Jeremy Corbyn in the Black Country: Anti-semitism? Not in my name
Jeremy Corbyn says he is ‘disgusted’ by anti-Semitic posts from supporters on social media and insists: “None of it is done in my name.”
The under-pressure Labour leader vowed he will fight anti-Semitism ‘to my dying day’.
WATCH: Jeremy Corbyn speaks to the Express & Star
He insisted he was committed to ridding the party of anti-Semitic views as pressure continues to build on him to act.
The party has been engulfed in a row over anti-Semitism in the past week, with some Labour MPs – including Dudley North’s Ian Austin – accusing the leadership of not doing enough to tackle it.
But on a visit to the Black Country yesterday, Mr Corbyn said: “None of this is done in my name. I do not approve of it at all.
“I was elected leader to drive out any intolerance from our party. That’s why there are currently about 70 cases pending decision by the National Executive Council (NEC).
“I am looking at the processes to see if we can deal with them more directly. I am absolutely clear about this. I will defend what we’ve done and to my dying day oppose anti-Semitism.”
Mr Corbyn was speaking during a visit to Wall Heath in Dudley before May’s local elections.
He added he was ‘disgusted’ by abusive and racist comments on social media accounts claiming to support him and said they in no way represented his own views.
“I’m disgusted by any anti-Semitic comments or any other kind of racist comments placed on social media accounts and it has no place on social media and no place in our society,” he said.
“I do think there is a need for a degree of monitoring of what social media does altogether and the companies involved have to take that on board.”
His comments come as the Labour leader faced a fresh backlash after he attended an event with a radical group which has attacked mainstream Jewish organisations over anti-Semitism allegations.
The Guido Fawkes website reported that the Labour leader attended a meeting of a radical left-wing group called Jewdas, which has criticised mainstream Jewish organisations for their protests over alleged anti-Semitism.
A media report claimed more than 2,000 anti-Semitic, racist and abusive messages had been found on Facebook groups supporting the Labour leader.
Mr Corbyn has since deleted his personal Facebook account. A move he said yesterday was taken because it had become ‘unmanageable’.
On Saturday, Labour official Christine Shawcroft resigned from the NEC after it emerged she had opposed the suspension of a council candidate accused of Holocaust denial.
Mr Austin had previously called on Mr Corbyn to suspend Ms Shawcroft, who is also director of the Momentum group.
But Mr Corbyn said he did not have the power to suspend an elected member of the NEC.
He also hit back at reports membership in the party had dropped 17,000, claiming data had been misrepresented and numbers were rising ‘week on week’.
He added: “I’m very proud of the fact that since I became leader the party membership is the largest it’s ever been, certainly in my lifetime, if not ever.”
