Jeremy Corbyn ‘not for high office’: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis speaks out on Labour anti-Semitism

Jeremy Corbyn presides over a party which sanctions anti-Semitism ‘from the very top’, says Britain’s Chief Rabbi.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis’ comments are an unprecedented intervention into politics, which he describes as “among the most painful moments” of his career. Picture: Toby Melville/Getty

Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations makes him “unfit for high office”, the Chief Rabbi has said while warning that the “very soul of our nation is at stake” in next month’s general election.

In an unprecedented intervention into politics, which he describes as “among the most painful moments” of his career, Ephraim Mirvis says that “a new poison” has taken hold in Labour “sanctioned from the very top”.

In an article for The Times on Tuesday, the Chief Rabbi says that the Labour leader’s claim to have dealt with all allegations of anti-Semitism is “a mendacious fiction” and the way that the party has handled the claims is “incompatible with the British values of which we are so proud”.

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Labour, he says, can no longer claim to be the party of diversity, equality and anti-racism. Its record on anti-Semitism in opposition, he says, left him asking: “What should we expect of them in government?”

His comments come after Tony Blair, the last Labour leader to win an election, criticised Mr Corbyn’s manifesto as an unachievable wishlist and suggested that Britain should vote tactically for a hung parliament.

Allegations plague Labour

The former prime minister said that Mr Corbyn’s plans would “end badly”, refused to endorse him as fit to run the country and gave him little chance of a majority. He described Britain’s politics as “utterly dysfunctional” and said that only another referendum could end the Brexit impasse.

READ: “The way in which the leadership of the Labour Party has dealt with anti-Jewish racism is incompatible with the...

Posted by Chief Rabbi Mirvis on Monday, 25 November 2019

Allegations of anti-Semitism have plagued Labour and Mr Corbyn since he was elected to the leadership in September 2015. Thirteen Labour MPs have quit the party since 2017 at least partly in protest at its handling of anti-Semitism.

Mr Corbyn has insisted repeatedly that he is not anti-Semitic and the party has defended its processes for dealing with complaints.

In his article for The Times, however, Rabbi Mirvis says that British Jews are gripped by an understandable and justified anxiety. He writes: “How complicit in prejudice would a leader of Her Majesty’s opposition have to be to be considered unfit for office? Would associations with those who have incited hatred against Jews be enough? Would describing as ‘friends’ those who endorse the murder of Jews be enough? It seems not.

“It is not my place to tell any person how they should vote. I regret being in this situation at all. I simply pose the question: What will the result of this election say about the moral compass of our country? When December 12 arrives, I ask every person to vote with their conscience. Be in no doubt, the very soul of our nation is at stake.”

Unprecedented comments

Rabbi Mirvis, who is the spiritual leader of the UK’s 62 orthodox synagogues, has previously criticised Labour over anti-Semitism, saying in January that he was “still waiting” for the issue to be taken seriously by the party. His latest comments, however, go much further and come at a critical time in the election campaign.

Lord Sacks, his predecessor, has accused Mr Corbyn of being an anti-Semite and likened him to Enoch Powell — a comparison that Labour said was absurd and offensive. Rabbi Mirvis succeeded Lord Sacks in 2013.

The Chief Rabbi expects that he will now be “demonised by faceless social media trolls and accused of being partisan or acting in bad faith by those who still think of this as an orchestrated political smear”. But he says that he has asked himself: “Should the victims of racism be silenced by the fear of yet further vilification?”

He writes: “The Jewish community has watched with incredulity as supporters of the Labour leadership have hounded parliamentarians, members and even staff out of the party for challenging anti-Jewish racism. Even as they received threats, the response of the Labour leadership was utterly inadequate.

“We have endured quibbling and prevarication over whether the party should adopt the most widely accepted definition of anti-Semitism. Now we await the outcome of a formal investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into whether discrimination by the party against Jews has become an institutional problem. And all of this while in opposition. What should we expect of them in government?”

A Labour spokeswoman said: “Jeremy Corbyn is a lifelong campaigner against anti-Semitism and has made absolutely clear it has no place in our party and society and that no one who engages in it does so in his name.

“A Labour government will guarantee the security of the Jewish community, defend and support the Jewish way of life, and combat rising anti-Semitism in our country and across Europe. Our race and faith manifesto, launched today, sets out our policies to achieve this.”

The Times