British MP Torches Jeremy Corbyn on Racism in Brutal Rant: ‘I Will Take a Long Spoon In Which To Sup With This Particular Member’

A member of the UK Parliament slammed fellow member Jeremy Corbyn over the former Labour leader accusing the British government of not responding to racism online.

Joining parliament by video Wednesday, Corbyn called out the government for having “refused to take any action” on social media companies “of any kind” over racial comments online following England’s loss to Italy earlier this week in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final. He asked how the government will immediately respond to the bigotry.

In response, Conservative MP Victoria Atkins said she “felt a little bit astonished” that Corbyn asked the question, noting a report from last October by the government’s Equality and Human Rights Commission that, as Atkins put it, found that “Labour unlawfully discriminated” against Jewish people because of their religion.

Boom. Didn’t think he could get any redder. pic.twitter.com/QYvVMRwx4e

— Mel Gomes (@melstarsg) July 14, 2021

Atkins recalled the time that then-Labour MP Luciana Berger required police protection at Labour’s party conference in September 2018 “because of fears of her own safety.” Berger, who is Jewish and faced anti-Semitic threats while she served in parliament, left Labour in February 2019 over the party’s handling of complaints of anti-Semitism in the party.

In the general election the following December, Labour suffered its worst defeat since 1935, losing 60 seats, while the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, won 48 seats, its biggest victory since 1987. In the election, Berger, running as a Liberal Democrat, lost her seat to a Labour candidate after holding it for more than nine years. Following the election, Corbyn stepped down as the leader of the party after just under five years in that role.

Corbyn’s tenure was, evidently, more than long enough for Atkins — who concluded her rant on the former Labour leader with a devastating putdown.

“I will listen to many, many people about tackling racism,” Atkins said. “I will work with pretty much anyone. But I must say I will take a long spoon in which to sup with this particular member.”

The comment was met with shouts of “Hear! Hear!” in the chamber.

Watch above, via Sky News.

CORRECTION 9:05 a.m. THURSDAY — A previous version of this post erroneously quoted Atkins as saying the word “suck” when she in fact said “sup.” The headline and body of this post have been updated to reflect the correct word.

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