Labour ‘tried to stop BBC’s anti-Semitism documentary’
BY MIKEY SMITH LABOUR tried to halt the broadcast of last night’s damning BBC documentary on anti-Semitism, it has emerged.
The Panorama programme made a string of bruising allegations against Jeremy Corbyn’s inner circle.
Among the allegations were claims party figures tried to interfere in the complaints and disciplinary process.
Corbyn’s spokesman yesterday insisted the party had not asked for the documentary to be pulled.
But in a complaint to directorgeneral Lord Tony Hall, the party urged the BBC to “suspend and reconsider the planned broadcast of this programme in this form”.
The party complained it did not get enough time to respond to allegations in the documentary, and questions put were not “balanced and fair”.
The spokesman said: “From what we’ve seen, the Panorama team had already come to a conclusion about where their investigation was going before it looked at the evidence in full.”
Mike Creighton, ex-head of the Labour disputes team, told Panorama that Corbyn’s top adviser Seumas Milne “laughed” at his suggestion in early 2016 that the leader should make a speech affirming Israel had a right to exist.
Labour disputes the conversation took place, calling the claim “false”.
The programme also claimed it saw emails showing general secretary Jennie Formby tried to intervene in an investigation into activist Jackie Walker, since expelled from the party.
In a statement, Labour accused Panorama of using “representations to mislead the public”.
And it said some ex-staff members who appeared were “disaffected former officials” who “always opposed Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and worked to actively undermine it”.
Panorama already decided where the investigation was going before it looked at evidence LABOUR PARTY SPOKESMAN BEFORE THE BROADCAST LAST NIGHT