Lord Mandelson has said he feels “dirty” staying in a Labour Party in which “no effective action” is being taken against people holding antisemitic views.
In a damning new interview, the Labour peer blamed Jeremy Corbyn for allowing thousands of people carrying the “virus” of anti-Jewish racism to join the party and flourish within it.
But he said he intended to stay and “fight to save the Labour Party” insisting, “that is what I devote energy to, every single day.
“Throughout my life I have never known antisemitism, or ‘anti-Jewish racism’ as I prefer to call it, in the Labour Party, but when he became leader there was an influx of thousands of people to the Labour Party membership and, since this time, antisemitism has spread like a virus among Labour Party grassroots, as their use of social media has been exposed.
“It’s a minority, but it’s there, present. Not only have we lost the votes of Jewish people, we’ve lost the votes of many ordinary voters, as well as liberal opinion, people who hate racism, people who followed the Labour Party because they thought of the Labour Party as an anti-racist party.”
Speaking to journalist Alain Elkann, he added: “We now have members of the Labour Party who are prepared to use antisemitic language and say things on social media against Israel and against Jews, but are tolerated by the leadership, with no effective action taken against them. Other people in the party feel morally compromised by remaining in a party that exhibits such racism.”
Lord Mandelson added: “Like many people I feel dirty. I feel dirty being in a party that is prepared to tolerate people with such opinions as these. It’s disgusting.”
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Lord Mandelson said: “Corbyn is not the leader that Labour needs at this time. He cannot deliver. Even his supporters are realising this.
“We need an alternative who can stand up to Johnson and lead the country against the disaster which is in the making.”
It is the first time the former Cabinet minister has publicly called for Mr Corbyn to go.
Labour’s official position is to support another EU referendum, and to campaign for Remain against either a Tory Brexit deal or to stop a no-deal departure.
However, the party is also committed to renegotiating the existing Brexit deal if it wins an election before the UK leaves the EU - and will not say whether it would back Remain or Leave in those circumstances.
In a letter published in the Guardian and in the New European newspapers, Alistair Campbell, the former No 10 director of communications under Tony Blair, said on Tuesday he no longer wishes to be a Labour member, warning that Jeremy Corbyn is poised to lose the next election against Boris Johnson and destroy the party “as a political force capable of winning power”.
