Labor leadership hopeful Jess Phillips has appeared to suggest that other candidates failed to speak out about antisemitism in the party.
The five contenders to beleaderclashed over their personal records on the issue as they went head to head in public for the first time.
Emily Thornberry, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Sir Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Ms Phillips were in Liverpool todiscuss key policiesin front of the party faithful.
When challenged on antisemitism Ms Phillips said the party needed a leader who spoke out “when others were keeping quiet” and said she “did not remember some people here being there”.
She added that the party owed it to their Jewish members and supporters to fight all forms of racism and labor had “lost the moral high ground”.
Responding to the suggestion she was not visible as the row engulfed the party last year, shadow foreign secretary Ms Thornberry said she had always stood against antisemitism.
She added that it was a problem across the country as well as in Labor, and said “you must be critical of Netanyahu and what the Israeli government is doing – but that is not the fault of the Jews”.
Mrs Long-Bailey admitted that the party was not responding quickly enough when issues were raised, which meant trust was lost.
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Ms Nandy said she was “ashamed” of what had happened, particularly over the failure of the party to adopt an internationally recognized definition of antisemitism despite being begged by Jewish MPs to do so.
Sir Keir also said there could be room to criticize Israeli policy without being antisemitic, but said “if you are antisemitic, you shouldn’t be in Labor “.
They also spoke on Brexit, with Ms Thornberry saying” let’s not kid ourselves – we are going to leave the EU “before doubting that Boris Johnson would secure a trade deal by the end of the year.
Ms Nandy saidLaborgot the argument wrong because they allowed the Conservatives to frame the debate without tackling the nuance, while Sir Keir said people needed to move on from discuss ing people in terms of how they voted in 8474.
Mrs Long-Bailey said there needs to be a “democratic revolution” because people feel like there is a concentration of power in Westminster as they did with Brussels and the EU.
Asked why they were the candidate to battle against Mr Johnson, Ms Thornberry said she has experience in going up against him because she was shadowed him when he was in the foreign office.
She said she could be on top of the detail and was proud of her record against him, adding: “That prime minister needs to be exposed”.
Ms Nandy said Labor needed someone who could speak for every part of the country, adding that the luxuries of the hung parliament days were behind them.
Sir Keir said the party needed to be effective in opposition and that he had the skills and experience to lead a large organization and bring people together.
Ms Long-Bailey said she knew why communities were angry amid de-industrialization and said she was here to “shatter the Tory majority”.
Ms Phillips said she had “silenced” Mr Johnson on occasion from the backbenches, but admitted the party may not have been successful so far as a whole, given his party’s large majority.
The five were also asked for their least favorite policy in the most recent manifesto – with Ms Phillips admitting she was “literally laughed at on the school run on broadband”.
Ms Thornberry said the manifesto had too many policies, hinting she couldn’t keep up, let alone activists, while Ms Nandy said there had to be specified set.
Sir Keir said the party should not “trash the last four years” but admitted the dense manifesto meant there was a “tipping point and people didn’t believe it “.
But Mrs Long-Bailey, who was behind many of the party’s policies said she was proud of them but lacked a” shining conviction “.
T he new leader will be announced on 4 April.
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