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Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News that he was “disappointed” by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn’s response to a report of damning anti-Semitism, but has insisted there is “no reason for a civil war” in the party.
Corbyn was suspended from the Labor Party on Thursday, a move he condemned as “political intervention”, after stating that anti-Semitism in the party was “dramatically exaggerated for political reasons.”
He has vowed to fight his suspension, raising the possibility of a bitter battle between Corbyn, his allies, and Sir Keir’s leadership.
Some Labor MPs loyal to Corbyn have condemned the decision to suspend the former party leader and called for him to rejoin the party.
But Sir Keir played down the prospect of impending internal conflict within Labor.
“I don’t want a split in the Labor Party,” he told Sky News.
“I positioned myself as the leader of the Labor Party on the grounds that I would unite the party, but also that I would tackle anti-Semitism.
“I think you can do both, there is no reason for a civil war in our party.
“But we are absolutely determined, I am absolutely determined to eradicate anti-Semitism.
“I don’t want the words Labor and Labor and anti-Semitism to appear in the same sentence again.”
Sir Keir stressed that the Human Rights and Equality Commission investigation, released Thursday, had not made “individual findings” against Corbyn.
But he added: “I was disappointed in Jeremy’s answer yesterday, particularly as I said in my answer that the Labor Party will not tolerate anti-Semitism, nor will it tolerate those who deny that there is an anti-Semitism problem and say that everything is exaggerated or fractional.
“That, to me, is part of the problem.”
