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Jeremy Corbyn left a community center in Crouch End, north London, shortly after 1:00 pm on Thursday to learn from a journalist that he had been suspended from the Labor Party.
The man who was leader of the Labor Party in April had not received a phone call or text message to inform him that the whip had been removed.
Corbyn found out after recording a television clip in response to the highly critical report from the equality watchdog released that morning. A Labor MP since 1983, Corbyn froze for a moment in the icy October wind before quickly moving on.
Action had been taken against Corbyn, an MP from Islington North, due to a Facebook post, posted that morning, claiming that the problem of anti-Semitism was “dramatically exaggerated for political reasons” by opponents and the media.
It was a turning point in a turbulent 24 hours when the failings within the Labor Party were exposed by the findings of the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The move drew warnings from left-wing union leaders and MPs, who said they would fight to keep the Corbyn project alive.
There was no indication of what was to happen Wednesday night when Corbyn, Keir Starmer, the party’s new leader, and his deputy, Angela Rayner, discussed their respective plans to respond to the report.
Starmer, the former head of the public prosecutor’s office, had read the findings in their entirety and was willing to apologize unreservedly for the party’s failures. His allies believe he had little choice, given the report’s damning findings. The job, he said, was responsible for illegal acts of anti-Semitism harassment and discrimination. He cited “serious flaws in the leadership of the Labor Party in addressing antisemitism and an inadequate process for handling complaints of antisemitism.”
Starmer knew that Labor, the second political party after BNP to be investigated by the agency, was about to receive a notice of wrongdoing and had until December 10 to draft an action plan to implement a series of changes.
During conversations Wednesday, Starmer spoke directly to Corbyn in what was described as a “friendly and professional” conversation. Corbyn’s team says they were told they would be given a preview of Starmer’s statement.
There were also discussions about whether Starmer and the party’s general secretary, David Evans, had any intention of taking disciplinary action against Corbyn. According to his team, the former Labor leader received assurances that the action was not planned. However, sources close to Starmer insist that nothing was agreed or planned with Corbyn beforehand.
The report was released at 10 a.m. the next morning, as scheduled, and it turned out to be a painful read. Headlines traveled the world claiming that the UK Labor Party, which founded the EHRC and has been at the forefront of the fight against racism since its founding, had illegally discriminated against Jewish members.
Corbyn’s team had prepared their response, but had not yet received any notification of Starmer’s speech, it is claimed.
At 10.36 am, Corbyn’s statement was released. He wrote that party officials had hindered him in trying to address the problem. The statement read: “An anti-Semite is too much, but the magnitude of the problem was also dramatically exaggerated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as much of the media.
“That combination hurt the Jewish people and must never be repeated. My sincere hope is that relationships with Jewish communities can be rebuilt and those fears overcome. While I do not accept all of their findings, I am confident that their recommendations will be implemented quickly to help us get through this period. “
The Starmer employees were stunned. Within minutes, Starmer was due to speak directly to the nation in a televised press conference to apologize for not addressing anti-Semitism. He had little time to adjust a prepared speech and decided against it. At 11 am, he appeared before the television cameras, saying that those “who deny that there is a problem are part of the problem … those who pretend that it is exaggerated or factional are part of the problem.”
Reporters at the press conference asked about Corbyn’s response to the report, questioning whether the MP would be suspended for saying the accusations had been “exaggerated.” Starmer said he would “look closely at them.”
At 12:15 pm, Corbyn had arrived at Crouch End to record interviews with announcers. Once again, he said he disagreed with several of the points in the report, repeatedly saying that the number of anti-Semitism cases had been “exaggerated.”
The decision to suspend Corbyn was made by Evans, rather than Starmer. Shortly after 1 p.m., Labor issued a statement suspending him from the party and stripping him of the party whip.
“In light of the comments he made today and his subsequent failure to retract, the Labor Party suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending an investigation,” a spokesman said.
Corbyn’s allies said that if Starmer’s office had shared his speech, they would have seen that the leader’s plan referred to “exaggerated claims” and would have modified Corbyn’s statement.
In a later statement from Facebook, Corbyn wrote: “I am going to vigorously challenge political intervention to suspend myself. I made it absolutely clear that those who deny that there has been an anti-Semitism problem in the Labor Party are wrong.
“It is … undeniable that a false impression has been created of the number of members accused of anti-Semitism, as polls show: that is what has been exaggerated, not the severity of the problem.”
Corbyn’s allies last night condemned the move and urged Starmer to allow him to return to the party.
John McDonnell, who served as shadow chancellor during Corbyn’s tenure as leader, said the party’s decision should be reversed. “The day we should all go ahead and take all steps to fight anti-Semitism, Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension is deeply wrong.”
Len McCluskey, Unite leader, said the suspension appeared to contradict one of the report’s key recommendations – removing the leader’s office from party investigations – and warned of chaos throughout the movement.
McCluskey said: “It is also an act of grave injustice which, if not reversed, will create chaos within the party and, in doing so, compromise Labor’s chances of victory in the general election.”
Many others in the parliamentary party and the shadow cabinet supported the measure. A shadow cabinet member said this could be “a clause 4 moment for Keir.”
Rayner said Corbyn had “a complete blind spot” in appreciating the scale of the anti-Semitism problem. “I am devastated that it has come to this. Today should be about listening, reading and assimilating the report, “he said.
His suspension was welcomed by Marie van der Zyl, chairperson of the British Jewish Board of Deputies, who said: “Having presided over the descent from a proudly anti-racist party to a party that violated the equal treatment of Jews law, His shameless comments today showed that he is still part of the problem. “
