Jeremy Corbyn ‘either antisemitic or ignorant’, top actor claims

Ray Donovan actor Eddie Marsan accused Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of being “either antisemitic or ignorant,” as he joined the Liberal Democrats on the campaign trail on Thursday.

Marsan, 51, who grew up in Tower Hamlets, launched a scathing attack on Corbyn, claiming he should be “disqualified from being Prime Minister” over antisemitism allegations.

The film star, who backed Labour “in every election since 1987”, said he would vote for the Liberal Democrats in next month’s election.

Speaking at the launch of the party’s equalities plans in London, the actor said of Corbyn “You are either antisemitic or you are ignorant.”

“Either way that should disqualify you from being the leader of the Labour Party and the Prime Minister,” he added.

Marsan raised concern about Corbyn’s apparent criticism in 2012 of the removal of a mural in East London depicting hook-nosed bankers playing a game of Monopoly on the backs of enslaved workers.

After the controversy erupted in 2018, the Labour leader said: “I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on, the contents of which are deeply disturbing and antisemitic.”

Also speaking at the launch, the Finchley and Golders Green candidate Luciana Berger, who quit Labour earlier this year claiming the party was “institutionally antisemitic”,

She told the launch: “By his actions, and by the platforms he’s shared, and the people he has invited, and the things that he has done, and the things that he hasn’t done, he’s indulged in antisemitic activity.”