Phillips furore shows Labour has lost trust, claims Nandy

THE backlash over the suspension of Trevor Phillips from Labour for alleged Islamophobia has highlighted how “badly discredited” its disciplinary process has become, Lisa Nandy has claimed.

The Labour leadership candidate yesterday said the party’s complaints system needed to be overhauled and outsourced to an independent body.

While Ms Nandy refused to say whether Mr Phillips, the former chairman of Britain’s equalities watchdog, should have been suspended, she warned that Labour’s handling of antisemitism meant it had “lost the trust of everybody”. Her intervention came after Mr Phillips called on the candidates vying to replace Jeremy Corbyn to state their position on his suspension, saying it was a “test of the kind of party” they intended to lead.

Ms Nandy did express her unease that Mr Phillips had been suspended at a moment when the Equalities and Human Rights Commission was investigating the party for anti-semitism.

She told ITV’S Good Morning Britain: “I think this just highlights how badly discredited the Labour Party has become and the Labour leadership has become about the way that we handle complaints.”

Separately, it emerged yesterday that Yasmin Dar, who sits on Labour’s ruling national executive committee and whose brother was last year accused of anti-semitism, will now head the body responsible for hearing membership appeals and readmission applications, according to Politicshome.

Labour insisted last night that the disputes panel does not deal with cases of alleged anti-semitism.