Layla Moran says Corbyn has “some responsibility” for Labour antisemitism

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has suggested that the problem of antisemitism in the Labour Party remains unresolved, and that “some responsibility” for the current situation lies with the Party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Ms Moran made the comments in an interview with the Evening Standard after an interview panel with John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on BBC’s Politics Live. During the programme Ms Moran and Mr McDonnell clashed over posters put up in central London by London Palestine Action which read “Israel a racist endeavour”.

Although the posters clearly breached the International Definition of Antisemitism, which states that “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is antisemitic, Ms Moran felt she had to “mansplain” antisemitism to Mr McDonnell, noting that “you don’t say a whole country is racist.”

Reacting to Mr McDonnell’s admission that he is “on a journey” regarding antisemitism, Ms Moran exclaimed, “I was like ‘really?’ You’re 60 something years old, come on. If you haven’t realised by now that this is antisemitism no wonder there’s a problem in the Labour Party.”