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MP Ian Austin uses emergency parliament debate to attack Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism

'I left the Labour Party to shine a spotlight on the disgrace it’s become under his leadership and because I regard myself as proper, decent, traditional Labour'

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Furious MP Ian Austin used an emergency Commons debate on the night Parliament was controversially suspended to launch a savage attack on Jeremy Corbyn.

Delivering a fiery speech from the Labour benches in which he had sat before quitting the party, the Dudley North MP accused Mr Corbyn of presiding over a party allowing 'racism against Jewish people".

As pro-Corbyn MPs including Liz McInnes tried to drown him out, Mr Austin also lambasted Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

He said: "I left the Labour Party to shine a spotlight on the disgrace it’s become under his leadership and because I regard myself as proper, decent, traditional Labour. 

"Not like the extremists who have taken over this party and are dragging it into the mud.

"These are people – the leader of the Opposition, the Shadow Chancellor – who’ve spent their entire time in politics working with, defending, all sorts of extremists and, in some cases, terrorists and antisemites."

Mr Austin, who quit Labour in February to sit as an independent over the antisemitism in the party, used his speech in the emergency debate proposed by Mr Corbyn to highlight the hypocrisy of his call for the rule of law to be respected by the government.

The ‘SO24’ debate was requested by the Labour leader in an effort to ensure that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson abides by the anti-No Deal legislation that gained Royal Assent on Monday.

Mr Austin added: "The shadow Chancellor said that ‘those people involved in the armed struggle’, people he said had used ‘bombs and bullets’ should be honoured. 

"They have the brass neck to lecture anybody about the rule of law? What a disgrace."

Michael Dugher, the former Labour MP who quit the party early this year, tweeted that Mr Austin had been "principled & brave - speaking out against extremism and racism against Jews + standing up for the traditional decent values that used to define Labour."


He added: "Sadly history will be less kind to many others in the PLP."

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