Labour has failed to investigate more than 200 anti-Semitism complaints against Jeremy Corbyn
- More than 200 complaints of antisemitism against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have been left "sitting in a folder" in the party's headquarters, according to the Times.
- Sources told the paper the complaints "did not meet the threshold for investigation."
- Meanwhile an explosive dossier leaked to LBC shows 45 serious complaints of anti-Semitism against Labour Party members.
- Mak Chishty, a former senior police officer says that of the 45, 17 could be hate crimes which should be reported to the police.
- Met commissioner Cressida Dick says that her force will investigate the dossier for potential hate crimes.
LONDON - The Labour party has failed to fully investigate more than 200 complaints of antisemitism it has received about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and has instead left them "sitting in a folder" in its headquarters, according to the Times.
Sources told the paper that the party had received dozens of complaints following reports of Corbyn's comments about Zionists who have "lived their whole lives" in the UK lacking "a sense of English irony," but had declined to open an investigation into the Labour leader because the allegations "did not meet the threshold for investigation."
A spokesperson for the party said they would not comment on individual complaints.
The allegation comes as the Metropolitan Police announced they will investigate up to 21 allegations of antisemitism in the Labour party.
Mak Chishty, a former senior police officer in the Metropolitan police who was responsible for combatting hate crime, was shown a dossier of 45 members anti-Semitic behaviour, of which Chishty believes 17 could be considered hate crimes, the LBC radio station reported.
The Met intervenes
Scotland Yard has said it would investigate the allegations against the members, following Chishty's intervention.
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Cressida Dick told LBC that her force would investigate the dossier, saying, "Hate crime is something we take very, very seriously...If somebody makes an allegation to us which contains something like that absolutely we will take it seriously, we will scope it, we will see whether a crime has taken place - in the first instance whether it looks like a crime.
"I, of course, will pass this to my experts to deal with. The law is quite complicated, the bar is actually quite high. It's not just because I'm offended or you're insulted, it's got to be threatening. But they are quite a high bar because freedom of speech is highly valued in this country. But absolutely, if somebody hands us a dossier, we'll look at it, we'll scope it, we'll see if a crime has been committed."
'Robust system'
In response to LBC's story, a Labour spokesperson said "The Labour Party has a robust system for investigating complaints of alleged breaches of Labour Party rules by its members. Where someone feels they have been a victim of crime, they should report it to the police in the usual way."
The story comes as Labour's ruling National Executive Committee pass the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of Anti-Semitism. Corbyn sought to dilute the definition with an accompanying statement, which was voted down by the NEC.
Speaking on the adoption of the full IHRA, a Labour Party Spokesperson said: "The NEC has today adopted all of the IHRA examples of antisemitism, in addition to the IHRA definition which Labour adopted in 2016, alongside a statement which ensures this will not in any way undermine freedom of expression on Israel or the rights of Palestinians."