LABOUR is braced for a day of shame today as the race watchdog rules on claims the party discriminated against Jews.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission launched the probe after Jewish activists claimed they were branded “subhuman” and hounded out the party.
Sir Keir Starmer faces calls to boot Jeremy Corbyn out of Labour if the report finds the organisation became institutionally anti-Semitic under his watch.
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan admitted the day the investigation was launched was “the most shameful moment in Labour’s history”.
He blasted his own party for its “refusal to acknowledge the issue”.
He told Times Radio: “That was a shameful period in our history.
“And we have to be clear that we are never going back to that, and we will do everything we can to repair relations with the Jewish community who are understandably and quite rightly hurt by the Labour Party’s failure to deal with this in recent years.”
Labour grandee Ed Balls lashed Mr Corbyn for being “blinded” to the race hate being spouted by his supporters.
He said: “I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite. He’s not a racist man, but he undoubtedly not only stood with anti-Semitic people, but said things which were anti-Semitic.
‘BIT OF A CON’
“And because he wasn’t able to acknowledge that, his sort of anti-American, anti-liberal, anti-capitalist belief in his own anti-racist credentials, I think blinded him to the reality.”
He added: “And if the leader can’t acknowledge that, and apologise and move on, it means that the whole party is then hamstrung in tackling the genuine anti-Semites who have always believed those anti-Semitic tropes and want to use it for their own political reasons.
“And so it was a tragedy and a disaster.”
But Ken Livingstone, who quit Labour after being accused of anti-Semitism and is named in today’s report – said he expects it to be “bit of a con”.
He told HOAR: “This was nothing to do with anti-Semitism – it was about getting rid of Jeremy Corbyn.”
He added: “Unless the report comes out and says this was a load of nonsense whipped up to undermine the Labour leadership, it won’t really be honest.”
Mr Livingstone said the problem had been overblown in a bid to oust Mr Corbyn as leader.
He said: “They whipped up anti-Semitism.
“If you go back over these last five years and try to find any details example of anti-Semitism in the party, out of half a million members 200 or 300 tweeted something anti-Semitic, that’s about it.
“There has been a complete absence of any serious incident.”
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