Starmer warned over far-left push to hinder party clean-up

The JC understands that the communal leaders — who included Board President Marie van der Zyl, JLM’s Peter Mason, the JLC’s Jonathan Goldstein and the CST’s Mark Gardner — told the Labour leader that they welcomed his strong response to the publication of the EHRC report, while expressing expressed their “disgust” at Jeremy Corbyn’s response to the document.

In the meeting, deputy leader Ms Rayner was also outspoken in calls for antisemites within the party to be “kicked out” speedily in the future.

JLM’s Mr Mason also spoke of his anger that Mr Corbyn’s decision to issue a statement in response to the EHRC had meant the attention was once again placed on the ex-leader rather than on the content of the document.

Sir Keir also said he wanted to pass his apologies over Labour’s failure on antisemitism to the entire Jewish community.

He also stressed his commitment and that of his party to adhere to the recommendations made in the report and the need for an action plan from Labour by December.

It was acknowledged that JLM had a unique role in the action plan moving forwards as the organisation represented Jewish Labour members, many of whom had set out grievances that were part of the organisation’s initial submission to the EHRC.

But the communal leaders also expressed concern that while Sir Keir’s willingness to tackle antisemitism headon had become a feature of his leadership, others in his party had made what appeared to be deliberate attempts to stifle progress with their own comments.

“Keir was told that every day he seemed to make a positive step towards dealing with antisemitism, a leading figure within his movement wouldspeak out in an attempt to challenge him over his actions,” said one source. “There still seems to be this major need to deal with the culture that exists with Labour. Everyone recognising this is something that cannot be achieved overnight.

“But Keir was alerted to the fact that it was a major stalling point in restoring confidence in Labour amongst some in the community.”

The recent comments directed at Lord Peter Mandelson by Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey; the continued disciplinary hearing of Pete Willsman, who was suspended over claims Israel was behind smears of antisemitism in May 2019, but is yet to learn his fate; and the signing of petitions in support of Mr Corbyn by figures such as John McDonnell were among the examples the communal groups had chosen to refer to.

The Labour leadership was told that many in the Jewish community still believed the party had a “long way to go” before the stain of antisemitism was properly erased.

But they added they were all willing to work closely with Sir Keir in his bid to do this.

Following the decision taken by Mr Evans to suspend Mr Corbyn over his response to the EHRC report last Thursday, many of the ex-leader’s supporters have attempted to raise concerns over “due process” in relation to the move.

The hard-left Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) has circulated a motion to be raised at party meetings calling for debate on Mr Corbyn’s suspension and the EHRC report’s findings.

The move amounts to a direct challenge to the Labour General Secretary, who issued a warning to all Labour members that discussion of the report was “not competent business” for meetings.

All local Labour Party branches are also barred from discussing ongoing disciplinary cases, meaning debate on Mr Corbyn’s own suspension is not allowed at meetings.

The former leader was suspended after insisting that the extent of antisemitism in the party had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”, and has made clear that he will fight the decision.

“Unless Keir [Starmer] is prepared to do a deal I think the only route is legal,” a key ally of Mr Corbyn told The Times, citing the “strength of the EHRC’s views on political interference.”

In an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Sir Keir refused to be drawn on whether he wanted to see Mr Corbyn readmitted to the party, saying that to answer that would prejudge the disciplinary process currently underway.

“I think the vast majority of people in the Labour Party and the wider Labour movement think that that was the wrong response and the right response was to honestly accept the findings, apologise, move forward,” the Labour leader said of Mr Corbyn’s actions once the report was made public.

After the announcement of his suspension, which he has said he will “strongly contest”, Mr Corbyn issued a partial clarification, saying that it was wrong to say that Labour did not have a problem with antisemitism, but that he was just making a point about flawed public assumptions about the numbers involved.

He was referring to a poll in a book about Labour and antisemitism suggesting that people aware of the antisemitism controversy guessed on average that 34 per cent of party members had been the subject of a complaint. Mr Corbyn said the actual figure was 0.3 per cent.

But analysing his remarks, Channel 4’s FactCheck concluded it was “hard to understand how Mr Corbyn can claim to know how many Labour members were investigated by the party for antisemitism throughout his leadership.”

They also said the ex-leader’s use of a Survation poll was not to be trusted because of concerns over away the questions had been framed.

In a joint statement following the meeting, the communal groups said: “We thanked Keir Starmer and the Labour Party for their firm and constructive response to the damning verdict delivered by the Equality and Human Rights Commission last week.

“We expressed our disgust that his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn had, by contrast, responded by diminishing and dismissing the legal findings of the report, thereby challenging the Labour Party’s new commitment to rooting out the problem and giving the Party no choice but to suspend him.

“While we discussed a constructive means of Labour delivering the technical recommendations of the EHRC report, a crucial element of the way forward is about culture.

“Those who are responsible for obstructing the new, positive direction set for the party around antisemitism and undermining the confidence of the Jewish community and Jewish Labour Party members are part of the problem and the Labour leadership will need to find a way to put a stop to it.

“Calls for leniency on the basis of party unity are misplaced when the issue at hand is antisemitism. If the party is to show zero tolerance, there can be no unity with antisemites or their enablers.”

The Board's Gillian Merron and Philip Rosenberg, Mike Katz, JLM's national chair and Claudia Mendoza , the JLC's joint CEO,  also atttended the meeting along with the philanthropist Trevor Chinn.