Chief Rabbi said he did not hear from Corbyn after general election intervention
New leader and deputy 'have described how they are acutely aware of the depth of concern and of upset within the Jewish community over antisemitism in the Labour Party', he added
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said he had not heard from Labour’s former leader Jeremy Corbyn since his unprecedented intervention during the general election.
The faith leader warned in The Times in December that Corbyn was unfit for high office in light of his handling of antisemitism allegations and accused him of being “complicit in prejudice.”
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Emma Barnett asked Rabbi Mirvis whether Corbyn had been in touch with him since his criticism – to which he replied “no, never heard from him.”
During the interview broadcast on Tuesday afternoon, Rabbi Mirvis congratulated Labour’s new leader Keir Starmer and deputy Angela Rayner, who were elected on Saturday.
“They have described how they are acutely aware of the depth of concern and of upset within the Jewish community over antisemitism in the Labour Party over the past four and a half years,” he said, praising comments on the subject made by Starmer over recent days.
“I hope that [Keir Starmer] will indeed take swift and decisive action to eradicate the scourge of antisemitism from within the Labour Party”, he added.
Jewish leaders praised Starmer in a joint statement on Tuesday after he pledged in a video call to set a “new standard” on the party’s handling of antisemitism.
Starmer, who was joined by Labour’s new deputy leader Angela Rayner, spoke to representatives from the Board of Deputies, Jewish Leadership Council, Community Security Trust and Jewish Labour Movement.
During the call, the former shadow Brexit secretary vowed to start work on setting up an independent disciplinary process, cooperate with the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s investigation into allegations of antisemitism in the party, and order a report on all outstanding disciplinary cases this week.
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