Everything you need to know about the probe into anti-Semitism in Labour

Scotland Yard is investigating allegations of anti-Semitic hate crimes within the Labour Party.

Here we look at the background to the probe:

– Why have police become involved in the Labour anti-Semitism row?

A leaked internal Labour dossier obtained by LBC that detailed 45 cases of alleged anti-Semitism was passed to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick in September.

Among the cases were messages posted by party members on social media, including one which read: “We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all.”

Another involved a reference to “a Zionist Extremist MP … who hates civilised people, about to get a good kicking”.

Former senior police officer Mak Chishty saw the documents before they were handed over and said that 17 instances should have been reported to the police for investigation, and another four were potential race hate crimes.

– Is anti-Semitism a big problem in the Labour Party?

That depends on who you ask. The issue has plunged the party into turmoil, with critics of Jeremy Corbyn claiming he has allowed hatred towards Jews to escalate under his leadership while supporters insist the matter has been exaggerated and is being used by opponents as a way to damage him.

A report by Baroness Chakrabarti in 2016 found “the Labour Party is not overrun by anti-Semitism” but it was condemned as a “whitewash” by critics.

– Why has the issue flared up since Mr Corbyn took over?

The Labour leader, like many on the left of the party, has a long history of supporting the Palestinian cause and criticising the government of Israel for alleged human rights abuses.

Some of those who share Mr Corbyn’s political sympathies have crossed the line from attacking the Israeli government to smears aimed at Jews – including Holocaust denial.

In March, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council used an open letter to claim that Mr Corbyn is “repeatedly found alongside people with blatantly anti-Semitic views, but claims never to hear or read them” and “rightly or wrongly, those who push this offensive material regard Jeremy Corbyn as their figurehead”.

– Has Mr Corbyn tried to calm tensions?

At Labour’s autumn conference, the party leader said he would fight anti-Semitism “with every breath that I possess”.

But he has also faced intense scrutiny over some of his past comments and associations, and in August apologised for appearing at a 2010 event at which a Holocaust survivor compared Israel to Nazism.

– What action has been taken by the Labour leadership to tackle anti-Semitism?

In September it agreed to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism and its accompanying examples.

But the decision came only after tensions flared up with the party’s backbenchers because the ruling National Executive Committee had initially excluded four of the illustrations of prejudice towards Jews.

– Has anyone quit over the row?

Veteran Labour MP Frank Field cited the party’s handling of anti-Semitism when he resigned the party whip.