A former shadow business minister and enterprise adviser to Ed Miliband has vowed to quit Labour if Jeremy Corbyn is retained as leader
A Labour peer who previously served as Ed Miliband's business adviser has vowed to quit Labour if Jeremy Corbyn is retained as party leader.
Lord Parry Mitchell, a three-time technology entrepreneur who supported Miliband on enterprise from 2013 and previously served as shadow business minister, said he will resign over Corbyn's approach to anti-Semitism.
Mitchell, who also worked in the House of Lords to curb abuse by payday lenders, said that he was deeply concerned by the Chakrabarti report into the party, and the subsequent peerage awarded to its author.
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Writing in The Times today, Mitchell described the report as “an insipid whitewash”.
“Anti-Semitism has no part in a progressive party. I have come to the painful conclusion that were Mr Corbyn to be re-elected next month, I will have to resign my membership of the Labour Party.
“I cannot remain a member of a party that goes against such a crucial issue that I hold dear.”
Corbyn has always vigorously defended his party's record on anti-Semitism, despite repeated concerns over his handling of incidents, including a claim from one of his own MPs that Labour is “not a safe space for British Jews”.