Corbyn and the EHRC report
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission report into anti-Semitism in Corbyn’s Labour party was released today. It was damning. Facing allegations of anti-Jewish racism, the report said Corbyn’s Labour was “responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” in an attempt to counter and dismiss those claims.
The report found there were three especially egregious breaches of the Equalities Act, including: Political interference in anti-Semitism complaints; a failure to provide adequate training to those handling anti-Semitism complaints; and harassment.
The EHRC said: “The equality body’s analysis points to a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent anti-Semitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.”
Jeremy Corbyn respond to the report on Facebook, writing that: “The EHRC’s report shows that when I became Labour leader in 2015, the Party’s processes for handling complaints were not fit for purpose.”
“The scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media. That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated.”
That lack of an apology is, on the face of it, shocking, especially considering the damning verdict of the report, the departure of Jewish Labour MPs from the party under Corbyn, and the intervention of the Chief Rabbi in the run-up to the general election.
But it will come as no surprise. I explained in the immediate aftermath of his colossal election defeat why Corbyn’s world view inevitably tilts towards paranoid conspiracy theory combined with a sense of overbearing righteousness. You can read the full piece here. In another article, written before the election, Oliver Kamm took on the issue of anti-Semitism in Corbyn’s Labour party, in a column headlined “What British Jews fear”. It was one of the starkest pieces of writing we ran in that period — read the full piece here.
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