After the event, he tweeted: “The media try to create more of a division than there is in our movement. @UKLabour the biggest party in Europe. Of course, there will be a range of views. But we deal with each other in a respectful manner and accept the majority view #newpolitics @resfoundation”
Over the past couple of years, the JC has documented a large number of claims of antisemitism within the Labour Party, both from members and elected officials.
This is not the first time that Mr McCluskey has appeared to downplay the issue. Last September, during Labour’s annual conference, he was asked if he recognised the suggestion that the party had a problem with antisemitism.
“No, I’ve never recognised that,” he responded.
“I believe it was mood music that was created by people who were trying to undermine Jeremy Corbyn.”
Last week, figures for 2017 released by the Community Security Trust (CST) showed incidents of antisemitism in the UK as being the highest on record – continuing a trend from 2016.
The report stated that “high incident numbers were sustained by a combination of factors, including an increase in all forms of recorded hate crime and publicity regarding alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party.”
