Corbyn complains over Labour’s apology to anti-Semitism whistleblowers

The Labour Party has apologised for making defamatory comments about whistleblowers who appeared on a BBC Panorama episode about anti-Semitism within Labour.

In a statement read out in the High Court on Wednesday, the party said it would “unreservedly withdraw all allegations of bad faith, malice and lying” and apologised for the “distress, embarrassment and hurt caused by their publication”. Damages of £200,000 have been agreed for the eight individuals involved.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s team had hoped the settlement would put an end to the damaging legal drama, but this was dashed last night when it emerged that Jeremy Corbyn, Jennie Formby and Seumus Milne – three of the most powerful figures in the party at the time – have instructed lawyers to complain to the party about the settlement.  Seemingly unrepentant, the former Labour leader said the apology was “a political decision, not a legal one”.

In response, John Ware, the journalist who led the Panorama investigation, has instructed libel lawyer Mark Lewis to represent him in possible legal action against Jeremy Corbyn. A number of other individuals involved are also considering suing Corbyn.

The events are a rude reminder that Labour’s anti-Semitism problem cannot be batted away with a change of personnel or reassuring talking points. For as long as Corbyn remains a prominent Member of Parliament, the previous Labour leadership’s actions during numerous anti-Semitism crises will be publicly defended.

A senior Labour staffer told Reaction: “They don’t understand anti-Semitism, so they think it’s some great injustice… they’re Mandela, everyone else is Apartheid.”

For Starmer, this is something of a test-run for the big set-piece showdown to come. The publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission report into anti-Semitism is thought to be imminent, with a draft copy having already been sent to the party for review. It is expected to be excruciatingly embarrassing.

As Sam Matthews, one of subjects of the apology, wrote in The Times today: “While only eight of us went on the record on Panorama, we have been joined by a chorus of more than 70 other whistleblowers in providing evidence to the EHRC”.

The fundamental test for winning back Jewish Labour voters, the staffer told Reaction, will be whether dissent is tolerated after the EHRC report is published. “It will be bad. Definitive. So if Corbyn behaves like he’s done today he has got to be removed from the party. If he stays it will rumble on.”