Antisemitism began to play "an unprecedented role" in British public life partly because of the Labour Party's crisis over Jew-hate, the Community Security Trust has said.

In its report published this week, CST reviewed antisemitic discourse in 2018 and concluded the accusations of institutional antisemitism against Jeremy Corbyn's party "largely" propelled anti-Jewish racism into being a "regular feature" of politics and media coverage. 

"It became a regular feature in national politics and media to an extent not seen before, largely but not exclusively as a result of the ongoing controversy over alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party," the report says.

"The suggestion that the leader of one of Britain’s main political parties may be personally antisemitic is itself unprecedented in recent decades, and indicates the extent to which public debate over, and awareness of, antisemitism reached new heights in 2018."

It also said the "new prominence" of Jew-hate included "several stories about antisemitic insults or comments involving celebrities or public figures during 2018" that were outside party politics.

These included comedian Jimmy Carr joking on television based on antisemitic stereotype of Jews having large noses, Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell having his cartoon on Netanyahu blocked by the paper and right-wing agitator Katie Hopkins tweeting to imply the Chief Rabbi was responsible for the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.