Labour's Lord Triesman quits party over 'institutional anti-Semitism'
In his letter of resignation, he said the party leadership had used any excuse "to allow their allies to attack Jews or engage with anti-Semites.
"My sad conclusion is that the Labour Party is very plainly institutionally anti-Semitic, and its leader and his circle are anti-Semitic having never once made the right judgment call about an issue reflecting deep prejudice," he wrote in the letter posted on Twitter by BBC Newsnight.
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Hide AdFormer health minister Lord Darzi of Denham has also resigned the Labour whip.
The peer told BBC Two's Newsnight: "I confirm I am leaving the Labour Whip to sit as an independent.
"As an Armenian survivor of the Armenian genocide I have zero tolerance to anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or any other discrimination against religion or race.
"This decision has not been lightly taken."