Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has warned Labour that a vote in favour of new antisemitism guidelines would send a "message of contempt to the Jewish community", in an unprecedented letter to the party's ruling body.
It comes hours after an extraordinary letter from 68 leading British Rabbis, ranging from Liberal to strictly Orthodox to the party "antisemitism within sections of the Labour party has become so severe and widespread"
The Chief Rabbi urged the party's national executive committee to "follow the example" of the Parliamentary Labour Party, who voted on Monday night to adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of Jew hate.
He adds: "It is astonishing that the Labour Party presumes that it is more qualified than....in particular, the Jewish community to define antisemitism."