Jewish Labour groups refuse to campaign for Jeremy Corbyn

The Jewish Labour Movement will not campaign for Labour during the general election because of Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of the party’s anti-Semitism crisis. 

It is the first time in the organisation’s 100-year affiliation with the Labour Party that it will not actively campaign for a Labour government.

The group said it will ‘not be campaigning unless in exceptional circumstances and for exceptional candidates… who’ve been unwavering in their support of us’.  

The JLM said in a statement that since Mr Corbyn became leader of the party in 2015 ‘a culture of antisemitism has been allowed to emerge and fester… at all levels’ and as a result it will not support his bid for power. 

Meanwhile, the Labour Against Anti-Semitism campaign group said it would be telling voters that ‘Jeremy Corbyn is unfit to be prime minister’ and it would be advocating an ‘ABC’ approach: ‘Anyone but Corbyn’.

The Labour Party has been repeatedly rocked by allegations of anti-Semitism since Mr Corbyn became leader and he has faced fierce criticism for his handling of the crisis. 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission opened a formal investigation earlier this year into anti-Semitism in the Labour. The watchdog is yet to report and has not set a date for publishing its findings. 

The JLM said its honorary president Dame Louise Ellman and former parliamentary chair Luciana Berger had both been ‘hounded out’ of the party after ‘years of relentless abuse’. 

The group said Mr Corbyn was ‘well aware of this bullying’ but he ‘did nothing to address their concerns’. 

The group said the party’s anti-Semitism crisis ‘stems from a failure of leadership’ from Mr Corbyn and that the ‘last four years have been catastrophic for Jews in the Labour Party’. 

The JLM previously adopted a policy deeming Mr Corbyn to be ‘unfit to be prime minister’ and it has now said that it will not be campaigning to help him win the keys to 10 Downing Street. 

The group said: ‘We will not be campaigning unless in exceptional circumstances and for exceptional candidates, like our Parliamentary Chair Ruth Smeeth, and members of the Parliamentary Labour Party who’ve been unwavering in their support of us.’

The group said it still supported Labour policies and its ‘historic values’ but it is the ‘failure of the leader and his supporters to live these values which has led us to take this stance’.

Meanwhile, the Labour Against Anti-Semitism group said it would be sending a ‘clear and consistent message to the public throughout this general election that Jeremy Corbyn is unfit to be prime minister and that the Labour Party is unfit to be in government’.

It said in a statement: ‘We believe the greatest risk to our democracy and to the safety and security of the British Jewish community is the Labour Party and a Labour government. Our message to the electorate is therefore ABC: anyone but Corbyn.’   

Ruth Smeeth, pictured in Brighton in September while attending Labour party conference, is the parliamentary chair of the JLM

A Labour party spokeswoman said: ‘The Labour Party is fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and continues to take robust action to root out anti-Semitism in the party and wider society.

‘We have imposed swift suspensions and the rate at which cases have been dealt with has increased more than four-fold. 

‘Jeremy Corbyn has made clear that anti-Semitism has no place in the party, has brought forward reforms to fast-track expulsions, and launched an education programme to deepen understanding of antisemitism within our movement.

‘We are gearing up to launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change that our country has ever seen.’