Britain’s most senior rabbi yesterday suggested Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations made him “unfit for high office”, in an unprecedented intervention ahead of next month’s election.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis claimed “a new poison” had taken hold of the party, which had been “sanctioned from the very top” and left British Jews justifiably “gripped by anxiety” before the December 12 poll.

The scathing criticism overshadowed Labour’s launch of a “race and faith” manifesto setting out policies to improve social justice, human rights—and promote racial equality.

But the policy announcement was overshadowed by Mirvis, who described Corbyn’s claim to have dealt forcefully with all accusations of anti-Semitism as “mendacious fiction”.

In a scathing comment piece in The Times, he said Corbyn was responsible for “a failure of leadership” which was “incompatible with the British values of which we are so proud.

“How complicit in prejudice would a leader of Her Majesty’s opposition have to be to be considered unfit for office?”