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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has told Sky News he was "disappointed" in his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn's response to a damning antisemitism report - but has insisted there is "no reason for a civil war" in the party.
Mr Corbyn was suspended from Labour on Thursday - a move he condemned as "political intervention" - after he claimed that antisemitism in the party was "dramatically overstated for political reasons".
He has vowed to fight his suspension, raising the prospect of a bitter battle between Mr Corbyn, his allies and Sir Keir's leadership.
Some Labour MPs loyal to Mr Corbyn have condemned the decision to suspend the party's former leader and called for him to be reinstated to the party.
But Sir Keir played down the prospect of a looming internal conflict within Labour.
"I don't want a split in the Labour Party," he told Sky News.
"I stood as leader of the Labour Party on the basis I would unite the party, but also that I would tackle antisemitism.
"I think both of those can be done, there's no reason for a civil war in our party.
"But we are absolutely determined, I am absolutely determined, to root out antisemitism.
"I don't want the words Labour and Labour Party and antisemitism in the same sentence again."
Sir Keir stressed that the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation, published on Thursday, had made "no individual findings" against Mr Corbyn.
But he said Mr Corbyn's response to the critical report - in which the former leader suggested antisemitism was exaggerated by Labour's opponents and the media - was "part of the problem" the party faces in addressing the issue.
"I was disappointed in Jeremy's response yesterday, particularly since I had said in my response that the Labour Party will not tolerate antisemitism, nor will it tolerate those who deny there's a problem of antisemitism and say it's all exaggerated or factional," Sir Keir added.
"That, for me, is part of the problem."
In another broadcast interview, Sir Keir revealed he had spoken to Mr Corbyn on Wednesday night, before the report was published, in which he discussed with his predecessor his planned comments about those who made claims of antisemitism being exaggerated.
Sir Keir served in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet for three-and-a-half years and campaigned for him to become prime minister at the general elections in both 2017 and last year.
The Labour leader defended his decision to align himself with Mr Corbyn's leadership during that time, despite the allegations of antisemitism that dogged his predecessor's spell in charge of Labour.
Sir Keir said he "spoke out about antisemitism" both within the shadow cabinet and in media appearances during that time.
"I thought it was right to raise it inside the shadow cabinet and outside the shadow cabinet," he told Sky News.
"But there's no getting away from the findings of the report yesterday.
"They are clear findings and we all have to accept them, including myself, which is why I thought the right response yesterday was to accept the findings, to apologise again for the hurt that has been caused, and to make it my absolute business to implement the recommendations as quickly as possible."
Jonathan Goldstein, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, told Sky News that Unite general secretary Len McCluskey - a key ally of Mr Corbyn - was "part of the problem" with antisemitism.
Mr McCluskey has previously claimed antisemitism allegations were used to undermine Mr Corbyn's leadership.
In his Sky News' interview, when asked repeatedly if Labour would continue to accept millions of pounds in funding from Unite, Sir Keir said he spoke to Mr McCluskey on Thursday and the trade union leader "recognises the antisemitism in the Labour Party".
But Mr Goldsteain said: "Len McCluskey is part of the problem, he's been part of the problem since the beginning.
"He's part of the faction that supported Jeremy Corbyn. There's been denial on this issue since the very beginning.
"He described it as 'mood music', he's described it as 'overstated'.
"He's part of the problem and until those around Jeremy Corbyn and Jeremy Corbyn himself have a level of self-reflection and understand that when Jewish people complain about antisemitism - in the same way that black people complain about racism and Muslim people complain about Islamophobia - they undertand what they are talking about, they understand what they're feeling.
"Until he respects Jewish people and understands their problems, I'm afraid he will remain part of the problem himself."
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has told Sky News he was "disappointed" in his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn's response to a damning antisemitism report - but has insisted there is "no reason for a civil war" in the party.
Mr Corbyn was suspended from Labour on Thursday - a move he condemned as "political intervention" - after he claimed that antisemitism in the party was "dramatically overstated for political reasons".
He has vowed to fight his suspension, raising the prospect of a bitter battle between Mr Corbyn, his allies and Sir Keir's leadership.
Some Labour MPs loyal to Mr Corbyn have condemned the decision to suspend the party's former leader and called for him to be reinstated to the party.
But Sir Keir played down the prospect of a looming internal conflict within Labour.
"I don't want a split in the Labour Party," he told Sky News.
"I stood as leader of the Labour Party on the basis I would unite the party, but also that I would tackle antisemitism.
"I think both of those can be done, there's no reason for a civil war in our party.
"But we are absolutely determined, I am absolutely determined, to root out antisemitism.
"I don't want the words Labour and Labour Party and antisemitism in the same sentence again."
Sir Keir stressed that the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation, published on Thursday, had made "no individual findings" against Mr Corbyn.
But he added: "I was disappointed in Jeremy's response yesterday, particularly since I had said in my response that the Labour Party will not tolerate antisemitism, nor will it tolerate those who deny there's a problem of antisemitism and say it's all exaggerated or factional.
"That, for me, is part of the problem."
The area moves into the highest category days before West Yorkshire joins the third tier.
Large groups of young people in fancy dress drank alcohol and chanted near police vehicles on the streets of Nottingham last night - hours before the toughest coronavirus restrictions were imposed on the city.
The gatherings came despite police warning that they would have "no hesitation" in fining those who deliberately flout the rules.
Nottingham officially moved into Tier 3 at 12.01am today, and new rules will include a ban on buying alcohol from shops after 9pm.
Some of the youngsters appeared to be celebrating Halloween two days early. A few police vehicles were present in the city centre, as well as an ambulance.
Earlier on Thursday, Assistant Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: "Sadly there has been a minority of people who think the legislation doesn't apply to them and we have been forced to take action, and in some cases hand out fines.
"In the last week we have given £10,000 fines to four people who organised parties with more than 30 people present as well as numerous £200 fines to people who wantonly broke the law."
She added that people who break the rules "with no regard for the impact their actions have on families and frontline key workers" will be fined.
Kay Cutts, the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, said the 9pm alcohol ban had been requested to stop students partying.
She told reporters: "That's something which has been blighting a bit of Nottinghamshire... younger people don't ever think they are going to catch anything."
Similar scenes were seen on the streets of Liverpool the night before Tier 3 restrictions were imposed there in mid-October.
After footage of large crowds in Concert Square were circulated on social media, intensive care doctors told Sky News they were "disgusted" by what had happened, adding: "They don't care that people are dying from this disease, it is heart-breaking to watch."
Nottinghamshire's public health director, Jonathan Gribbin, has said that the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the county is now 40% higher than the peak of the first wave in April.
He warned that "even a well-organised NHS and care system will struggle to cope" with the sharp rise in patients.
As of 27 October, 361 beds across the county were occupied by people suffering from COVID-19 - but this rose to 413 just one day later.
"I think straight away it gives you an indication of how quickly it's increasing," he said.
Several cancer operations have had to be postponed in Nottinghamshire because of "pressure on intensive care units".
With Nottinghamshire entering Tier 3 - and West Yorkshire set to follow suit on Monday - 11 million will now be living in the highest level of coronavirus restrictions. That's 19.6% of the population.
The Tees Valley and the West Midlands could also be moved to Tier 3, meaning millions more could soon be under the strictest level of lockdown in England.
Meanwhile, data from NHS England shows the number of beds occupied by confirmed coronavirus patients has more than doubled in two weeks - from 4,105 on 13 October to 8,595 on Tuesday.
There were also 743 COVID-19 patients in mechanical ventilation beds on Tuesday, up from 560 a week earlier.
The NHS Test and Trace system has also recorded its highest-ever weekly number of positive cases, while a study by Imperial College London has found that almost 100,000 people are catching COVID-19 on a daily basis.
With France entering a second lockdown from today, and Germany imposing a partial four-week lockdown, the UK government is coming under pressure to adopt a more national approach to tackle surging infection rates.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has said the government hasn't ruled anything out.
On Thursday, government figures showed that there have been 23,065 more lab-confirmed cases in the UK, and a further 280 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19.
The Department of Health and Social Care also said more than a dozen regions will move from the lowest to the middle tier of restrictions on Saturday.
These include East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston-upon-Hull, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Dudley, Staffordshire, Telford, the Wrekin, Amber Valley, Bolsover, Derbyshire Dales, Derby City, South Derbyshire, the whole of High Peak, Charnwood, Luton and Oxford.
The area moves into the highest category days before West Yorkshire joins the third tier.
Here, Policy Editor Daniel Martin details some of the most shocking examples of Labour anti-Semitism that were contained in the EHRC report – as well as those that weren’t.
Pam Bromley, councillor in Rossendale, Lancashire, denied anti-Semitism was an issue in Labour and used tropes such as calling Jews a ‘fifth column’.
She wrote: ‘Had Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party pulled up the drawbridge and nipped the bogus anti-Semitism accusations in the bud in the first place, we would not be where we are now and the fifth column in the Labour Party would not have managed to get such a foothold... the Lobby has miscalculated... the witchhunt has created brand new fightback networks... the Lobby will then melt back into its own cesspit.’ She was eventualy expelled.
Jeremy Corbyn visited the cemetery where terror leaders linked to the Munich massacre are buried. The Mail obtained a photograph of Mr Corbyn holding a wreath just feet away from the graves of leaders linked to the 1972 killings of Israeli athletes
A raft of examples of anti-Semitic conduct by party members included diminishing the scale or significance of the Holocaust, comparing Israelis to Hitler or the Nazis, and using ‘Zio’ as an anti-Semitic term
It emerged that Jeremy Corbyn had, as a backbencher, praised an anti-Semitic mural in East London on Facebook.
He supported the artist Mear One who had painted the image of hook-nosed bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the world’s poor.
But the Labour leader’s staff intervened to say ‘the complaint itself seems to fall well below the threshold required for investigation and if so surely the decision to dismiss it can be taken now’.
He later said ‘a wreath was indeed laid’ for ‘some of those who were killed in Paris in 1992’ and added: ‘I was present at that wreath-laying, I don’t think I was actually involved in it
Christine Shawcroft, head of Labour’s National Exective Committee’s disputes panel which investigated complaints of anti-Semitism, intervened to reinstate a member suspended for anti-Semitic social media posts so he could stand in local elections.
Alan Bull had posted a link on Facebook to a fake news article titled: ‘International Red Cross Report Confirms the Holocaust of Six Million Jews is a Hoax.’
It was accompanied with a picture of the gates of Auschwitz, with the phrase ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ replaced with ‘Muh Holocaust’. Following the Daily Mail’s disclosure of the intervention, she resigned.
A member tweeted: ‘How can we not have empathy with the Palestinians when they are up against these murdering, Zionest [sic] bastards. Their NAZI masters taught them well.’ He was let off with a warning
In 2016 a Labour councillor shared an image of Jewish banker Jacob Rothschild on their Facebook page along with a caption claiming that the Rothschild family and other institutions, including the City of London and the Vatican, ‘own our news, our media, our oil and even our governments’. It does not appear that this was investigated at all.
It emerged that Jeremy Corbyn had, as a backbencher, praised an anti-Semitic mural in East London on Facebook. He supported the artist Mear One who had painted the image of hook-nosed bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the world’s poor
A member was not suspended even though he was reported for saying Jewish MPs ‘can’t rein in your killers in the Middle East’, referred to the ‘Jewish brigade’ and said ‘Jews desire the Labour Party to comply with their demands’
Chris Williamson MP made public comments about anti-Semitism smears, supported members expelled for anti-Semitism, and shared social media posts relating to others accused of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism.
The disciplinary panel concluded he had ‘engaged in conduct online and offline that, due to its reckless and needlessly provocative nature, was grossly detrimental to the party’ and ‘may reasonably be seen to involve anti-Semitic sentiments, stereotypes and actions’. Despite this, he was initially given only a formal warning.
...And ones that weren’t
Activist Kayla Bibby shared a picture of an alien bearing the Star of David choking the Statue of Liberty, but escaped suspension from the party because the image was not ‘anti-Jewish’.
Jeremy Corbyn visited the cemetery where terror leaders linked to the Munich massacre are buried. The Mail obtained a photograph of Mr Corbyn holding a wreath just feet away from the graves of leaders linked to the 1972 killings of Israeli athletes.
He later said ‘a wreath was indeed laid’ for ‘some of those who were killed in Paris in 1992’ and added: ‘I was present at that wreath-laying, I don’t think I was actually involved in it.’
Activist Kayla Bibby shared a picture of an alien bearing the Star of David choking the Statue of Liberty, but escaped suspension from the party because the image was not ‘anti-Jewish’
Alan Bull had posted a link on Facebook to a fake news article titled: ‘International Red Cross Report Confirms the Holocaust of Six Million Jews is a Hoax'
A Labour member shared a post accusing Jewish people of ‘eating the organs of their enemies’ and accused Jews of inventing modern terrorism by saying: ‘IRA murderers who took their cue from Jews.’ But the party sought to delay his suspension until it was found whether his disability had left him vulnerable.
The party let off a branch secretary for using offensive word ‘zio’ despite it being a second offence – and instead sought to reprimand the person who complained.
A Labour activist reported last April for writing on former Labour MP Luciana Berger’s Facebook page that ‘There are Zionist infiltrators in the Labour Party stirring trouble that doesn’t exist’ was let off without reprimand and was able to stand in local elections.
A member of Momentum’s steering committee shared a message accusing Saudi Arabia of being in thrall to ‘Zionist paymasters’. Apsana Begum – now an MP – later apologised for her comment.
