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Chris Grayling accuses Labour of "an undercurrent of racism and bigotry"

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A Conservative cabinet minister has launched a stinging attack on Labour over antisemitism in the party.

Chris Grayling, Leader of the House of Commons, said the apparent rise of Jew-hatred within Labour’s ranks was “striking and alarming”.

He accused the “so-called kinder, gentler politics” promoted by the party’s leadership as masking “an undercurrent of racism and bigotry”.

Writing on the Conservative Home website, the MP for Epsom and Ewell highlighted the cases of former Bradford Lord Mayor Khadim Hussain and local party activist Beinazir Lasharie who were both suspended from Labour over offensive posts on social media.

He noted that Lord Levy, a close adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, had threatened to quit the party unless it stamped out antisemitism.

Mr Grayling acknowledged that senior Labour figures such as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell had condemned antisemitism.

But he said Labour MPs’ failure to take action to counter the rise of racism among some members of the party “makes them accessories to the crime”.

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