(Bloomberg) -- Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn told his shadow cabinet that he's trying to purge the party of anti-Jewish racism while denying the U.K.'s main opposition is antisemitic.
The party has launched a program of “political education, which is part of a wider plan to confront this poison and drive it out of our party,” Corbyn told his top team on Monday, according to remarks emailed by his office. “Labour is not an antisemitic party. But one antisemite is always one too many.”
Corbyn is trying to demonstrate he has a handle on the party's racism problems after being hit by a series of antisemitism scandals. The issue has threatened to loosen his grip on the Labour leadership and the turmoil in the U.K.'s main opposition party is hampering its efforts to capitalize on the government's divisions over Brexit.
A BBC “Panorama” investigation earlier this month featured former employees of the Labour Party making allegations that senior Labour officials don't take the party's antisemitism problem seriously and intervened in independent disciplinary cases. That led deputy leader Tom Watson to say he was “chilled and appalled,” and urged Corbyn to act.
Corbyn on Monday acknowledged that some complaints “have taken too long to deal with,” which “is not good enough.” He said hate and bigotry displayed by Labour members on social media must be dealt with “robustly” as “gross misconduct.” He proposed two models for dealing with complaints, indicating he favored one in which the most serious cases are referred to a special panel consisting of senior party officials.
“It is wrong to deny there is antisemitism in the Labour Party,” Corbyn said. “And those who deny that it does exist are part of the problem. We have to stand for a serious, anti-racist, inclusive socialism.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs
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