Corbyn slams Starmer for again claiming Labour was 'institutionally antisemitic'

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has condemned his successor, outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, for once again falsely stating that the party was “institutionally antisemitic” under his leadership.

At his last prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer recalled his time in the House of Commons as opposition leader. 

“We had just lost the 2019 general election, which nearly broke my party,” he said. “We were found to be institutionally antisemitic. I picked up our party. I turned it round. I made a promise to rip antisemitism out of my party and I did.”

Responding to the comments, Corbyn told Middle East Eye: “The prime minister today falsely claimed that Labour was found to be ‘institutionally antisemitic’ under my leadership. There was no such finding, and Keir Starmer should have the decency to correct the record.”

“This is the second time in recent weeks he has made a false allegation about the Labour Party under my leadership (last time about an invented financial bankruptcy) to bolster his own dismal record,” Corbyn said.

“Misrepresentations and broken undertakings are unfortunately part of a pattern under his leadership, leading to the collapse of public support that has brought his premiership to an end,” the parliamentary leader of Your Party said.

Corbyn told MEE that Starmer was “now heading for the exit”.

“But I will continue to campaign for social justice, human rights and peace. That includes uncovering the true scale of this government's institutional complicity in genocide."

EHRC report into Labour antisemitism

A longtime campaigner on Palestine, Corbyn stepped down as Labour leader after losing the 2019 general election to Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party. 

His time at the head of the party was dogged by allegations of antisemitism, as Labour’s various factions competed for control and parts of the party sought to undermine Corbyn’s leadership.

In October 2020, the UK government’s equalities watchdog, the EHRC, published its investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party.

'This is the second time in recent weeks he has made a false allegation about the Labour Party under my leadership'

- Jeremy Corbyn

The investigation “found specific examples of harassment, discrimination and political interference in our evidence,” and said that Labour could have tackled antisemitism more effectively “if the leadership had chosen to do so”.

At no point in the report does the EHRC call Labour under Corbyn “institutionally antisemitic”. That claim, which the report refers to, was made by Alan Johnson, who worked for the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (Bicom).  

Prior to the report’s publication in 2020, Corbyn told MEE that the EHRC was “part of the government machine”, and that its independence had been “taken away” by the then-ruling Conservative Party.

After publication, Corbyn said that the EHRC report had shown that when he became leader in 2015, Labour’s “processes for handling complaints were not fit for purpose”, and that reform of these processes had been “stalled by an obstructive party bureaucracy”. 

Later, in 2022, the Forde Report found that Labour staff members hostile to Corbyn had engaged in deliberate obstruction, including operating a “secret operation” to divert general election funds away from candidates loyal to Corbyn.

“Anyone claiming there is no antisemitism in the Labour Party is wrong. Of course there is, as there is throughout society, and sometimes it is voiced by people who think of themselves as on the left,” Corbyn said following the EHRC report’s publication.

“One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media. That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated.”