Labour Apologises for 'Antisemitism'
Statement by Jewish Voice for Labour
The decision by the Labour leadership to make an apology in open court and a commitment to pay “substantial damages” to those who were suing the Party is deeply disappointing. As Len McCluskey has said, the settlement is a misuse of funds derived from the subscriptions of thousands of individual members in order to settle a case that the Party was advised it could win in court.
The case hinges on the “whistle blowers’” interviewed on the contested Panorama programme Is Labour Antisemitic? The leaked internal party report into the operation of Labour’s disciplinary processes throws a quite different light on the activities of several of these litigants. Yet there has been an almost complete media blackout on this story. Why?
Labour’s ongoing inquiry into the leaked report, headed by Martin Forde QC, can only be compromised by Starmer’s apology to individuals named within it.
Testimony from these individuals has been cited in submissions to the Equality and Human Rights Commission inquiry whose report is on the point of being made public. We hope that the Commission’s report will reflect the leaked internal papers and submissions from JVL, representing many Jewish party members across the country, contesting the narrative of endemic antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Jeremy Corbyn adds:
Labour Party members have a right to accountability and transparency of decisions taken in their name, and an effective commitment from the party to combat antisemitism and racism in all their forms.
The Party’s decision to apologise today and make substantial payments to former staff who sued the party in relation to last year’s Panorama programme is a political decision, not a legal one.
Our legal advice was that the party had a strong defence, and the evidence in the leaked Labour report that is now the subject of an NEC inquiry led by Martin Forde QC strengthened concerns about the role played by some of those who took part in the programme.
The decision to settle these claims in this way is disappointing, and risks giving credibility to misleading and inaccurate allegations about action taken to tackle antisemitism in the Labour Party in recent years.
To give our members the answers and justice they deserve, the inquiry led by Martin Forde must now fully address the evidence the internal report uncovered of racism, sexism, factionalism and obstruction of Labour’s 2017 General Election campaign.
