Union boss: Labour MPs complaining of antisemitism are smearing Corbyn

The general secretary of the Unite trade union, Len McCluskey, has accused Labour MPs who have complained about antisemitism of “smearing” Jeremy Corbyn, and called for them to be “held to account”.

In an article in the New Statesman, McCluskey, who is a close ally of Corbyn and his team, says: “I look with disgust at the behaviour of the Corbyn-hater MPs who join forces with the most reactionary elements of the media establishment and I understand why there is a growing demand for mandatory reselection.”

Unite was the largest single donor to Labour’s 2017 general election campaign and the party’s new general secretary, Jennie Formby, was previously a senior officer at the union.

McCluskey denounces some Labour MPs by name, including “Chris Leslie, Neil Coyle (my own MP), John Woodcock, Wes Streeting, Ian Austin and others”, calling them “a dismal chorus whose every dirge makes winning a Labour government more difficult”, and accusing them of “working overtime trying to present the Labour party as a morass of misogyny, antisemitism and bullying”.

He adds: “You would have to go back a long way to find such a sustained smearing by MPs of their own leader and their own party as we are seeing now.”

And he warns that “promiscuous critics” who “wish to hold Corbyn to account can expect to be held to account themselves”.

The mention of mandatory reselection will alarm some Labour MPs. Corbyn’s political secretary, Katy Clark, is currently carrying out a wide-reaching review of democracy in the party, which some fear could result in proposals that would make it easier for backbenchers critical of the leadership to be removed by their local parties. McCluskey says that he is “personally not in favour” of mandatory reselection but “lost that argument overwhelmingly”.

McCluskey’s pointed intervention came as Corbyn attempted to show he was getting to grips with the antisemitism row, after Jewish leaders expressed disappointment about the outcome of a meeting on Tuesday night.

The Labour leader’s spokesman said on Wednesday that Formby would make tackling antisemitism her top priority, and Corbyn would “lead the drive to eliminate antisemitism in the party”.

He said there were currently 90 cases under investigation – with 18 waiting to go through the NCC (national constitutional committee) – Labour’s most senior disciplinary body. He added that over the last three years there had been 300 complaints and 20 people had been suspended in the last fortnight alone.

The Guardian understands the McCluskey article was not cleared with Corbyn’s office in advance.

On Wednesday morning, about 40 Labour MPs and peers marched in support of their Jewish colleague Ruth Smeeth before she gave evidence at an expulsion hearing against an activist accused of berating her at the launch of Labour’s antisemitism inquiry.

MPs including the shadow environment secretary, Sue Hayman, the former shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Smith and the Jewish Labour movement chair, Luciana Berger, formed a protective ring around Smeeth as she entered the hearing in London.

The Labour activist Marc Wadsworth will have his case heard by the NCC, which has the power to expel members. The hearing comes 22 months after the first complaint was made against Wadsworth, who challenged Smeeth at a the launch of Shami Chakrabati’s inquiry into antisemitism, accusing her of working “hand in hand” with the media.

Labour Against the Witch-Hunt, a campaign group set up to protest against expulsions, turned out to support Wadsworth at the hearing in Westminster. Several people shouted: “Free Palestine,” as the MPs walked past.

Berger said the MPs who had joined Smeeth were “looking for action” against antisemitism. “Warm words are nice, but in and of themselves they are not enough, and that’s why we’re here with our colleague Ruth Smeeth. She has an incredible amount of support,” she said.

MPs said they had decided to support Smeeth because she had initially been told by the party she would be responsible for her own security walking to the hearing.

Streeting, who organised the delegation to accompany Smeeth, said: “I was proud to see so many Labour MPs and peers from across the party – including shadow ministers – accompanying Ruth this morning in a show of friendship and solidarity. But no victim of abuse should ever have to walk through a protest against them to give evidence to a hearing. It is an appalling state of affairs.”

Other MPs accompanying Smeeth included prominent backbenchers Stella Creasy, Jess Phillips, and Margaret Hodge, alongside Smeeth’s fellow Stoke-on-Trent MP Gareth Snell. Also there were Lord Dubs and the chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Trust, Karen Pollock.

Creasy said other MPs were likely to need similar support at future hearings. “No one should go through something like this in the movement they dedicate their lives to fighting for. Sadly, more MPs may be likely to need support in many more hearings like this in the coming months,” she said.

Labour MP Chris Williamson, a former shadow cabinet minister, also attended the hearing as a witness supporting Wadsworth.

Speaking outside the hearing, Wadsworth said he was not antisemitic and that he had endured “almost two years of trial by media”. He added that much of the reporting around his case had been incorrect. Asked whether he thought he would get a fair hearing, he said: “I reserve my view on that.”