Ian Austin: Jeremy Corbyn must apologise for defending anti-Semitic mural

The hard left Labour leader has been criticised by Ian Austin for defending the controversial artwork, which depicted a group of apparently Jewish businessmen huddled around a Monopoly-style board.

Mr Corbyn said he was sorry for 'pockets of anti-Semitism' in his party, but he has not apologised for supporting the mural, which was pulled down in 2012.

Dudley North MP Mr Austin said his comments were unsatisfactory and warned that Labour had completely lost the confidence of the Jewish community.

He told the Express & Star: "Jeremy has not actually apologised for defending a grotesque and offensive, racist caricature.

"I think Labour party members that I have spoken to are asking themselves what they would think if a senior figure in another political party had defended an offensive caricature about any other minority group.

"People are not satisfied with his explanation.

"He has got to apologise personally for having defended this offensive mural."

Mr Austin is due to attend a protest in Parliament Square later today. It has been organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

The group will deliver a letter to the Parliamentary Labour party accusing Mr Corbyn of 'siding with anti-Semites'.

It says he 'cannot seriously contemplate anti-Semitism, because he is so ideologically fixed within a far-left world view that is instinctively hostile to mainstream Jewish communities'.

Mr Austin said Labour had been gripped by accusations of anti-Semitism for 'several years' and added: "Hardly a week goes by without another story.

"We have had senior figures saying the most appalling things, and when you have got the Chief Rabbi, the Board of Deputies, the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Jewish Leadership Council all speaking out, we have got to listen to them.

"It is time we asked ourselves, what would our reaction be if we had completely lost the confidence of any other minority group in Britain?

"We have got to show that we understand this and that we take it seriously.

"There should be no place in the Labour party for people who are guilty of racism. Those people should be booted out."

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson described the mural as 'horrible', but defended Mr Corbyn's handling of the row.

In 2012, Mr Corbyn defended artist Mear One after he posted on Facebook that his mural was to be scrubbed.

Mr Corbyn wrote: “Why? You are in good company. Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Viera’s [sic] mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.”

The Labour leader now says he regrets that he 'did not look more closely' at the mural before commenting.