The damage of the Corbyn era can never be undone

Corbyn can no longer claim the privilege of representing the modern, tolerant and outward-looking party that we are today. He is a relic of yesterday, writes the parliamentary chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, writes Dame Margaret Hodge

The Labour Party has fundamentally changed under Keir Starmer (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has given the Labour Party a clean bill of health. Britain’s equalities watchdog has judged that my party is once again a safe and welcoming political home for Jewish people. This is an important moment and a great relief for the entire Jewish community.

We all understand that taking the Labour Party out of special measures does not mean that antisemitism has been completely eradicated from the party. When you allow anti-Jewish hatred to move from the fringes to the mainstream of an organisation, it takes a determined effort to expel this cancer.

And it takes time and patience to rebuild trust with a Jewish community that was understandably horrified by the way in which a great political party had so quickly become infected with antisemitism. It takes time to heal that hurt.