JEREMY Corbyn has broken his silence on the anti-Semitism row engulfing Labour, insisting his party does not pose a threat to the Jewish people.

At the end of one of his worst weeks as Labour leader, in which even his closest allies admitting he had mishandled the issue, Mr Corbyn said anti-Semites did not speak for him.

Mr Corbyn used an article in the Guardian to address the issue which has overshadowed Labour all summer, admitting there was a “real problem” with a minority of Labour members, and that trust between the party and the Jewish community was at a “low ebb”.

He also acknowledged Labour had been too slow to deal with complaints of anti-Semitism perpetrated by its members.

He said there had been examples of “Holocaust denial, crude stereotypes of Jewish bankers, conspiracy theories blaming 9/11 on Israel, and even one individual who appeared to believe that Hitler had been misunderstood”.

He said: “People holding those views have no place in the Labour party. They may be few: the number of cases over the past three years represents less than 0.1 per cent of Labour’s membership of more than half a million. But one is too many.

“Our party must never be a home for such people, and never will be. People who dish out antisemitic poison need to understand: you do not do it in my name. You are not my supporters and have no place in our movement.”

Praising the contribution Jewish people had made to the Labour movement through its history, he said no one should try to “dismiss or belittle” the concerns that had been raised.

However he dismissed the criticism of three Jewish newspapers, which last week published a joint front page saying a Labour government threatened Jewish life in the UK.

He said: “I do not for one moment accept that a Labour government would represent any kind of threat, let alone an ‘existential threat’, to Jewish life in Britain, as three Jewish newspapers recently claimed.

“That is the kind of overheated rhetoric that can surface during emotional political debates. But I do acknowledge there is a real problem that Labour is working to overcome. And I accept that, if any part of our national community feels threatened, anxious or vulnerable, not only must that be taken at face value but we must all ensure those fears are put to rest.

“I want to make it absolutely clear that any government I lead will take whatever measures are necessary to guarantee the security of Jewish communities, Jewish schools, Jewish places of worship, Jewish social care, Jewish culture and Jewish life as a whole.”

But Mr Corbyn defended the recent decision by the party’s ruling body not to adopt a standard international definition of anti-Semitism as part of its new code of conduct, something which enraged many Labour MPs and Jewish groups.

He claimed the dispute was about half of one of the 11 examples given by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance which dealt with criticism of Israel.

This had “sometimes been used by those wanting to restrict criticism of Israel that is not anti-Semitic”, he said, and he was “confident this outstanding issue can be resolved through dialogue with community organisations, including the Jewish Labour Movement.”

The article appeared after Mr Corbyn’s effort to draw a line under the crisis by making a speech at the Jewish Museum in London collapsed after a backlash.

The Jewish Chronicle reported Mr Corbyn’s office suggested several Jewish groups had agreed to attend, but when it emerged this was not the case, talks with the museum ended.

Meanwhile Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said she will not apologise for calling Mr Corbyn “an anti-Semite and a racist” to his face, despite an offer from the party to drop its disciplinary action against her if she did so.