JEREMY Corbyn’s Labour Party must “unanimously, unequivocally and immediately” adopt the internationally agreed definition of anti-Semitism, former prime minister Gordon Brown has said.
The ex-Kirkcaldy MP made the plea with his party’s current leadership just days ahead of a crunch meeting of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee to decide on whether to adopt the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance declaration.
The row has consumed the party over the summer.
Speaking at the Jewish Labour Movement conference, Brown said: “I believe that the Labour Party will change the policy.
“I believe that the Labour Party must and should change the policy.
“And I believe this problem must be solved within the Labour Party now.”
Brown outlined growing anti-Semitism among not only the “jack-booted” right, but also the “conspiracy theorist” left.
“This is a problem that is real and present and something that’s got to be dealt with now,” he said.
Brown’s intervention came as veteran MP Margaret Hodge accused the leadership of being consumed by “a hatred of Jews”.
In an interview with The Sunday Times magazine, Hodge (pictured), who clashed with Corbyn over the party’s stance on anti-semitism in July, said the leader was “part of the problem”.
“All [the leadership] can think about is their internal Labour party and their hatred of Jews,” she said.
“Jeremy has allowed anti-semitism and racism to run rife. He needs to renounce much of what he did.”
That was echoed by the former chief rabbi Lord Sacks, who said British Jews were unsure if Britain was a safe place to raise a family.
He told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show: “Jews have been in Britain since 1656, I know of no other occasion in these 362 years when Jews – the majority of our community – are asking ‘is this country safe to bring up our children?’ Now, this is very, very worrying.”
He added: “There is danger that Jeremy Corbyn may one day be prime minister, he is the leader of Her Majesty’s opposition, and I’m afraid that until he expresses clear remorse for what he has said and what his party has done to its Jewish sympathisers as well as its Jewish MPs, then he is as great a danger as Enoch Powell was.”
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said comparisons between Corbyn and Enoch Powell were “just wrong”, telling the BBC: “Jeremy has made it absolutely clear we will protect Jewish members of our party from any form of abuse and anti-Semitism.
“I just say to Lord Sacks, you’ve got it wrong, come and talk to us.”
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