A Labour peer has revealed in her memoir that she deliberately spoiled her ballot paper during the 2019 general election, writing "antisemite" in protest against then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Margaret Hodge, a former minister and Labour MP for Barking for over 30 years, described the experience in her book Battleaxe. She explained that on election day, December 12, 2019, she could not bring herself to vote for Corbyn and instead marked her ballot paper with the word "antisemite" as an act of protest. The 82-year-old, who now sits in the House of Lords, had long been a critic of Corbyn, accusing him of being in "permanent denial" about antisemitism within the Labour Party. Hodge, who had previously voted by post, decided to cast her ballot in person that day. As she stood in the polling booth, she realized she could not support Corbyn for leadership. She wrote that she had set personal "red lines" in case he won the election, vowing to take action to prevent him from becoming prime minister, including voting against him in a no-confidence motion or blocking his budget. She also noted that a few other MPs had expressed willingness to support her in such efforts. In her memoir, Hodge reflects on her long relationship with Corbyn, dating back to 1983 when he first became the MP for Islington North and she was the leader of Islington Council. At the time, she described him as "a rather harmless, disorganised nonentity." However, her view of him changed over the years, particularly after disagreements over how the Labour Party should define and address antisemitism. She also addressed a famous moment in 2018 when she was reported to have called Corbyn an "antisemite" in the House of Commons. She clarified that while she had intended to use strong language, she refrained from swearing to avoid weakening her message. She confronted Corbyn directly, accusing him of fostering a hostile environment for Jews in the Labour Party. A spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn responded to Hodge's revelations, stating that his leadership had transformed the Labour Party into a movement focused on tackling economic injustice and opposing racism. The spokesperson criticized Hodge for engaging in "baseless smears and personal abuse" and insisted that the accusations against Corbyn were "demonstrably false." They emphasized that Corbyn would continue to advocate for a more equal and inclusive society as the MP for Islington North.