Top Corbyn aide bragged of attempting to force out MPs who opposed Labour antisemitism

The UK Labour Party was embroiled in further scandal Wednesday after a Jewish Chronicle exclusive revealed the extent of former leader Jeremy Corbyn's chief-of-staff's efforts to force out MPs and union officials who stood up against antisemitism.

The paper claimed that it had seen a "series of damning phone messages," which confirmed that Karie Murphy admitted being personally involved in maneuvers to "trigger" MPs deselection who resigned from the party in February 2019, specifically citing Corbyn's failure to deal with antisemitism.

"After seven Labour MPs quit the party in February 2019 - including Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes and Chuka Umunna - Ms Murphy wrote: 'F**king idiots. All the work I did to trigger them and they leave before I had the pleasure,'" the JC maintained.

The messages also reveal that it was not just sitting Labour MPs that were caught in Murphy's crosshairs but also trade unionists, who were similarly alarmed at the party's unwillingness to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

A Labour Party spokesperson said that the faction would launch an investigation into Murphy's messages remarking that, "Labour takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated..."

Luciana Berger, the party's former representative for the Liverpool Wavertree constituency and who is Jewish, said in her resignation from the faction that it had become "institutionally antisemitic" and she was "embarrassed and ashamed" to stay.

Corbyn launched a complaint with the Cabinet Office after the independent House of Lords appointments commission rejected his proposal to grant Murphy a peerage (a seat in Parliament's non-elected upper chamber).

Insiders argue that her nomination was blocked as part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's investigation into Labour's handling of the antisemitism crisis.