This year’s Labour conference has been largely overshadowed by a row about anti-Semitism. At a Labour Friends of Israel event on the final night of the party’s conference, Jeremy Corbyn had a perfect opportunity to send a message of support to worried Jewish Labour members. Instead, he didn’t show up. Labour MP Joan Ryan, who was chairing the event, said she was ‘disappointed’ Corbyn didn’t come. Some in the crowd were not happy either at the Labour leader’s decision to stay away, with cries of ‘Where is he?’ and ‘Why is he not here?’ greeting the announcement that Corbyn would not be coming:
It’s something of a surprise that Corbyn didn’t show up: he came to the reception last year, and the event is typically one of the fixtures in the conference diary of a Labour leader. So where was Corbyn? Emily Thornberry, who stood in for the Labour leader, tried to clear things up, saying:
‘Just so there is no misunderstanding, Jeremy is not attending any of these receptions this evening because he has a big speech tomorrow and it’s important…as the future Prime Minister of this country…the public will be wanting to know what it is that the leader of the Labour party has to say.’
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