After his suspension, Jeremy Corbyn suggested that his statement meant only that the public had an exaggerated view of the extent of Labour antisemitism: “The numbers have been exaggerated […] the public perception in an opinion poll last year was that one third of all Labour party members were somehow or other under suspicion of antisemitism. The reality is, it was 0.3 per cent of party members had a case against them which had to be put through the process.”

These claims have now been adopted by his supporters.

The facts, however, are very different. The Corbynites themselves argued that until Jennie Formby became General Secretary in 2018, the party did not have the ability to analyse the level and content of disciplinary cases. Their claim has always been that they alone took antisemitism seriously and introduced robust new procedures. They still make that claim. But throughout the crisis, In 2019, Ms Formby told Labour MPs “there was no consistent and comprehensive system for recording and processing cases of antisemitism” before she took over. And that is what Labour told the EHRC.

How then can Mr Corbyn provide a figure for the number of members investigated for antisemitism while he was leader?

As for the poll, which the former Labour leader says found that people thought a third of Labour members could be antisemitc — it says no such thing. Conducted by Survation in 2019, it asked two questions, starting with: “Have you seen or heard anything about accusations of antisemitism (hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people) made against members of the Labour Party?”

Thirty per cent said they had not, with 9 per cent saying, “Don’t know”.

The poll only asked its second question of those who said they had heard about Labour antisemitism: “From what you have seen or heard, what percentage of Labour Party members do you think have had complaints of antisemitism made against them?” Twenty-nine per cent replied “don’t know”. And the most popular answer of those who did suggest a figure was “0-9%” - within the range Mr Corbyn himself suggested was correct.