Labour’s greatest day of shame
Corbyn suspended by party after damning anti-Semitism report
SIR Keir Starmer was forced to issue an unreserved apology on behalf of his party yesterday after an excoriating report f ound Labour had broken the law in its handling of anti-Semitism.
In a devastating 100-page verdict, Britain’s equalities watchdog found Labour had been responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination during the hard-Left leadership of Jeremy Corbyn – and may even have ‘ accepted’ anti-Semitism.
Sir Keir said the extraordinary findings marked a ‘ day of shame’ for the party and he was ‘ truly sorry for all the pain and grief that has been caused’.
It is only the second time such an investigation had been opened into a political party. The first was into the far-Right British National Party.
The report laid bare shocking social media comments that diminished the scale or significance of the Holocaust or even expressed support for Hitler or the Nazis; it shamed former London mayor Ken Livingstone for ‘ harassing’ Jewish Labour Party members and it found there was ‘political interference’ after complaints were received about Mr Corbyn’s support for an anti-Semitic mural.
In one of its most damning conclusions, the Equality and Human Rights Commission said there was evidence of ‘political interference’ by Mr Corbyn’s office in the handling of 23 cases of anti-Semitism. EHRC interim chairman Caroline Waters said there had been ‘inexcusable’ failures which ‘appeared to be a result of a lack of willingness to tackle anti- Semitism rather than an inability to do so’.
The report said: ‘Our investigation has identified serious failings in leadership and an inadequate process for handling anti-Semitism complaints across the Labour Party.
‘While there have been some recent improvements in how the Labour Party deals with antiSemitism complaints, our analysis points to a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent anti-Semitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.’
The EHRC identified serious failings in the party leadership in addressing anti-Semitism and an inadequate process for handling anti-Semitism complaints.
It said Labour was responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act relating to: political interference in complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those handling anti- Semitism cases and harassment.
The party has been served with an unlawful act notice and has been given until December 10 to draft an action plan to implement the report’s recommendations, which is legally enforceable by the courts if not fulfilled. Key findings from the report include:
CORBYN OFFICE’S INTERFERENCE
Mr Corbyn’s office routinely interfered in supposedly independent disciplinary cases relating to antiSemitism, the equalities watchdog found. In a third of cases investigated in detail by the EHRC, there
‘Social media comments diminished scale of Holocaust’
‘Labour members compared Israelis to Hitler or the Nazis’
‘Evidence Corbyn’s office interfered in handling of complaints’
was ‘ inappropriate involvement’ by the Labour leader’s team. In one case, Mr Corbyn’s staff intervened to get a complaint into his support for an anti- Semitic mural dismissed.
This meant the party acted in an ‘indirectly discriminatory and unlawful’ way, the report said – because it made it harder for Jews to be confident their complaints would be dealt with fairly.
Mr Corbyn’s team has long maintained that there was no political interference in anti-Semitism cases by members of his office.
But the report makes it clear this was not the case, and veteran Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said it was clear the hard-Left former leader had ‘lied’ about his team’s involvement. She said: ‘The reason I think they did it was just simply to support their friends. It was entirely politically motivated.’
In one example, National Executive Committee disputes panel chairman Christine Shawcroft intervened to seek the reinstatement of a member suspended for a Holocaust denial post, so he could stand as a candidate in local elections. She resigned after the case was reported in the Mail.
LIVINGSTONE NAMED AND SHAMED
Former London mayor Ken Livingstone was shamed in the report for ‘ harassing’ Jewish Labour Party members.
It said Mr Livingstone and local councillor Pam Bromley had both ‘committed harassment against its members in relation to Jewish ethnicity’. They were also accused of dismissing complaints of antiSemitism as ‘fake or smears’.
Mr Livingstone was singled out for his actions in April 2016 when he tried to defend Labour MP Naz Shah over her social media posts.
She had reposted a Facebook image suggesting Israel be relocated to the United States with the comment ‘problem solved’. He was suspended from the party in April 2016 and resigned in May 2018 before an internal investigation against him concluded.
The EHRC said: ‘ Ken Livingstone repeatedly denied that these posts were anti-Semitic.
‘In his denial, Ken Livingstone alleged that scrutiny of Naz Shah’s conduct was part of a smear campaign by “the Israel lobby” to stigmatise critics of Israel as antiSemitic, and was intended to undermine and disrupt the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.’
Mrs Bromley, a Labour councillor in Rossendale, Lancashire, was accused of making ‘ numerous statements’ on Facebook between April 2018 and December 2019 that the EHRC said amounted to ‘unwanted conduct related to Jewish ethnicity’. The report said this ‘had the effect of harassing Labour Party members’.
COMPLAINTS JUST ‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’
The report said that cases of unlawful harassment by ‘agents’ of the Labour Party were the ‘tip of the iceberg’, with files of evidence of anti-Semitic conduct by ‘ordinary’ members.
The conduct related to social media comments that diminished the scale or significance of the Holocaust or expressed support for Hitler or the Nazis.
Others compared Israelis to Hitler or the Nazis, or described a ‘witch-hunt’ in the Labour Party.
Some said complaints had been manufactured by the ‘Israel lobby’, while others referenced conspiracies about the Rothschilds and Jewish power and control over financial or other institutions.
Members also blamed Jewish people for the ‘anti-Semitism crisis’ in the Labour Party and Jewish people generally for actions of the state of Israel. They used ‘Zio’ as an anti- Semitic term, and accused British Jews of greater loyalty to Israel than Britain.
The report added: ‘The Labour Party should deal with antiSemitic conduct by its members effectively, regardless of whether it is legally responsible for it under equality law.’