Antisemitism in the British Labour Party

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This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Needs to extend coverage for the post-October 7, 2023 period. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2024)

Allegations and incidents of antisemitism within the British Labour Party have involved members and affiliates of the party. These incidents have spanned various periods and have involved stereotypes, conspiracy theories, and offensive language. Labour has faced criticism for its handling of such incidents, including its disciplinary measures and the prevalence of certain antisemitic tropes within the party. There has also been debate over current definitions of antisemitism, including whether criticism of the State of Israel constitutes a new antisemitism. The Labour Party has publicly condemned antisemitism and taken steps to address concerns, but the issue remains a subject of ongoing debate and controversy.

Following Jeremy Corbyn's election as party leader in 2015, allegations of antisemitism within the party grew. In response, Corbyn established the Chakrabarti Inquiry, which said that the party was not "overrun by anti-Semitism or other forms of racism" but that there was evidence of ignorance and sometimes toxicity within the party. The inquiry made 20 recommendations. In 2017, Labour Party rules were amended to categorise hate speech, including antisemitism, as a disciplinary matter. A commissioned YouGov poll in 2017 found that Labour supporters were less likely to hold antisemitic views than Conservative Party or UK Independence Party supporters. A study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research that same year reported that those on the left-wing of the political spectrum were no more antisemitic than the general population and less antisemitic than those who were right-wing, and also stated those of the left-wing were more likely to be critical of the State of Israel. In July 2018, the governing body of the Labour Party adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism for disciplinary purposes, with modified examples related to criticism of Israel.

In May 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launched an inquiry into whether Labour had "unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people" because they were Jewish. In April 2020, the new party leader Keir Starmer announced that an internal report on Labour's handling of antisemitism claims would not be submitted to the EHRC as evidence. Following this, the internal report was leaked. The report said Corbyn's team had inherited a lack of processes and systems for handling antisemitism, and that hostility towards Corbyn's team by senior officials from Labour's right-wing had contributed to mistakes, confusion and difficulties handling cases. Later that month, the Labour Party's governing body commissioned the barrister Martin Forde to lead a new independent review. In October 2020, the EHRC published its report, finding 23 instances of political interference and concluding that Labour had breached the Equality Act in two cases. In 2022, the Forde Report was published and said the issue of antisemitism was being used as a factional weapon. The report also said that senior figures in Labour hostile to Corbyn and his supporters had slowed down the leadership in dealing with antisemitism and other forms of racism.