John McDonnell Rebukes Caller Who Says Labour Anti-Semitism Claims Are “Smears”

5 February 2019, 21:14 | Updated: 5 February 2019, 21:17

The shadow chancellor hit back at this LBC caller who dismissed reports of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party as “smears”.

John McDonnell told Oliver: “It isn’t a smear campaign, I’ve seen the evidence, I’ve seen the stuff on social media”.

The remarks were made during an exclusive LBC phone-in on Tuesday evening.

Earlier this week Labour MPs passed a motion urging the party leadership to do more to tackle anti-Semitism.

They want more details about those who have been accused of anti-Semitic behaviour.

Oliver phoned LBC and asked Mr McDonnell: “When is the Jeremy Corbyn team, including yourself, going to confront this smear campaign on anti-Semitism?”

The Labour frontbencher hit back: “I’ve seen the threats made against some of our Jewish members and MPs so it isn’t a smear campaign and we have to face up to it.”

He continued: “Where there is evidence in our political party, the Labour Party, which we’ve always prided ourselves on being anti-racist, we’ve got to stamp it out.

“When you say ‘it’s a smear campaign’ that belittles what’s happening in terms of us saying there is a problem here and the action we’re taking against it.

“We’ve got to root it out, having one anti-Semite in the Labour Party is not good enough.”

You can watch the full LBC phone-in below: