The Labour leader said it was not fair for Lord Mitchell to claim that it was “very difficult” to remain in the party if you are Jewish and support Israel.
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But the NEC agreed that further discussions were needed and that it wanted to focus on other rule changes for this year’s party conference instead, including giving the party in Scotland and Wales new posts on the NEC. He said to supporters, “This party is strong”.
“It is imperative that lessons are learned and, in particular that we see a decidedly firmer and more proactive approach to tackling antisemitism”.
“In our party, we have much more in common than that which divides us”, he said after the result was made public. Some of his opposition, too, have agreed that the party must now unite – and with Corbyn advising that the slate is now effectively clean, it appears that things may change dramatically for Labour. Smith took in 38.2 percent.
She destroyed Mr Umunna, calling the once-rising star of Labour Party a “terrified and cowardly politician”.
In power for 13 years until 2010, Labour was dealt a crushing blow by the Conservatives five years later after they cast doubt on whether the party’s left-wing policies would protect the economy.
Union leaders were among the first to welcome Corbyn’s victory, but said Labour now has a big challenge ahead.
A senior MP has called on Jeremy Corbyn to do more to curb the online abuse of colleagues, saying it is not enough for the Labour leader to condemn it.
Speaking to BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show on the first day of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn insisted the party was “quite united” on policy, and said it was time to “move on” from the bruising exchanges of the leadership contest.
On the issue of shadow cabinet elections, Mr McDonnell told Sky News’s Murnaghan: “There’s a whole series of democratic reforms that people are debating now, one of which is shadow cabinet elections”.
Corbyn is highly unlikely to face another challenge before the next general election, which is due by May 2020.
And leading Labour moderate Chuka Umunna said the party can not win a general election unless it is a “broad church” taking in the left and centre-left.
He said: “My message is, concentrate on policies, concentrate on campaigning, concentrate on what we’ve got to put out there as a message”.
Mr Corbyn triumphed across most demographics but rival Owen Smith, the Pontypridd MP, won the support of 63 per cent of people who were members before the last general election and a majority of those aged 18 to 24.
A YouGov “exit poll” found 64 per cent of Labour members in the North backed Mr Corbyn, the highest proportion of any region in the country.
“This is a fantastic result”, Jon Lansman, head of a pro-Corbyn campaign group, said.
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Diane Abbott, a Labour Parliament member and Corbyn supporter, told CNN: “The young really like Bernie (Sanders) even though he was older than any of the other candidates in the Democratic primaries”.
