Margaret Hodge has signalled that Labour MPs critical of Jeremy Corbyn are digging in for a long struggle against his leadership as she suggested that the antisemitism row would only end if he stood aside.



The backbench MP told the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) conference on Sunday that she would “stand and fight” within Labour as the argument about antisemitism in the party threatens to turn into a battle over its future.

Hodge said it would no longer be enough if the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) adopts on Tuesday, as expected, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism with all 11 of the attached examples.

“It might have been enough three months ago, it might have just enabled us all to start talking to each other and bring trust again, but I think that moment has passed,” she said at the event in north London on Sunday.

The Barking MP went on to argue that Corbyn’s presence as party leader was at the heart of the issue. “The problem is that he is the problem,” she said to applause at the event. “The party is bigger than Corbyn. Our party has been around for over 100 years, Corbyn has only been there for three – three damaging years.”



The conference also heard the former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown speak out against antisemitism and urge the NEC to adopt the IHRA code “unanimously, unequivocally and immediately”.

Corbyn has repeatedly said he will not “will not tolerate antisemitism in any form anywhere in our society or in our party” and he won support on Sunday from an alliance of the Arab members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.

In a letter to the Guardian, the 13 members of the Joint List said: “We stand in solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn and we recognise him as a principled leftist leader who aspires for peace and justice and is opposed to all forms of racism, whether directed at Jews, Palestinians or any other group.”

Israel's Arab MPs back Corbyn in antisemitism row Read more

Labour’s ruling NEC is due to meet on Tuesday when it will discuss the IHRA code, with Corbyn expected to be present. The body is also expected to agree some form of clarification in addition to the IHRA code spelling out the importance of free speech, so that advocates of a one-state solution in the Middle East, which is not Labour policy, are able to argue their case in a measured way.



John McDonnell, the party’s shadow chancellor, indicated there would be some sort of additional statement as he came to the defence of Corbyn, who he said had “devoted his whole life to anti-racism, to peace and justice.

Regarding the IHRA code, McDonnell predicted there would be “acceptance overall, and I think also the commitment to freedom of speech, and yes, a recognition of the rights of Palestinians.”

Hodge previously clashed with Corbyn in July, when she called him an antisemite and a racist in an ill-tempered exchange behind the speaker’s chair in the Commons. She was briefly subject to disciplinary proceedings, but they were dropped.

On Sunday, Hodge said: “I called him an antisemitic racist in July and everything that has emerged since has confirmed my belief that I was right,” and cited as an example a 2013 video of Corbyn accusing a group of English Zionists of having no sense of English irony.

Labour sources said that Hodge’s criticisms of Corbyn were no surprise given that she was one of two MPs to submit a motion of no confidence in his leadership in 2016. Corbyn has previously clarified his remarks in the 2013 video, saying that he had used the term Zionists “in the politically accurate sense”.

The JLM event also saw Brown return to frontline politics to urge the adoption of the IHRA code, saying he “cannot be silent on an issue so fundamental to our future”.



He did not mention Corbyn by name or allude to him, and said he was was not appearing as “some sort of backseat driver”. But, in an impassioned speech given without notes, Brown argued that he had to speak out because equality and solidarity was “what the Labour party is all about, or should be all about”.

Gordon Brown calls on Labour to adopt IHRA antisemitism code Read more

Brown said the party had a problem with antisemitism and needed to deal urgently with complaints that have clogged up its disciplinary procedures, arguing that anti-Jewish sentiment was “a problem of the conspiracy-theory left”.

The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, said on Sunday night that she also believed the NEC should adopt the full IHRA definition with examples. She told the Financial Times: “I understand why people looked at some of the examples and thought: ‘Hang on a minute, how can we implement this? Might it mean that people can’t criticise the state of Israel?’ My interpretation is that, clearly, we can.”

Last week, veteran MP Frank Field resigned the Labour whip, citing growing antisemitism and bullying within the party. The surprise decision of the MP, who had faced a vote of no confidence in his constituency because of his support for Brexit, prompted a renewed bout of speculation that other MPs unhappy with Corbyn’s handling of the antisemitism issue could leave the party.