Jeremy Corbyn faces fresh fury after calling for vote on Labour’s new anti-Semitism rules to be delayed until autumn
Labour MPs plan to ambush their leader tonight by adopting the tougher, international definition of anti-Semitism
JEREMY Corbyn faced fresh fury last night after calling for a crunch showdown on his party’s explosive new anti-Semitism rules to be delayed until the autumn.
Labour MPs are planning to spring an ambush on the leader tonight by holding an emergency motion in Westminster in favour of the Parliamentary Labour Party unilaterally adopting the international definition of anti-Semitism.
It would be humiliating for Mr Corbyn as it would see Labour MPs and peers abiding by a stricter form of anti-Semitism than the party’s official rulebook.
The explosive row broke out after Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee backed a new definition of anti-Semitism that will now hold its members to a higher standard of anti-racism than the law demands.
But yesterday Mr Corbyn called on his MPs to postpone the vote until the autumn - because many Labour politicians have already left Westminster for their summer holidays.
Speaking at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset, Mr Corbyn said: “I’d rather they delayed that discussion until September because there will be a full attendance at meetings in September.
“I suspect Monday’s meeting will not be fully attended because Parliament is rising on Tuesday.”
Meanwhile his shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey admitted Labour was in a “very, very dark place” due to anti-Semitism that has festered in the party.
Mr Corbyn also risked causing fresh fury after calling on MPs to approach the new anti-Semitism row with “calm” when he was asked about his altercation with Dame Margaret Hodge.
The senior Labour MP, who lost family members in the Holocaust, confronted Mr Corbyn in the Commons chamber last week, calling him an “anti-Semite and a racist”.
MOST READ IN POLITICS
In a dig at Dame Margaret, the Labour leader said yesterday that he was “upset about it but as always I am very calm and treat people with a great deal of respect”.
But his shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for the disciplinary inquiry into Dame Margaret over the incident to be dropped.