Investigation into leaked Labour report welcomed
martin.shipton@walesonline.co.uk
A WELSH member of Labour’s national executive committee has broadly welcomed confirmation that an investigation will take place into the contents of a leaked party report that suggests senior headquarters staff were hoping Labour would be defeated in the 2017 General Election.
Labour did unexpectedly well in that year’s election, depriving the Conservatives of their overall majority.
But messages passed between senior party officials appear to show they would rather the Conservatives win than Jeremy Corbyn become Prime Minister.
The report, compiled as part of the party’s response to an inquiry undertaken by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) into allegations of antisemitism in Labour, suggests that officials delayed investigations into antisemitism in order to discredit Mr Corbyn.
It also contains a series of offensive WhatsApp messages in which party colleagues are referred to in grossly offensive terms.
The report states: “By the time a new general secretary took over Party HQ in April 2018 there was a backlog of cases that had been ongoing, often for years, with little to no progress, and with information on their status and content scattered across different systems and central and regional offices.
“Some of these were high-profile cases, awaiting decision at NEC [national executive committee] or NCC [national constitutional committee] level. There was, further, a hidden backlog of people reported to GLU [governance and legal unit] for antisemitism, but never dealt with or mishandled, many of whom would be re-reported subsequently, or were picked up in spring 2018 as [general secretary] Iain McNicol was leaving.”
The report says there is no record of action being taken on a number of cases including one member who wished for Corbyn’s death.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has launched an “urgent investigation” into the leaked report.
In a joint statement with his deputy Angela Rayner, he said the investigation would look at the circumstances the report was commissioned in, the “wider culture and practices referred to in the report” and also look at how the document was leaked into the public domain.
They added: “This investigation will be instructed to look at three areas. First, the background and circumstances in which the report was commissioned and the process involved. Second, the contents and wider culture and practices referred to in the report.
“Third, the circumstances in which the report was put into the public domain.
“We have also asked for immediate sight of any legal advice the Labour Party has already received about the report.”
Rhondda MP Chris Bryant, not on the left of the party, tweeted his frustration at the leaking of the report: “At a time like this it would be utterly self-indulgent for anyone in the Labour Party to engage in a bout of internecine blood letting.
“As [Prime Minister] Pedro Sanchez said in Spain: ‘I only have one enemy – the virus.’”
Welsh Labour Grassroots, the Welsh branch of Momentum, responded to him on Twitter: “Today’s bad take. It’s possible to walk and chew gum at the same time.
“The virus remains our common enemy, across any political divide, but we are right to be angry at those who worked to prevent a government which would have prioritised NHS investment and ended austerity.”
Darren Williams, a member of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) who lives in Cardiff and heads the PCS civil servants’ union in Wales, said: “The contents of this report are very disturbing and the NEC needs to consider it at the earliest opportunity.
“Some of the language used by party headquarters staff to describe colleagues is offensive and totally inappropriate.
“More serious, however, is what it shows about the attitudes of senior party officials to the possibility of the party winning the 2017 election.
“It is wholly shocking that because of their antagonism towards Jeremy Corbyn they were hoping for a Tory victory.
“I am on the left of the party, and we have had our ups and downs over the last 20 years. But whoever has led the party I and others on the left have always worked to elect Labour MPs, AMs and councillors.
“It is also appalling to discover that complaints about antisemitism were deliberately held up by officials in order to make Jeremy Corbyn look as if he wasn’t dealing with the issue.
“Some of the people involved still work for the party while others now hold important positions in other parts of the Labour movement.”
Mr Williams said he was pleased there would be an investigation into the matter, but said the terms of the inquiry should be agreed by the NEC and that it should concentrate on the content of the report rather than become a witch-hunt into who leaked it.