The radical socialist ex-leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, will not return to the Parliamentary party over his failures to address anti-Semitism while he was leader, his successor Sir Keir Starmer has announced.
In October, Mr Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party after a damming report was released by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which “identified serious failings” in the party’s handling of the harassment of Jewish supporters by members.
In response to the report, Corbyn rejecting the findings and said the longstanding anti-Semitism issue in the party was “dramatically overstated for political reasons”, leading to fierce backlash and ultimately his suspension.
On Tuesday he released a clarification, claiming that the issue was “neither exaggerated nor overstated”, however, refrained from taking responsibility or apologise for his role.
Following the clarification, the ardent socialist was readmitted into the party, however, Sir Keir Starmer announced on Wednesday that he has decided to not restore the whip to Corbyn, meaning that he will not be able to sit with Labour MPs in the House of Commons.
Announcing his decision, the Labour leader said: “Jeremy Corbyn’s actions in response to the EHRC report undermined and set back our work in restoring trust and confidence in the Labour party’s ability to tackle antisemitism.”
“In those circumstances, I have taken the decision not to restore the whip to Jeremy Corbyn. I will keep this situation under review,” Sir Keir declared.
The battle over Jeremy Corbyn is not over, however, as Guardian political editor Heather Stewart reported that allies of the former leader are claiming that, under the party’s rules, Starmer doesn’t have the right to remove the whip from a reinstated member.
Longtime Corbyn ally, Diane Abbott MP wrote on social media: “Labour MPs lose the whip if suspended from the party automatically. De facto you can’t be a Labour MP if you’re not actually in the Labour Party. But removing the whip from Jeremy Corbyn now raises serious questions of due process. #IstandwithJeremyCorbyn”
In response to the announcement from Starmer, Labour MP Richard Burgon said: “Jeremy Corbyn has rightly been reinstated to the Labour Party. That decision must be respected [and] implemented across the Labour Party. Jeremy should immediately have the whip restored. At a time of national crisis, division in the Labour party serves nobody but the Tory Gov’t.”
Amidst his suspension, Jeremy Corbyn also drew the support from former Bolivian dictator Evo Morales.
The Bolivian Marxist, who has been accused of genocide, terrorism, as well as fathering an illegitimate child with an underage girl while serving as president, said that Mr Corbyn was “unfairly suspended”.
Morales — who has professed the belief that eating chicken turns men gay — went on to say: “Jeremy is a political leader and social fighter who defends the just causes in the world.”
In July, the Labour Party agreed to pay ‘substantial’ damages to a group of seven anti-Semitism whistleblowers, who had sued the party for defamation.
The former Labour employees appeared on a 2019 BBC programme focusing on Labour’s alleged anti-Semitism problem.
The party also agreed to pay damages to the journalist and apologised for claiming that he had “invented quotes” and “flouted journalistic ethics.” Labour has not disclosed how much money was paid in damages.
The payouts followed an internal investigation which found that some members within the party held borderline “neo-Nazi” views towards Jewish people.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka
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