Jeremy Corbyn has conceded it was “not a happy day” when he was forced to suspend his friend and longtime ally Ken Livingstone, but he insisted he is determined to take action against antisemitism in the Labour party.
The leader was speaking to the Guardian during a visit to Grimsby on Thursday after Livingstone had been suspended for bringing the party into disrepute. Corbyn said the former London mayor would have the opportunity to make his case before the party’s national executive committee.
“He made remarks that were unacceptable and a lot of people complained about it and we’ve taken action and he’s suspended and there will be an investigation and he can put his case,” Corbyn said.
“If there is antisemitism, it has got to go, and we have taken action where any issue of antisemitism has arisen. I am absolutely clear in my own mind; I am totally and completely and absolutely against any antisemitism.”
Corbyn and his team are under pressure to announce concrete proposals to combat the perception that antisemitism has been tolerated inside the party. They could decide to widen the remit of an independent review chaired by Lady Royall, which is looking into allegations of antisemitism within Oxford University’s Labour club.
The deputy leader, Tom Watson, said on Friday that the party could also consider enhancing the checks carried out on prospective parliamentary candidates. The Bradford West MP Naz Shah was suspended on Wednesday over a series of social media posts from 2014 in which she appeared to endorse the deportation of Israelis to the US.
Watson suggested the results of local elections next week could be affected by the row.
“No one is in any doubt that Ken Livingstone’s behaviour yesterday has let down the Labour party, let down those thousands of candidates who are standing in an election next Thursday, and caused deep offence, in particular to the Jewish community in Britain, but also to people out there who expect the Labour party to adhere to higher standards,” he said.
It was in defending Shah, who defeated the controversial leftwinger George Galloway at last year’s general election, that Livingstone made a series of remarks that were widely considered antisemitic, including suggesting Hitler had supported Zionism, “before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews”.
He also claimed there was a “well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic”.
Livingstone continued to defend his position on Friday, telling the Evening Standard: “Everything I said yesterday was true and I will be presenting the academic book about that to the Labour party inquiry.”
Asked if he was upset about the tumultuous events of the week, Corbyn said: “Obviously, because the last thing I want to do is suspend people from the party, it is not my wish to do that, but I think that if people are making remarks that are unacceptable then action has to be taken.”
