Corbyn branded ‘unfit’ for Number 10 by Jewish Labour Movement

The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) has said it has no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership following the anti-Semitism rows in the party.

The no confidence vote was passed “overwhelmingly” at JLM’s annual general meeting, with the group labelling Mr Corbyn “unfit” to be prime minister.

Labour insisted Mr Corbyn was “fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community”.

At the JLM meeting a motion noting the “crisis of anti-Semitism” within the party since Mr Corbyn’s election as leader was passed “almost unanimously”.

The group said there were were “strong speeches” from Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge, Ruth Smeeth and Dame Louise Ellman at the event at a north London synagogue.

The no confidence motion was passed despite a plea from shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti not to “personalise” the issue by focusing on Mr Corbyn because he “won’t be leader forever”.

“My plea to the Jewish Labour Movement is to stay in the Labour movement and to tackle racism together, not to personalise it and make it about Jeremy Corbyn, because he is one person and he won’t be leader forever,” she said.

The JLM motion concludes that “the blame for both the crisis of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party and the party’s failure to deal with it… ultimately rests with Jeremy Corbyn”.

It added that “Jeremy Corbyn is therefore unfit to be prime minister” and “a Labour government led by him would not be in the interest of British Jews”.

Speaking after the meeting, Liverpool Riverside MP Dame Louise said the no confidence vote reflected the “deep anger about the Labour Party’s failure to address anti-Semitism”.

Stoke North MP Ruth Smeeth said she felt “sick” after the meeting and added: “Jewish members of the Labour Party have come together in anger and frustration to make it clear to the leadership that enough really must be enough.”

A Labour spokesman said: “Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and its organisations.

“Anti-Semitism complaints received since April 2018 relate to about 0.1% of our membership, but one anti-Semite in our party is one too many. We are determined to tackle anti-Semitism and root it out of our Party.”

Sources stressed that Mr Corbyn had repeated expressed a “determination to root out anti-Semitism” and stressed that “anyone who spreads anti-Semitic poison does not do so in his or the party’s name”.

The JLM meeting took place after the Sunday Times said it had seen leaked internal documents which showed the party’s system for dealing with complaints had been beset by delays, inaction and interference from the leader’s office.

Some members investigated for posting comments online such as “Heil Hitler” and “Jews are the problem” had not been expelled despite complaints being made a year ago, while Mr Corbyn’s office had been involved in approving, delaying or blocking at least 101 complaints, the paper reported.

But Labour said lines from internal emails had been “selectively leaked” to “misrepresent their overall contents” and cases stopped being referred to the leader’s office once Jennie Formby became general secretary a year ago.

Lady Chakrabarti, who led a review into anti-Semitism allegations in the party, told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “Jennie Formby is a very strong general secretary who is committed to making this a priority.

“So there is no interference from Jeremy Corbyn or his staff in the disciplinary process.”