Jeremy Corbyn refused four times to apologise to Britain’s Jews for his failure to root out anti-Semitism in the Labour Party as the crisis engulfing him worsened today.

The Labour leader was questioned about the party’s anti-Semitism scandal by the BBC’s Andrew Neil in a television interview, after ignoring demands from senior party figures to say sorry.

Mr Corbyn instead ramped up the tension by accusing the Chief Rabbi of getting his facts wrong in an article describing Mr Corbyn as “unfit for high office”.

Mr Corbyn said Ephraim Mirvis was “not right” to say Labour had failed to do everything it could to stamp out anti-Jewish sentiment, even though the Labour peer Lord Falconer said the party has “thousands” of anti-Semitism cases requiring investigation.

It came as Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said Jews and other minority groups would be at risk from a rise in hate crimes if Mr Corbyn became prime minister, and that she would be “worried for all of us” under Labour.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was among religious leaders who supported the Chief Rabbi, saying his comments “ought to alert us to the deep sense of insecurity and fear felt by many British Jews”. Leaders of Britain’s Muslims and Hindus also expressed solidarity with Rabbi Mirvis.

Mr Corbyn was accused by Lord Falconer of being “totally insensitive” to people’s “legitimate concerns” after he invited three Labour election candidates caught up in the anti-Semitism row to share a platform with him as he launched his party’s race and faith manifesto in London. They are among 12 Labour candidates facing accusations of making anti-Semitic comments or downplaying the scandal.