JEREMY Corbyn was facing calls to front up to more than 100 victims of the IRA after ignoring their pleas for him to condemn the terrorist group.
They are demanding a meeting with the Labour leader after he refused to reply to a letter from them urging him to apologise over his support for “violent Republicanism”.
The 102 signatories include victims of the Enniskillen and Hyde Park bombings, who have raised serious concerns about his fitness to be PM.
In a letter to Mr Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell they say the pair need to “hear first hand about the lasting impact of terrorism on innocent families”.
Mark Tipper, whose 19-year-old brother Simon was one of four soldiers killed in the 1982 attack in Hyde Park, said: “We could wake up on Friday morning and Corbyn could be PM.
“But to people like me, and to other victims, it feels like he supports terrorists more than the victims and more than the ordinary people of this country.”
The group’s first letter to the Labour leader on October 13 was signed by 40 victims of the IRA.
It is being helped by anti-extremism group Mainstream, which was set up by ex Labour MP Ian Austin who quit the party over anti-Semitism.
‘VIRUS OF EXTREMISM’
He said: “Jeremy Corbyn was asked to apologise and failed to do so. It’s understandable that the victims now want to put their case to him in person.
“He sided with Sinn Fein when their allies in the IRA were bringing death and destruction to both Britain and Northern Island.
“He has infected our national life with the virus of extremism. He is not fit to lead the Labour party and not fit to lead our country.”
He added: “Corbyn has sometimes claimed that his closeness to Sinn Fein was part of some search for peace.
“But no one appears to have yet found any record of Corbyn ever meeting any loyalist groups. Any real peace campaigner knows you have to talk to both sides.”
John Radley, a former regimental policeman in the Irish Guards who was wounded in action, said Mr Corbyn was “not just a sympathiser of the IRA, he’s a supporter of the IRA”.
He said: “He’s supported other terrorist organisations like Hamas. He’s anti-army, he’s anti-veteran, he’s anti the British establishment, and I feel he’s anti-British.
“As someone who’s been there and took the bullets and the bomb, I certainly wouldn’t vote for the Labour Party.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Jeremy was never a supporter of the IRA, and has always worked for peace and respect for human rights.
“He has also spoken about how the peace process in Northern Ireland has been a model for other countries trying to bring divided communities together on the basis of recognising different traditions.”