NHS in cyber push

THE NHS is to spend £150 million on cyber security to protect it from attacks such as last year’s WannaCry incident.

The Department of Health and Social Care has signed a new contract with Microsoft to enhance security intelligence, with individual trusts having the ability to detect threats, isolate infected machines and kill malicious processes before they are able to spread. The move was announced by Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt. A LABOUR activist expelled from the party for verbally clashing with an MP has claimed Jeremy Corbyn did not believe he had done anything wrong.

Marc Wadsworth said he had received “behind the scenes” support from the Labour leader’s office on the first day of his disciplinary hearing.

Mr Wadsworth’s expulsion followed a hearing by Labour’s disciplinary body which found his behaviour had been “grossly detrimental to the party”.

But the veteran activist claimed that Mr Corbyn had told mutual friends that “he doesn’t see that I did anything wrong”.

Mr Corbyn’s office disputed the claims made by Mr Wadsworth and insisted no member of staff had called to offer him support. It is understood that Mr Wadsworth did not claim support from Mr Corbyn during his disciplinary hearing.

Mr Wadsworth had accused Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth of “working hand in hand” with The Daily Telegraph during a tirade at the launch of the Chakrabarti report on anti-Semitism in 2016.

Mr Wadsworth hit out at the process used against him and claimed he had been made a scapegoat. He said: “The first letter I got, cancelling my membership summarily, was based on an alleged verbal attack on a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party which was uncomradely, brought the party into disrepute and embarrassed the leader. Well, the leader has told mutual friends he wasn’t embarrassed because he doesn’t see that I did anything wrong.”

Asked if Mr Corbyn’s office had been supporting his case, Mr Wadsworth said: “When they called me on the first day of the hearing, they said to me that they had been working behind the scenes, that what I said wasn’t anti-Semitic. But then you have to interpose that with the fact that Jeremy did have a bit of a go at me at the launch of the Chakrabarti report and said that perhaps I could have used kinder language.”

Asked who from Mr Corbyn’s team had been in touch with him on the first day of the hearing, Mr Wadsworth said: “I’m not going to get into names.”

Mr Wadsworth said the claims against him changed from the “verbal attack” to one of “anti-Semitism under the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, which the party apparently had adopted later on, after, and were applying retrospectively”.

Ms Smeeth said she was relieved that the “ordeal” was over.

Stoke-on-Trent North MP Ms Smeeth said: “Abuse, bullying and intimidation have no place in our movement.”

Dozens of Labour MPs had marched in support of Jewish colleague Ms Smeeth as she prepared to give evidence at Mr Wadsworth’s disciplinary hearing this week.

But Mr Wadsworth accused the “gang of white MPs” of bullying behaviour.

Labour said 90 current cases of anti-Semitism are under investigation, making up around 0.02% of its membership of around 500,000.