THE JEWISH CHRONICLE – Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader has come amid divisions in his camp, with senior aides arguing over the apparent intention to appoint a “Minister for Jews”.

A series of leaks from those close to Mr Corbyn revealed a plan intended to pacify the Jewish community following concerns about his links to antisemites and Holocaust deniers.

The idea was discussed last week within his team as an attempt to repair the fractured relationship, although no such appointment has been made.

The JC first revealed the plan on its website at the weekend after a leak from a senior Corbyn source.

Then on Monday, after a separate leak, the Sun reported that “Jeremy Corbyn is to appoint a special Minister for Jews” and quoted a “source close to Mr Corbyn” as saying “Jeremy is not antisemitic in any way but he knows his former associations have been problematic”.

Today, the JC can reveal that the idea was also floated by a senior Corbyn adviser to Martin Bright, this paper’s former political editor. Mr Bright responded that it “sounded like something from Nazi Germany”.

On each occasion, the sources referred specifically to a “Minister for Jews”, although it is thought this may have been shorthand for a wider role that reached beyond the Jewish community but intended to appeal specifically to the Jewish community.

It is unclear whether the plan was discussed in sufficient detail to have identified how the role would fit in to Mr Corbyn’s front-bench team or who would fill it, although the position could have come under the brief of new Shadow Communities Secretary Jon Trickett or Shadow Equalities Minister Kate Green, and would have included efforts to work with all religious minorities.

When speaking to the JC, the source admitted that the community had a poor perception of Mr Corbyn and suggested that the new post would be a signal that he intended to have a friendly approach to British Jews.

Prior to Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet appointments on Sunday, the JC understands that a number of Jewish MPs, including Ruth Smeeth, indicated that they would decline if asked to serve.

Ivan Lewis offered to remain in his role as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary due to the ongoing crisis at Stormont but was sacked. During the leadership campaign, he had criticised some of Mr Corbyn’s supporters who had engaged in antisemitic rhetoric.

Luciana Berger agreed to be Shadow Mental Health Minister and is now the only Jewish member of the shadow cabinet. She issued a statement on Wednesday explaining her appointment had come following a “full and frank discussion” with the new leader.

“Reaching this decision was not easy,” Ms Berger said. “I cannot honestly say I agree with everything the new leader has said over the years. I felt he was willing to listen and engage.”

As a former Labour Friends of Israel director, Ms Berger is also one of the few remaining supporters of the country in the shadow cabinet — along with Tom Watson, the new deputy leader.

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A Minister for Jews? It’s a terrible idea

Who knows where the idea for a Minister for Jews came from within the Corbyn camp? Maybe it was just the ramblings of some over-enthusiastic junior staffer, desperate to rescue the saviour of the Labour Party from himself.

Maybe it was the result of long and carefully considered policy discussions after consultation with the movement.

Or, just possibly, it came pristine from the mind of the man himself.

I don’t know. But what I do know is that in the days before polling closed, I was approached by a senior adviser to Mr Corbyn over tea in Portcullis House and asked if I thought there was anything the Islington North MP could do about his “Jewish problem”.

This individual was seriously and, I believe, genuinely concerned that the campaign was failing to get to grips with the issue.

I said I thought it was very difficult. Just that day a prominent Jewish Labour donor had described Mr Corbyn to me as “the enemy”.

I explained that Mr Corbyn’s views on Hamas and Hezbollah, his apparent support for antisemitic hate preachers and appearances on Press TV, the Iranian state’s propaganda channel, made many Jewish people suspicious.

“What if he had a Minister for Jews,” said my source. “That’s the latest thinking.” I almost spat out my tea. “You have to be joking,” I said. “That is a really terrible idea. It sounds like something from Nazi Germany.”

It was outlined to me that the team around Mr Corbyn recognised that there was a problem of perception and that the ministerial post would help reassure the Jewish community that Mr Corbyn meant them no harm.

I assumed the idea had gone no further until I read a report in the Sun this week that the new Labour leader had actually been planning to create the post.

Naturally, the instinct of the left is to brand anything the Murdoch press writes as a lie but the reasoning as outlined to the Sun’s political editor was exactly as it had been outlined to me: “Jeremy is not antisemitic in any way, but he knows his former associations have been problematic. He wants to solve this, and a position for Jewish people and minorities is a good way to do that.”

Similar suggestions of a special ministerial post had also been reported to the JC and were published last weekend.

Rebuttals from the Labour Party came swiftly as the machine took over the press operation from Team Corbyn.

Wise heads clearly prevailed and the spinners quickly scotched the ludicrous idea that Britain’s Jews needed a minister specially for them.

We are still in messiah mode with Jeremy Corbyn. For his supporters, everything he does is simply inspired. His chaotic organisation is interpreted as a refreshing change; the refusal to answer legitimate questions from a Sky journalist is seen as a cunning silent protest against the Murdoch empire.

But his casual attitude towards authoritarian regimes and terrorist organisations with a murderous record of antisemitism is not explained away so easily.

The Minister for Jews idea was never the answer and, thankfully, it is now dead.

Instead, the Corbyn shadow cabinet now has a Jewish minister in the person of Luciana Berger. She will have to be careful not to give the new Labour leader cover and thus become the Minister for Jews by default.

As a former director of Labour Friends of Israel, Ms Berger is also a proud Zionist. It will be interesting to see how she responds when Labour policy on the Israel-Palestine conflict is discussed in shadow cabinet.

The most generous gloss to put on the Minister for Jews idea is that an increasingly frustrated Team Corbyn naively suggested a misguided strategy they hoped would appease the Jewish community.

Mr Corbyn himself has yet to show that he cares enough even to engage.