It could hardly have happened at a worse time for Labour, as the Chief Rabbi declared that “a new poison” of anti-Semitism had “taken root” in the party. Sanctioned, he claimed, from the very top.
Jeremy Corbyn, speaking at Labour’s race and faith manifesto launch, insisted there was no place whatsoever for anti-Semitism in the party, and that any offenders would be ‘brought to book’. There were awkward questions for the Conservatives too, accused of failing to deal with Islamophobia within their ranks.