Countdown favourite Rachel Riley, 32, said she thought it was a “pointless argument” for Jeremy Corbyn, 69, to appear on television and say he was not anti-Semitic. “I couldn’t give a monkey’s if he is anti-Semitic or not himself,” she told the May issue of British GQ. “Because the environment he seemingly supports and is encouraging, the stuff that people are claiming to do in his name, is vile. So, for me, whether he says he’s an anti-Semite or not, he’s allowing this to happen.
“He’s condoning it, in my view,” Riley continued.
“His top people appear to be adding to the idea that it’s a smear. So, he is helping it grow.”
The TV presenter, whose mother is Jewish and who has said she considers herself to be a non religious Jew, blasted: “I couldn’t care less that he has friends who are Jewish, or he doesn’t think he’s an anti-Semite.
“It means nothing to me, as he, deliberately or not, is fostering an environment that’s just really hostile to Jews.”
Express.co.uk has contacted a representative for Corbyn asking for comment on Riley’s remarks.
Riley also told the publication she would choose to vote Conservative if there were an election tomorrow.
“I’d vote anyone that would stop them [Labour] in power. I mean, the Greens are no better,” she said.
Last month, a YouGov poll found 34 per cent of voters thought Corbyn himself was anti-Semitic.
The majority of those polled also believed the Labour leader had been dishonest and ineffective in his handling of the Party’s anti-Semitism crisis.
Corbyn has strongly denied accusations of anti-Semitism.
Labour had also denied allegations the Party is institutionally anti-Semitic.
They have said their leader is a “militant opponent of anti-Semitism”.
On February 17, nine Labour MPs quit the Party, with several citing anti-Semitism among their reasons.
This month, 104 Labour MPs signed a letter to the Jewish Lavour Movement urging the group not to sever ties with the Party.
“Labour has let our Jewish supporters and members down by failing to eradicate the anti-Semitism within our ranks,” it said.
“Each of us recognise the leadership role we must ourselves play in addressing this toxic racism, calling out those who seek to make solidarity with our Jewish comrades a test of foreign policy and proudly standing with them in saying and acting to ensure anti-Semitism has no place in the Labour movement at any level.
“We know words mean little when not backed by deeds.”
See the full feature in the May issue of British GQ, available on digital download and newsstands on Friday 5th April.
