Following a meeting by the National Executive Committee, Corbyn has been reinstated after suspension for inappropriate comments regarding anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.
Updated 11:00 18/11/20
A panel of the governing body of the Labour Party, consisting of five people, has ruled to allow the former leader to return.
Following a report by the EHRC that deemed Corbyn’s response to anti-Semitism (whilst leader) to be dismissive, he was suspended for brushing the report under the carpet, saying it was “dramatically overstated”. Only a few days ago, ITV’s Shehab Khan had published a damning report on Labour Islamophobia too.
Mr Corbyn’s reinstatement will only further the damage to Labour and their new leader who is trying to put its dark past of Corbyn’s leadership behind the electorate. With Corbyn back, only the far-left have been appeased, leaving the possibility of another Tory win at the next election more likely.
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This leaves the possibility of another Tory win at the next election more likely, despite Sir Keir Starmer refusing to restore the party whip to his predecessor.
The new leader has condemned Corbyn on Twitter by responding to this decision as being a “painful day for the Jewish community and those Labour members who have fought so hard to tackle anti-Semitism.”
He added that Corbyn’s response to the EHRC’s report was “wrong” and that “this should shame us all”.
Since these remarks, Starmer has confirmed that he is keeping the incident under review, but for now, the possibility of Corbyn sitting as a Labour MP in the Commons is highly unlikely.
In a statement on Tuesday, Corbyn did not apologise for his offensive words, but said it was “not his intention” to cause offense to the Jewish community
The Jewish Labour Movement has demonstrated frustration at the decision to readmit the former Leader of the Opposition: “After his failure of leadership to tackle anti-Semitism… any reasonable and fair-minded observer would see Jeremy Corbyn’s statement today as insincere and wholly inadequate”.
In support of Corbyn however, Len McCluskey called the reinstatement a “correct, fair and unifying decision.”
