Jeremy Corbyn says the Labour anti-Semitism stories are not a smear – well Len McCluskey hasn’t got the memo. The Unite boss has written a sinister article for the New Statesman condemning the Labour MPs who spoke out against anti-Semitism in parliament, and threatening them with deselection. Len accuses Chris Leslie, Neil Coyle, John Woodcock, Wes Streeting and Ian Austin of “sustained smearing” of Corbyn. He concludes: “Promiscuous critics must expect to be criticised, and those who wish to hold Corbyn to account can expect to be held to account themselves”.

Wes Streeting responds:

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: no abuse, intimidation or threats of deselection will prevent me from voicing the concerns of my Jewish constituents about antisemitism in the Labour Party.”

Neil Coyle says:

“Jeremy says antisemitism must be tackled. Len claims it doesn’t exist. Undermining the leader and Party efforts to tackle the problem.”

Corbyn’s article in the Evening Standard yesterday is worth nothing when he allows his outriders to continue to dismiss anti-Semitism as a smear…

UPDATE: Tory MP Andrew Percy:

“To suggest that Labour MPs who have been threatened with rape, violence and threatened in thousands of aggressive and anti-semitic tweets, are somehow making it up to get at Jeremy Corbyn is disgusting. Len McCluskey is an outrider for Corbyn and this is further confirmation that far from doing anything to stamp out this racism in our politics, Labour plan to continue being a safe space for anti-semites and bullies. What do you expect from a party endorsed by former BNP leader, Nick Griffin?”