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Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from Labor just six months after resigning as leader, threatening to start an internal civil war.
A party spokesman said it was due to his reaction to a explosive report on how anti-Semitism complaints were handled.
Some MPs have welcomed the move as necessary, saying it shows Work has changed and will take swift action against racism.
The EHRC said there were ‘serious failures’ by the party leadership
But it has also caused a rift, with those who remain loyal to Mr Corbyn promising to challenge the decision and warning that a divided party will lose the next election.
Corbyn now faces an investigation, but has refused to retract the comments that caused such a furor among leading figures in the party.
The dispute erupted when Mr. Corbyn gave his reaction to a damning report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which has been running for more than a year.
The watchdog found that Labor had broken the law with his handling of anti-Semitism complaints during the period Corbyn was in charge.
He said there were “serious flaws” by the party leadership, found evidence of political interference from Mr. Corbyn’s office in the complaints and held the party responsible for “illegal acts of harassment and discrimination.”
Mr Corbyn reacted by saying that he tried to expedite the process of investigating and acting on complaints, but admitted: “I am sorry that it took longer than it should to make that change.”
He also added that “the scale of the problem was also dramatically exaggerated for political reasons.”
And then, doubling down on his own innocence, Corbyn told Sky News in an interview: “I’m not part of the problem.”
After the statement, a Labor spokesman said he was being suspended and that his whip would be lifted, meaning that he will not represent the party in parliament, “in light of his comments made today and his inability to retract later.”
The magnitude of the problem was also dramatically exaggerated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.
It is said that a shocked Mr. Corbyn was informed of the news by a television crew and exclaimed, “What?”
He then issued another statement, promising to “vigorously contest political intervention to suspend me.”
“I made it absolutely clear that those who deny that there has been an anti-Semitism problem in the Labor Party are wrong,” added the Islington North MP.
Leader Sir keir starmer He said that the order to suspend Mr. Corbyn was not given by him, but taken by the party.
But he added that it was an “appropriate action” that “I fully support” adding: “I made it very clear … the Labor Party will not tolerate anti-Semitism or denial of anti-Semitism.
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Corbyn’s former shadow cabinet and union allies jumped to his defense, with former shadow Chancellor John McDonnell urging party members to “keep calm” and “all call on leaders to lift this suspension” .
Diane Abbott, who was a shadow Home Secretary until spring, also tweeted: “I oppose the decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn from the Labor Party and will work for his reinstatement.”
And Len McCluskey, the leader of the Unite union, called it “an act of grave injustice which, if not reversed, will create chaos within the party and in doing so will jeopardize Labor’s chances of victory in the general election,” warning: “A split split will be doomed to defeat.”
A Labor MP said the party was now clear that ‘anti-Semitism can never be tolerated’
But other Labor figures welcomed the decision, and shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy said it was “the right thing to do.”
Labor MP Harriet Harman, chair of the human rights committee, tweeted: “This is the right thing to do.”
And another MP, Margaret Hodge, said: “Labor is finally saying enough is enough, that anti-Semitism can never be tolerated in our party. Now we can finally move on.”
Conservatives say Sir Keir has more to answer for, and President Amanda Milling said he “served loyally in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet when anti-Semitism swept through the Labor Party.”
