The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party said on Wednesday that he won’t readmit ex-Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn to the party’s parliamentary caucus, accusing Corbyn of weakening efforts to stamp out anti-Semitism.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said his predecessor had “undermined and set back our work in restoring trust and confidence in the Labour Party’s ability to tackle anti-Semitism.” Corbyn will continue to sit in Parliament, but as an independent lawmaker. Labour has been grappling with allegations that anti-Semitism was allowed to fester under Corbyn, a long-time supporter of Palestinians and a critic of Israel who led the party for almost five years from 2015.
Corbyn was suspended from the party last month in the wake of a scathing report by Britain’s equalities watchdog. The Equality and Human Rights Commission said Labour officials had failed to stamp out anti-Semitism and committed “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.”
After the report was released, Corbyn accused opponents of exaggerating the problem for “political reasons” — a statement that got him suspended from the party.
On Tuesday, Corbyn issued a statement saying that concerns about anti-Semitism in Labour were not exaggerated, and the party must “never tolerate anti-Semitism or belittle concerns about it.”