Barry Gardiner has said “one apology doesn’t seem to be enough for people” when questioned as to why Jeremy Corbyn did not say sorry for anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
The Labour leader refused to apologise during a a 30-minute grilling on the BBC by Andrew Neil on Tuesday evening but did condemn anti-Semitism as “vile and wrong”.
It came after he was accused of not being fit to be prime minister by the chief rabbi.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) on Thursday morning, Gardiner was asked if Corbyn had made a mistake in the interview.
“Can I just point out Jeremy Corbyn has apologised in August last year,” the shadow international trade secretary said.
“He made a video in which he apologised for all the hurt that had been caused to members of the Jewish community.
“He apologised that the Labour Party had not acted swiftly enough on the issue of anti-Semitism.
“And he promised at that point to make sure our procedures were speeded up and made much more decisive in the future and of course that’s precisely what he’s done.”
Gardiner added: “One apology doesn’t seem to be enough for people.”
Boris Johnson meanwhile has been accused of “denial, dismissal and deceit” on Islamophobia by the Muslim Council of Britain.
The prime minister apologised for the “hurt and offence” caused by the blight in the Tory ranks during a campaign stop in Cornwall on Wednesday.