A playwright celebrated for his observations of modern life has criticised the "ineradicable taint of antisemitism" in British society.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the Chicago-born Jewish writer David Mamet said that modern speakers were using the same antisemitic arguments that Charles Lindbergh and Oswald Mosley made in the 1930s.
He said: "The speeches that are the same speeches that are being made today, only slightly more politely: 'The Jews are bringing us to war. Perhaps we should give their state away."
Mr Mamet, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his play Glengarry Glen Ross, said there was a profound taint of antisemitism in British life. He referred to the "stock Jew characterisations" of authors including Anthony Trollope and George Eliot, but said the problem had not gone away.