THE Labour leader has said his party is “looking at the circumstances” of a controversial conference call which two MPs took part in last night.

Former Labour frontbenchers Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy participated in a virtual meeting alongside ex-party members who have been excluded from the party following allegations of antisemitism.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has urged the leader of the Labour Party to take swift and decisive action.

Speaking to the Bury Times, Sir Keir Starmer was asked what action he would take regarding any MPs attended the meeting on the Zoom online platform.

He said: “What I’ve done since I’ve been leader of the Labour Party is to take the first opportunity to apologise for the way we’ve dealt with anti-Semitism in the party, to build links with the Jewish community, to begin to get to grips with the cases.

“Obviously, we’re looking at the circumstances of the meeting last night, but the most important thing is to build that relationship. And I know that’s going to be a difficult thing to do.”

The former Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, and the ex-Shadow Immigration Minister, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, both attended the virtual meeting titled, “Labour leaks: lessons for the left”.

They were both reported to have addressed the call and offered their views on a recently leaked report into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

The virtual meeting was also attended by Tony Greenstein, who was expelled from Labour over anti-Semitism allegations, and Jackie Walker, who was expelled on gross misconduct charges.

President of the Board of Deputies, Marie van der Zyl, has reacted to the reports of the conference call last night.

She said: “As soon as we learnt about this we raised it with Keir Starmer’s office and with the Labour whips.

“It is completely unacceptable that Labour MPs, and even ordinary members, should be sharing platforms with those that have been expelled from the Party for antisemitism.

“Indeed, this breaches the Board of Deputies’ Ten Pledges that Keir and the other Labour leadership contenders signed up to.

“We would urge Labour to take swift and decisive action to show that this is a new era, rather than a false dawn.”