Meanwhile, Labour's lawyers are set to read out an apology in
court this morning in the libel case relating to the
Panorama documentary about Labour antisemitism. Seven of
eight former Labour staffers who appeared in the programme last
year took legal action, claiming that senior figures had attacked
their reputations and suggested they had personal motives to
undermine the party. A Labour spokesperson at the time had
described them as "disaffected officials who have always opposed
Corbyn’s leadership, worked to actively undermine it and have
both personal and political axes to grind”.
The Guardian reports today that
both the former Labour leader and the former director of comms
have taken legal advice about the settlement and
apology, and that "senior figures are considering routes for a
future challenge to the settlement". Keir Starmer reportedly reminded
national executive committee (NEC) members yesterday that all
candidates in the leadership race earlier this year had pledged to settle the
case – and told them it's the right thing to do both morally
and financially. But settling remains controversial within
Labour. For some on the left, the leaked report into the
party's handling of antisemitism complaints makes a real
difference. The dossier, which emerged after the leadership
election, described a “hyper-factional” environment in the party
and alleged that disciplinary cases were mishandled in order to
undermine Corbyn's leadership.
That internal document is of course subject to its own
investigation now. A four-person panel, chaired by Martin Forde
QC, was appointed to look into the allegations in the report, its
commissioning and how it was put into the public domain, and the
culture within the party. But constituency party NEC
representatives yesterday wrote to Forde and the
leadership requesting clarification in response to the
panel's call for evidence, in
which it appeared to suggest that the inquiry “intends to focus
on paragraph three of the terms of reference" – the bit about
party culture. The reps have called for the inquiry to also cover
the contents of the report. A Labour spokesperson told
LabourList that "an independent investigation into the
circumstances, contents and release" of the report is taking
place.
