Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite, ex-equalities chief Trevor Phillips blasts as Labour MP calls party ‘racist’
Labour's leader received a double blow from veteran activist Trevor Phillips and centrist MP Chuka Umunna
Labour's leader received a double blow from veteran activist Trevor Phillips and centrist MP Chuka Umunna
JEREMY Corbyn is "an anti-Semite and a racist", former equalities watchdog Trevor Phillips claimed last night in an extraordinary attack.
The veteran anti-racism activist, a Labour member, said the party had been taken over by bigots who "want to eliminate anyone who disagrees with them".
He was backed by Labour MP Chuka Umunna who called the party "institutionally racist" in the wake of the anti-Semitism scandal.
The double attack is a fresh blow to Mr Corbyn's attempts to put the crisis behind him by endorsing tougher rules on anti-Jewish racism.
Mr Phillips made his claim at an "ideas festival" hosted by a Tory MP and designed to come up with ways to bring Britain together.
He said: "It doesn't help that one of our great parties, the one I belong to, is led by anti-Semites and racists who basically want to eliminate anyone who disagrees with them."
Asked if his comments applied to Mr Corbyn personally, Mr Phillips : "Yes – I think Jeremy Corbyn's views have been pretty well ventilated and exposed."
He added that the crisis would harm Labour at the ballot box, saying: "It's killing our party. British people are not bigots, they are not racists."
Mr Phillips was previously head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and was a Labour member of the London Assembly.
His comments were echoed today by moderate MP Chuka Umunna, an outspoken opponent of Mr Corbyn.
Asked on Sky News if Labour is now "institutionally racist", he said: "If you look at the definition of institutional racism as outlined by Sir William Macpherson... the Labour party, it's beyond doubt for me that it has met it.
"It's very painful for me to say that."
But he insisted he wouldn't leave the party, saying it's better to "try and argue and see change through in an organisation" rather than "leave the field".
A Labour spokesman said: "Jeremy Corbyn and the party leadership are life-long anti-racists who are determined to tackle anti-Semitism both within the Labour party and in wider society."
And the party's equalities chief Dawn Butler added: "I have literally spent all of life fighting racism. And today is a sad day @UKLabour is NOT institutionally racist. If it was I would go."
AN ANTI-ISRAEL activist who defaced the Warsaw ghetto with graffiti will speak on the fringes of the Labour conference, it emerged today.
Ewa Jasiewicz has been invited to give a talk at a Momentum event taking place alongside the main conference.
She previously sparked fury by scrawling graffiti on the wall of the Warsaw ghetto, home to hundreds of thousands of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust.
In 2010, Ms Jasiewicz teamed up with another activist to write "Liberate all ghettos” and “Free Gaza and Palestine" on the last remaining section of wall.
They said they were inspired by Israel's supposed use of the Holocaust to promote "colonisation and repression".
The stunt was blasted by charity groups who accused the activists of disrespecting the dead.
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