Former leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has been suspended from the party today and has had the whip removed
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from the party and has had the whip removed.
A party spokesman said: “In light of his comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labour Party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation. He has also had the whip removed from the Parliamentary Labour Party.”
Mr Corbyn had reacted to a damning report into antisemitism by saying the number of complaints made during his tenure were “dramatically overstated”.
George Eustice has recently said that it is “too early to say” how people will be able to celebrate Christmas this year, with strict COVID-19 rules in place across large parts of the UK. On Tuesday, COVID-19 deaths in the UK hit their highest level for five months when 367 new fatalities linked to the novel coronavirus and nearly 23,000 more cases were recorded.
He then gave a press conference in which he repeated this and insisted “I’m not part of the problem”.
An unlawful act notice has been served to the party following the report’s findings, which means the commission can recommend any necessary action to avoid the actions being repeated or continued.
The investigation found evidence of 23 instances of “political interference” by Mr Corbyn’s office and others in the antisemitism complaints process, out of the 70 files the watchdog looked at.
Mr Corbyn, who was party leader during the period investigated and was dogged by questions about antisemitism throughout his tenure, accepted the report but said the scale of the problem was not as large as stated.
He said Jewish Labour members were right to expect the party to deal with antisemitism, and that:
“I regret that it took longer to deliver that change than it should”.
But, he added: “The scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party.”
This comes after the deaths of two young children, as well as two adults as they attempted to reach the United Kingdom in a migrant boat in the English Channel should be a “wake-up call” for politicians in both the UK and France, charity bosses have said.
Sky’s Kate McCann asked current leader Sir Keir Starmer if this meant Mr Corbyn should remain a Labour member.
He did not reply directly, but said: “Those that deny there’s a problem are part of the problem. Those that pretend it’s exaggerated or factional are part of the problem.”
Labour has until 10 December to draft an action plan to implement the report’s recommendations, which is legally enforceable by the courts if not fulfilled.
