Cartoon by Peter Brookes

Pressure on UK Labor Party leader as antisemitism row continues

The Independent: Labour has denied that thousands of members quitting the party is a response Jeremy Corbyn's response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack and his handling of antisemitism in the party.

A leaked report suggests 17,000 people have left the party since the start of the year - amounting to three per cent of the total membership.

Hundreds have resigned over the crisis engulfing the party and many more have not renewed their direct debits, according to internal figures seen by The Times.

However, Labour sources insisted the drop was not related to Mr Corbyn's recent controversies. The party gives members six months to pay membership arrears, meaning the majority of those whose subscriptions lapsed in the last few months actually stopped paying fees last year.

They said the leaked data does not include last week, when the latest row about antisemitism in Labour erupted, and is in keeping with other equivalent periods.

A spokesperson said: "Labour's membership is well over half a million and in fine health. The latest data has been misrepresented in this story.”

Labour's membership reached a peak of 570,000 after the general election but now appears to be falling.

According to the leaked report, no region in England reported a rise in party members since the start of 2018. London lost 3,500 members in the last three months, and the North West reported a fall of 2,000.

Meanwhile the Corbyn-supporting campaign group Momentum has claimed that it added 600 members in the past week.

The latest row erupted after it emerged Mr Corbyn had previously objected to the removal of an east London mural that depicted wealthy Jews playing Monopoly on the backs of workers.

Facing mounting criticism over his response, the Labour leader admitted there were "pockets" of antisemitism in the party and apologised for the "pain and hurt" caused to Jewish people >>>