If anyone thought the Labour party was through with the psychodrama of the Jeremy Corbyn years, they would have been bitterly disappointed by proceedings at the High Court this morning.
In court, the Labour Party officially apologised for its own treatment of whistle-blowers involved in a BBC Panorama investigation into the party’s handling of antisemitism cases, which aired in 2019.
In an apology read out at the High Court, Labour said it ‘acknowledged’ that previous statements it had made about the whistle-blowers – including accusing them of having ‘political axes to grind’ and being motivated by their opposition to Jeremy Corbyn – were ‘untrue and we redact and withdraw them and undertake not to repeat them’.
The party also apologised to the BBC reporter John Ware who led Panorama’s investigation. The report ‘Is Labour Antisemitic?’ had claimed that when Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the party, there had been political interference in Labour’s disciplinary process when dealing with allegations of antisemitism. This was denied by Labour at the time.
Labour has now promised to pay ‘substantial damages’ and the party’s lawyers said they were at court to ‘set the record straight’.
Not everyone in Labour is pleased about the decision though. Former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, former chief of communications Seumas Milne, and former secretary-general Jennie Formby reportedly instructed their lawyers to prevent the Labour Party from apologising. True to form, it appears they were not successful.
Several Corbyn allies within Labour are now deeply unhappy about the party’s decision to not contest the case against the BBC and the Panorama whistle-blowers. It’s only been one month since the left of the party clashed with Keir Starmer over his decision to sack Rebecca Long-Bailey as shadow education minister. Mr S wonders: could this latest scrap with the left finally tip Labour back into another civil war?
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