Jeremy Corbyn has said antisemitism is “completely at odds with the beliefs of this party”, saying Labour was “not a nasty party”, a day after delegates attended a fringe meeting where a speaker said free speech should include the right to question the Holocaust.

The Labour leader spoke out as the conference prepared to pass a tough new rule change on combatting antisemitism and racism, as well as condemning threats against the BBC political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, who is said to have hired a bodyguard in order to attend the conference.



Corbyn said it was awful for anyone to brand Labour the nasty party, a term Theresa May used to describe perceptions of the Conservative party in 2002

“This is not a nasty party,” Corbyn told Channel 4 News. “This is the biggest Labour conference we have had for many, many years. Nobody should be abused, whoever they are. We have just passed a motion on racism and antisemitism, which is comprehensive and inclusive and is supported by all wings of the party and unanimously agreed by our national executive.

“Anyone using antisemitic language, anyone using any form of racist language, is completely at odds with the beliefs of this party.”

Asked about the threats made to Kuenssberg, Corbyn said: “I don’t wish anyone to have to be accompanied by a bodyguard anywhere in our society and certainly not in our conference. I don’t want anyone to be abused by anyone.”

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, pledged that the party would investigate how it gave a platform at a conference fringe event to a speaker, Miko Peled, who said: “This is about free speech, the freedom to criticise and to discuss every issue, whether it’s the Holocaust: yes or no, Palestine, the liberation, the whole spectrum. There should be no limits on the discussion.”

The rule change first proposed by the Jewish Labour Movement, which is now backed by Corbyn and the party’s national executive committee, will tighten explicitly the party’s stance towards members who are antisemitic or use other forms of hate speech, including racism, Islamophobia, sexism and homophobia.

In the interviews, Corbyn was also asked about the cult of personality that has been building around him. Delegates have been spotted carrying portraits of the Labour leader with a tinsel halo, and many are wearing T-shirts with his name.

“I often think it’s embarrassing. It’s not my wish. I did work hard on the election, but so did everybody else. We are a party of lots of people, half a million members,” he told Sky News.

Asked whether his treatment by supporters amounted to a personality cult, he told Five News: “It’s not something I have ever sought. It isn’t something I ever imagined. I want to lead this party to mobilise people to realise their aspirations and ambitions of living in a society that works for all its members.”