
    0Shopping Cart
Campaign Against Antisemitism
  • Link to X
  • Link to Tiktok
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
  • ANTISEMITISM
    • Definition of Antisemitism
    • Recognising Antisemitism
    • The Law of Antisemitism
    • Resources for Teachers
  • RESEARCH
    • Prevalence of Antisemitism
    • Antisemitic Crime Levels
    • Prosecutions for Antisemitism
    • Effects on British Jews
    • Antisemitism in Political Parties
    • EHRC
    • Antisemitism in Universities
    • Antisemitism in Local Authorities
  • NEWS
    • Latest News
    • Media Centre
  • PODCAST
  • ABOUT US
    • Our Work
    • Spokespeople
  • HELP US
    • Subscribe
    • Volunteer with us
    • Intern with us
    • Work with us
    • Become a Student Ambassador
    • Donate
  • CONTACT
    • General Enquiries
    • Media Enquiries
    • Licensing
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
Politics, United Kingdom UK-only e-mail list (not for international stories), Website

Jeremy Corbyn says EHRC is just “part of the Government machine” in first interview since stepping down as Labour leader in latest attempt to undermine investigation into Party’s antisemitism

Jeremy Corbyn has rubbished the independence of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), saying that it is “part of the Government machine” and that its independence as been “taken away” by the Conservatives.

Mr Corbyn made the remarks in his first interview since stepping down as Labour leader, which he gave to the fringe blog, Middle East Eye, which has a history of belittling Labour antisemitism. The interview was conducted by the controversial journalist, Peter Oborne, and the full video will apparently be available tomorrow.

The EHRC launched a full statutory investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party on 28th May 2019 following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.

Asked whether the EHRC’s alleged impartiality would affect its report, Mr Corbyn reportedly replied: “Let’s see what happens.”

Mr Corbyn further claimed that the EHRC was “underfunded” by the Conservative Government which, “for some reason, which I don’t fully understand…decided to take away its independent status and make it part of the government machine.”

Mr Corbyn added that had he won the 2019 General Election he would have restored the EHRC’s independence.

Mr Corbyn’s basis for questioning the EHRC’s independence is not, however, clear. This is also not the first time that Mr Corbyn has tried to undermine the credibility of the independent body (which was established by a Labour Government) investigating his Party for racism: during the 2019 General Election campaign, Mr Corbyn pledged to reform the EHRC if he won power, again without providing a basis for his Party’s concerns, leaving observers to speculate that it was due to the EHRC’s investigation.

Mr Corbyn’s remarks are just the latest attempt by the far-left to question the EHRC’s credibility. Recently, other far-left figures have also suggested that the EHRC may itself be racist, or that if it concludes that the Labour Party is racist it means that it is racist toward other minorities rather than Jews.

Incredibly, Mr Corbyn complained that claims that he had tolerated antisemitism were “wrong and extremely unfair” and that “I’m the one that actually introduced a process for dealing with it,” a common refrain by those seeking to defend Mr Corbyn and the former General Secretary of the Labour Party, Jennie Formby, during whose disastrous tenure the EHRC launched its investigation. Mr Corbyn insisted that the number of cases of antisemitism in the Labour Party was “small” or, at another point in the interview, “very small”. He praised the Chakrabarti Report, which was widely panned as a whitewash and whose author was rewarded by Mr Corbyn for protecting him with a peerage (despite his earlier promise not to award peerages).

Mr Corbyn recalled his mother’s involvement in the historic Cable Street demonstrations against antisemitic fascism and insisted that antisemitism is “absolutely, totally unacceptable in any form”, even though he himself has indulged in it on multiple occasions and worked to protect or elevate allies and supporters who had done so as well. Mr Corbyn even had the audacity to lament how Jewish Labour MPs were being “troll[ed]”, even though those same Jewish women MPs either themselves called him an “antisemitic racist” or complained that he did nothing to assist them, declining even to communicate with them for months on end until two were hounded out of the Party. Regarding such MPs, Mr Corbyn not only showed no remorse but even suggested that he may have been “too tolerant of people”.

The interview was an indication that Mr Corbyn will retreat during his retirement from leadership to the far-left fringes where he has always felt at home.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Jeremy Corbyn’s interview with a fringe blog questioning the independence of the Equality and Human Rights Commission is just the latest attempt by the far-left to try to undermine the EHRC in anticipation of its report into the Party’s antisemitism during his leadership. Mr Corbyn and his allies have repeatedly suggested that the EHRC is not impartial and even that it itself may be racist, and that therefore its conclusions cannot be trusted. These self-proclaimed ‘anti-racist campaigners’ are so blinded by their own prejudices and self-righteousness that they cannot see the injury that they are causing to the very minorities they profess to care about. The era of Mr Corbyn’s leadership may be over but the sordid campaign to rehabilitate his ghastly legacy is in full swing.”

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.

Related

      
01/06/2020
Search Search
  • CAA calls for Gary Lineker to be removed from post after sharing inflammatory video13/05/2025 - 17:21
  • As arrests are made across the nation, the Government must heed our calls to proscribe the IRGC12/05/2025 - 18:18
  • We won’t let the pressure let up on Kneecap06/05/2025 - 21:09
  • BBC reiterates commitment to thematic review of Gaza coverage06/05/2025 - 10:37
  • University Rector wins appeal following dismissal over comments which made students “fear for their safety”02/05/2025 - 14:03
  • Kneecap dropped from Plymouth venue, following CAA action01/05/2025 - 15:01
  • Kneecap dropped from Eden Sessions festival, following CAA action30/04/2025 - 14:54
  • Vindicated: Harvard University publishes damning report on campus antisemitism30/04/2025 - 11:02
  • We will privately prosecute Kneecap if necessary28/04/2025 - 20:04
  • Jordan announces ban on Muslim Brotherhood24/04/2025 - 10:43

We are seeking to recruit a General Counsel a Creative Communications and Events Officer a Communications and Research Manager an Education and Outreach Intern to join our London office

Join the fight

Subscribe
Volunteer
Donate

Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.

Related

Justice, justice, you shall pursue - צדק צדק תרדף
© Copyright - Campaign Against Antisemitism, all rights reserved. Our logo is a registered trademark.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is a charitable incorporated organisation registered with the Charity Commission (number 1163790).
Use of our website is subject to our terms. Trees are planted every year to keep our work carbon neutral.
  • Link to X
  • Link to Tiktok
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
Link to: Local newspaper in North East publishes antisemitic letter to the editor and now apologises but only for “offence caused” rather than because it was racist Link to: Local newspaper in North East publishes antisemitic letter to the editor and now apologises but only for “offence caused” rather than because it was racist Local newspaper in North East publishes antisemitic letter to the editor and... Link to: Man who allegedly berated Jewish family on Tube for twenty minutes identified and charged with multiple racially aggravated public order offences Link to: Man who allegedly berated Jewish family on Tube for twenty minutes identified and charged with multiple racially aggravated public order offences Man who allegedly berated Jewish family on Tube for twenty minutes identified...
Scroll to top Scroll to top Scroll to top

We use cookies to track use of our website and your preferences. Use of our website is subject to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Read more.Accept cookies and our terms of use

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Terms of use and privacy policy
Accept settingsHide notification only
SIGN UP FOR UPDATES BY E-MAIL

By default you will receive weekly e-mails, but when you receive the first e-mail you can change to daily or monthly e-mails instead.

If you prefer to subscribe later, you can do so by scrolling right to the bottom of this page.