Equality groups claim they were misled to believe the Labour leader had pulled out of event as they planned to air concerns

Black and women’s equality groups have accused Jeremy Corbyn of misleading them over his appearance at an anti-racism rally linked to the Socialist Workers party on Saturday.

UK Black Lives Matter, Southall Black Sisters and Sisters Uncut are among the groups and individuals who have signed a joint statement saying that a spokesman for Corbyn had assured them that the Labour leader would not attend the event.

They had planned to issue an open letter to Corbyn calling on him to distance himself from the event. A letter was eventually published online, though its wording was changed after the signatories were told Corbyn would pull out.

But on Saturday, Corbyn and Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, appeared on stage to cheers and a standing ovation from some 1,600 attendees at the Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) rally at Friends Meeting House in central London.

Aaron Kiely (@Aaron_Kiely) Simply electric reception to Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott joining us at the Stand Up To Racism Conference. #stopracism16 pic.twitter.com/Xxwj5bCXft

In a statement passed to the Guardian on Monday, the signatories of the original open letter said: “We suspect that we were deliberately misled to stop us from going public with our concerns about Jeremy’s association with the Socialist Workers party, a discredited organisation.

“Some of us have publicly defended Jeremy Corbyn in the past. Others of us are simply tired of the SWP’s attempts to co-opt the anti-racist struggle and are angry that the leader of the opposition has lent his support.

“There can be no effective anti-racist movement that gives a pass to misogyny.”

Critics of SUTR claim that the SWP is now using the group as a front to rehabilitate its old networks, which were badly affected in 2013 after the group was plunged into controversy when two women accused a senior member of rape.

The women said that they were subjected to a series of offensive questions by a “kangaroo court” arranged by the SWP central committee, who warned them not to go to the police.

Weyman Bennett, one of two co-conveners of Stand Up to Racism, with whom Corbyn shared a platform at Saturday’s event, is a longstanding member of the SWP, and a recent entry on the SWP’s website listed details of SUTR planning meetings and called on members to attend the rally.



“Comrades in every local Stand Up to Racism group should be fighting down to the wire to build the biggest possible event,” it says. Many mainstream political figures also serve on the SUTR steering committee, including Abbott, its president, and Labour MP Kate Osamor, one of five vice-chairs.

Corbyn is also set to face questions over his attendance at the rally and its links to the SWP from his own MPs on Monday night, according to a report in LabourList. Several speakers, including the Guardian columnist Owen Jones, pulled out of the event after learning of activists’ concerns about the link to the SWP.

Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) A left politician, however venerated, who speaks at SWP events will swiftly fray the patience of some of their most committed supporters.

A spokesman for Corbyn insisted the assurance he gave that Corbyn was not attending the SUTR rally was a misunderstanding. It was not meant to imply that Corbyn had pulled out of the event for political reasons, merely that he was busy.

“I spoke to Jeremy and Jeremy said he was due to be in Scotland on Saturday, therefore he wouldn’t be attending the event; so I said to [the UK Black Lives Matter member], he’s not attending. And they’re the words I used – I’ve got the WhatsApp [messages] – Jeremy’s not attending,” the spokesman said.

“Now what they decided to do with that was obviously make it out as though Jeremy was pulling out. But because his plans changed, and because we did the reshuffle last week, he didn’t go to Scotland in the end. So he was free Saturday, therefore he went to the event.”