Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge has said it took the party just 12 hours to send her a disciplinary letter after her confrontation with Jeremy Corbyn last week, adding it highlights the party’s failure to respond to allegations of antisemitism quickly.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, Dame Margaret also stood by her confrontation with the Labour leader, in which she called him “an antisemite and a racist” to his face in the House of Commons.
She confronted him behind the Speaker’s chair on Tuesday, after Labour’s National Executive Committee decided not adopt the full IHRA definition of antisemitism, in favour of its own definition that omits key examples of how criticising Israel can be antisemitic.
She said: “Within 12 hours of talking to Jeremy Corbyn face-to-face I received a disciplinary letter. Think how long it has taken for the Labour Party to respond to any of the allegations of antisemitism.