Keir Starmer has admitted being “frustrated” at Labour being plunged into another anti-Semitism row just days before the local elections.
The party leader was quizzed about stripping the whip from Diane Abbott after comments she made suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism "all their lives".
Appearing on the ITV This Morning sofa in the run-up to the May 4 ballots, Mr Starmer was asked by host Holly Willoughby: “Is it frustrating for you that things like this come up and it pulls focus on the job in hand?”
He conceded: “Yes, of course it is because we’ve got local elections coming up.”
Mr Starmer was keen to promote Labour’s plan to make spiking drinks a specific criminal offence, but the interview was overshadowed by questions about the latest anti-Semitism row to hit the party.
He insisted he was right to withdraw the whip from Ms Abbott, stressing he wanted to tackle abuse of Jewish people.
Warning her comments were “regrettable on every level”, he added: “What she said is to be thoroughly condemned.
“It was anti-Semitic and it’s very important that we acted quickly.”
He added: “One of the first things I said when I became leader of the Labour Party just over three years ago was that we would tear out anti-Semitism but its roots, and I meant what I said.
“That’s why as soon as we saw what had been written by Diane Abbott, we had to take action.”
He has refused to say if Ms Abbott could stand again for her London constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington at the next general election, stating: "There's an investigation in place, I've got to let that investigation be completed."
She said in a letter in The Observer that although white people "with points of difference" experience prejudice, they do not suffer the same racism as black people.
Ms Abbott has been an MP since 1987, was the first black woman elected to Parliament, and served as former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Home Secretary.
After prompting widespread criticism for her comments, Ms Abbott apologised for any "anguish" caused, suggesting "errors arose" in her initial draft letter to the newspaper.
In her apology, she said: "The errors arose in an initial draft being sent. But there is no excuse and I wish to apologise for any anguish caused.
"Racism takes many forms, and it is completely undeniable that Jewish people have suffered its monstrous effects, as have Irish people, Travellers and many others."
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