Just five months after Mr Corbyn officially stepped down as Labour leader, a new book has revealed the conflicts and tensions within the party during his tenure. Written by The Times journalists Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire, ‘Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn’ describes the behind-the-scenes dramas of the Islington North MP’s four-year rule, which culminated in December with Labour’s worst election performance since 1935. One of the most contentious revelations made by the journalists is that Mr Corbyn failed to stamp out antisemitism in the Labour Party because he could not empathise with “relatively prosperous” British Jews.
The handling of antisemitism by the former Labour leader placed such a strain on his relationship with his closest ally John McDonnell that the pair did not speak “for months”.
The book also claims Mr Corbyn rejected plans by his chief of staff Karie Murphy to send him to Auschwitz as part of an attempt at reconciliation with the Jewish community, a decision that infuriated Mr McDonnell.
Mr Corbyn’s wife, Laura Alvarez, rejected such claims on Sunday, and announced on Twitter a new book about how her husband was the victim of a media slur when he was leader would be published to set the record straight.
However, in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Lord David Owen also confirmed the strained relationship between Mr McDonnell and Mr Corbyn.
The former Labour Foreign Secretary and SDP co-founder claimed the former Chancellor even plotted a coup against his own leader.
He said: “The press has got the Corbyn-McDonnell relationship incorrectly.
“All this time, they were writing of the two as if they were close friends, but there was actually a growing divide.
“It suited them to always put Corbyn up front and they are life-long friends, but that friendship must have been quite strained.
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“He was involved in the London Greater Council Leadership race and Labour won with a moderate figure: Andrew Mcintosh.
“However, within three days, McDonnell had masterminded a coup and Livingstone came in.
“People didn’t vote Labour thinking Livingstone was going to be the head of London.
“Typical Troskyst.”
