Labour settled the
Panorama libel case yesterday, agreeing to pay
"substantial damages" and apologising to seven former Labour
staffers and BBC journalist John Ware. Labour said it had defamed
the individuals in the aftermath of the documentary, which looked
into antisemitism in the party. At the time, a Labour spokesperson
had described
the programme as a "seriously inaccurate, politically one-sided
polemic, which breached basic journalistic standards" and
complained to Ofcom. But Labour's lawyers yesterday said the
statements issued following its airing had included “invented
quotes”, “flouted journalistic ethics” and were “defamatory”. The
settlement is believed to have cost Labour around £600,000, with
about £180,000 in damages agreed for the eight individuals.
Plenty of reaction followed. Jeremy Corbyn issued a
statement in the afternoon, saying that "our legal advice was
that the party had a strong defence" – and criticising the move
as a "political decision, not a legal one". Left figures in the
labour movement, such
as , expressed solidarity with the former Labour leader
– while the Jewish Labour Movement, and
others welcomed the outcome of the case. Longstanding Corbyn
critic MP called the former leader's intervention "bizarre". Meanwhile, Unite
general secretary Len
McCluskey tweeted that the move was a “misuse of Labour Party
funds to settle a case it was advised we would win in court”.
Nandy told the
BBC that McCluskey was “completely wrong” and said the party
is “taking steps today to get it right” on antisemitism.
It's worth mentioning that all Labour leadership candidates had
committed
to settling the case during the leadership election,
including Corbynite . But since then we've seen the leaked
reporton the party's handling of antisemitism complaints
emerge. The document includes allegations that disciplinary cases
were mishandled in order to undermine Corbyn's leadership, and
McCluskey said yesterday that it “tells a very different story
about what happened”. This report is itself obviously
controversial. Mark Lewis – the lawyer who acted for Ware and the
former staffers in the Panorama case – told
BBC Newsnight that he has been approached
by 32 people who want to take legal action over the dossier. This
includes former general secretary , who the lawyer reported is suing for "being blamed
for things that simply didn't happen". Lewis added that the
document was "incredibly edited, incredibly slanted, incredibly
misleading".
But the problem is that claims made in the document relate to the
issues raised in the documentary, and it named some of the
Panorama whistleblowers. Some within the party
consequently see the leaked report as vindicating the comments
made after the documentary was aired. John McDonnell wrote in
April that, if true, the allegations suggested "staff not
only failed to deal with cases of antisemitism effectively but
also covered up their failure". The inquiry into the leaked
report, chaired by Martin Forde QC, has now been delayed and is
expected to be completed at the end of the year. Its call for
evidence has just been extended by two weeks as well, with the
deadline on August 7th at 5pm.
