A big union donor has told Jeremy Corbyn to get his ‘head out of his backside’
JEREMY Corbyn was told to get his “head out of his backside” over the anti-Semitism row yesterday by one of his biggest union donors – or face electoral wipeout.
GMB boss Tim Roache joined Momentum in piling pressure on the Labour leftie to swallow his pride and accept the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism in full.
He declared anti-Semitism “is a problem in the Labour Party” and the Labour leader needed to use some “common sense” in tackling it.
Mr Roache also complained he was in “despair” saying Labour was missing a “once in a generation chance to reshape our economy and our society, because we can’t get our collective heads out of our posteriors.”
Sources said a change was definitely on the cards, even if they have to force Jeremy Corbyn into it at a crunch meeting next month. The Jewish News also reported Momentum chief Jon Lansman had been lobbying the leader’s office for weeks for change.
Mr Corbyn has so far stubbornly resisted huge pressure to implement the entire IHRA list of examples of anti-Semitic behaviour unamended in the code.
Mr Roache told the Huffington Post yesterday: “Anti-Semitism is a problem in the Labour Party. I’ve been shocked at what I’ve seen on social media.”
It came as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was exposed for a 2012 speech where he described Israeli attacks on Gaza as attempted genocide.
The Daily Telegraph also drew attention to his 2016 appearance on a platform alongside activist Jackie Walker, who was suspended by Labour for alleged anti-Semitism.
Speaking to a Unite The Resistance event at a time of intensive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza enclave, Mr McDonnell said: “It’s absolutely critical now that we use every platform we can to expose what’s going on, which is effectively an attempt at genocide against the Palestinians.”
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Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, told the paper his remarks were “not only inaccurate, but irresponsible and deeply offensive”.
But Mr McDonnell accused the newspaper of “doing a number” on him and made clear he stands by the remarks.
In a statement his spokesman said he “takes pride in and stands by his track record of forcefully and justifiably condemning brutal attacks on the Palestinian men, women and children of Gaza and will always stand up for victims of such disproportionate violence”.