Leaks deepen Labour’s anti-Semitism nightmare

A HUGE dossier of leaked messages detailing Labour’s handling of its anti-Semitism crisis is to be submitted to the equalities watchdog.

It contains a large body of evidence against the leadership, according to the former staffers who compiled it

Labour is the first party since the BNP to face a formal investigation by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. The anti-Semitism scandal has led to the defections of several MPs, including Luciana Berger, who is Jewish.

The dossier details 100,000 emails, including tens of thousands showing how Labour ignored complaints that supporters promoted anti-Semitism, the former staffers told Private Eye.

They are also expected to submit copies of WhatsApp conversations from their time at Labour headquarters, as well as sworn affidavits detailing the efforts to protect Jeremy Corbyn loyalists. A source with knowledge of the material said: ‘The dossier is really serious. It shows a huge failure to act.’ One of the organisers of the leak added: ‘Who is going to speak out? Everyone. The protection of anti-Semites was on a scale and at a level that the public does not begin to understand.’

The former Labour officials want the EHRC to make its investigation into Labour statutory so it can override any gagging clauses staff are subject to. Whistleblowing law defines the covering up of racial discrimination as ‘wrongdoing’ – preventing Labour from taking the ex-staff to court.

The staffers are said to have kept emails and messages when they quit, partly out of disgust for the tolerance of racism, but also in case they were threatened by the party in the future.

Internal documents show the party failed to take disciplinary action in hundreds of cases, according to the Sunday Times. Researchers for the campaign group Labour Against Anti-Semitism have already submitted a dossier of 15,000 screenshots of allegedly antiSemitic and abusive posts by Labour members and candidates to the EHRC.

‘It shows a huge failure to act’