Jeremy Corbyn hits back over anti-Semitism attack, saying hatred of Jews is 'vile and wrong' in any form

He dismissed Mr Corbyn’s insistence that Labour had dealt with all allegations of anti-Semitism as a “mendacious fiction” and claimed the way it had approached the issue had been “incompatible with the British values of which we are so proud”. Mr Mirvis insisted the Labour leader was “unfit for high office”.

On the campaign trail in Scotland, Boris Johnson noted: "I do think it is a very serious business when the Chief Rabbi speaks as he does; I've never heard anything like it and clearly it is a failure of leadership on the part of the Labour leader that he has not been able to stamp out this virus in the Labour Party."

Earlier, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, also intervened, saying: “That the Chief Rabbi should be compelled to make such an unprecedented statement at this time ought to alert us to the deep sense of insecurity and fear felt by many British Jews.”

But as the row over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party reignited, the Muslim Council of Britain[MCB] hit out at Islamophobia within the Tory Party.

The organisation, which represents more than 500 mosques and charities, claimed the Conservatives appeared to have turned a "blind eye" to discrimination against followers of the Islamic faith; critics have argued the party has watered down its commitment to a full internal probe into anti-Muslim hatred.

The MCB said: “It is abundantly clear to many Muslims that the Conservative Party tolerate Islamophobia, allow it to fester in society, and fail to put in place the measures necessary to root out this type of racism.”

In an article for the Times – published on the day Labour was launching its Race and Faith manifesto - Mr Mirvis said the "overwhelming majority of British Jews are gripped by anxiety" ahead of the December 12 poll and warned: "The very soul of our nation is at stake."

The Chief Rabbi asked: “How complicit in prejudice would a leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition have to be to be considered unfit for office? Would associations with those who have incited hatred against Jews be enough? Would describing as ‘friends’ those who endorse the murder of Jews be enough? It seems not."

But, launching Labour’s manifesto on race and religion in Tottenham, Mr Corbyn insisted anti-Semitism would “not be tolerated in any form whatsoever" under a Labour government.

He declared: "I have to say, I just want to make this very clear; anti-Semitism in any form is vile and wrong.

"It is an evil within our society, it is an evil that grew in Europe in the 1920s and onwards and ultimately led to the Holocaust.

"There is no place whatsoever for anti-Semitism in any shape or form or in any place whatsoever in modern Britain, and under a Labour government it will not be tolerated in any form whatsoever. I want to make that clear."

Mr Corbyn insisted Labour was a party of equality and human rights, explaining: "It was Labour also that passed the Human Rights Act, that set up the Equality and Human Rights Commission, it's Labour that has to its very core the issues of justice and human rights within our society.

"And I want to lead a Government where it's absolutely central to everything that we do and that we will do indeed."

Mr Corbyn said where cases had been reported to his party they had "a rapid and effective system of dealing with them".

Stressing that abuse and racism in any form was not acceptable in any way in society, he went on: "An attack on a mosque, an attack on a synagogue, an attack on a temple, abuse of a Jewish woman on a train, abuse of a Muslim woman in the street, abuse of a black youngster happily walking home from school, is not acceptable in any way.

"An attack on a synagogue, a mosque, a temple or a church is actually an attack on all of us because it's our lives, our community, that is damaged as a result of that."

The Labour leader announced under a government he led there would be “full protection for all synagogues, mosques, temples and churches as they require it and as they ask for it”.

He added, under Labour, any offence against places of worship would become an aggravated crime the police would be required to deal with cases "expeditiously and effectively".

Afterwards, Mr Corbyn left the venue through the stage door and into his van through two lines of police with media on either side.

In response, Dame Louise Ellman, the former Labour-turned-Independent MP for Liverpool Riverside, insisted the Chief Rabbi was "right to speak out".

Dame Louise, who is not standing at the election, told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "The party hasn't faced up to the anti-Semitism that has unleashed from the time Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the party."

She added: "The reason I have left the Labour Party is because I cannot ask people to vote for Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister while we have a Labour Party that is institutionally anti-Semitic.”

Labour’s Lord Falconer of Thoroton, tasked with overseeing Labour’s complaints process but whose inquiry has been suspended pending the probe by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into alleged anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, said the Chief Rabbi’s intervention had been “absolutely extraordinary but justified” and that he hoped his party would listen to it.

He admitted there had been a “lot of cases that have not been properly investigated".

The Scottish peer said: "We deserved an attack that strong, we need to deal with anti-Semitism properly. We are not dealing with the cases within the party; still not.

“There are 130 cases that have been referred to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party... There are 130 cases of anti-Semitism that have been pending, some of them for years.

"Separately, from those cases, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of cases that need to be investigated."

Lord Falconer added: "It is a failure of leadership on the part of the Labour Party to say this has to be dealt with properly…Labour has got to deal with its anti-Semitism problem."

Earlier, Luciana Berger, who quit Labour in February over the party's alleged anti-Semitic prejudice, said on Twitter: "Unprecedented and devastating intervention from the Chief Rabbi.

"During the last meeting I had with Jeremy Corbyn at the end of 2017 I told him about the many public and private Facebook groups that were littered with anti-Semitic posts which used the Labour leader's name/and photo in their group name.

"Nothing was done about it following our meeting…The party says 'no one who engages in it [anti-Semitism] does so in his name.' But that is exactly what has happened."

Ms Berger is standing as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the north London constituency of Golders Green.

Another former Labour MP, Ian Austin, also spoke in support of the Chief Rabbi.

He said on Twitter: "It is unprecedented for the Chief Rabbi to have to do this. It is heart-breaking to see a party so many of us joined to fight racism and which had such a proud record of fighting for equality reduced to this.

"Utterly shameful. A complete disgrace. Corbyn & co should be so ashamed," declared Mr Austin, who quit Labour in February. He is not running in the election.

Labour’s Race and Faith manifesto seeks to convince people of the party’s determination to create a more just and equal society.

Measure in its “ambitious and transformative” Race and Faith Manifesto include:

*the creation of an Emancipation Educational Trust to ensure historical injustice, colonialism and role of the British empire is taught in the National Curriculum;

*extend pay gap reporting to BAME groups to tackle pay discrimination based on race;

*establish a Race Equality Unit based within the Treasury which will review major spending announcements for its impact on BAME communities;

*end “rip-off charges” for passports, visas, tests and other documentation imposed by the Home Office;

*launch a wide-ranging review into the under-representation of BAME teachers in schools and

*establish an independent review of far-right extremism which has “seen significant growth over the last few years”.