Jeremy Corbyn’s ex-chief of staff has been branded “shameful” after suggesting a “relentless and highly politicised media campaign” distorted the scale of Labour’s antisemitism crisis. 

Writing for the Guardian only days before the expected publication of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission  (EHRC) report into Labour’s handling of the crisis, Karie Murphy claimed she was “proud” of her record on the issue. 

And in claims that immediately infuriated Jewish campaigners, she said a “relentless and highly politicised media campaign” was to blame for escalating the anger over antisemitism in the party. 

It “hurt Jewish people and disturbed and confused many in our movement,” she said.

Mike Katz, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said Ms Murphy’s claims were a smear of Jewish members. “JLM referred Labour to the EHRC because our efforts to engage constructively with the party from 2015 onwards had been rebuffed constantly and our members faced continued discrimination, harassment and victimisation,” he said.

“At no point was there genuine remorse, improvements to the system, or any real progress in the number of cases handled or outcomes. Their only success on antisemitism was the rigour with which they protected their political allies, downplayed the issue and gaslit those who spoke up against it. 

“Smearing the pain of our members and the wider Jewish community as part of a ‘highly politicised media campaign’ is shameful.”

Suggesting she wanted to to speak out “for the first time … [to] set the record straight” about the party’s handling of  antisemitism cases, Ms Murphy said that it improved during Mr Corbyn’s tenure.

“Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, antisemites were removed from the Labour Party more quickly, transparently and effectively than ever before. As his former chief of staff, I’m proud of that record,” she wrote.  

Ms Murphy also said there had been an “extremely successful campaign to obscure the facts” about how the party handled complaints, claiming it was “primarily driven by political opposition to Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist, internationalist politics” and procedural failings.

“I’m not speaking out for the first time to dismiss the fact that antisemitism reared its head among a small minority in the Labour Party. It did. It was wrong and the party as a whole was slow to deal with it effectively,” she said.

She also said she was “deeply sad” that relations with the Jewish community were at such a low ebb during Mr Corbyn’s tenure. “But it wasn’t for want of trying, let alone because of any tolerance of antisemitism.” 

But Ms Murphy failed to address the JC’s revelation last month that she had boasted about her involvement in attempts to force out MPs and union officials who had stood up against antisemitism.

Leaked WhatsApp messages showed that after seven Labour MPs quit the party in February 2019 - including Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes and Chuka Umunna - Ms Murphy wrote: “F**king idiots. All the work I did to trigger them and they leave before I had the pleasure.”