In the run-up to Wednesday night’s Panorama on Labour anti-Semitism, one whistleblower received a lawyer’s letter, the party demanded the BBC director-general ‘suspend and reconsider the planned broadcast’, and Momentum did a pre-emptive hit job on presenter John Ware. Now we know why. Panorama: Is Labour Anti-Semitic? levelled serious charges, chief amongst them that senior figures close to Jeremy Corbyn, including his spin doctor Seumas Milne and Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby, interfered in the disciplinary process.
Ware interviewed more than 20 Labour officials for the documentary. Former head of disputes for the party, Sam Matthews, said there was now ‘a culture in the Labour Party that makes anti-Semites feel it is their political home’. He accused Milne of emailing officials to warn against ‘muddling up political disputes with racism’ and to urge a review into the process, something Matthews interpreted as ‘an instruction’.
Mike Creighton, another ex-head of disputes, recounted that Milne asked him how to deal with anti-Semitism.
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