Barrister reprimanded and fined over Twitter abuse of Jewish ex-colleague

A barrister has been reprimanded and fined over social media posts accusing leading Jewish human rights lawyer Adam Wagner of fabricating claims about antisemitism.

The Bar Standards Board confirmed Daniel Bennett, who is himself Jewish, had been sanctioned over “inappropriate and offensive” tweets sent between September 2018 and June 2019 from the @arrytuttle account to barrister Wagner.

While the Board did not confirm Bennett was responsible for the tweets it ruled he had “allowed” them to be sent from the account.

In one tweet the account accused Wagner of being a “lying propagandist who brings shame on our entire community” and suggested his claims on anti-Jewish racism were “fraudulent”.

Another tweet said:”Every day platformed jews from the self-appointed ‘mainstream’ direct hatred at leftist Jews. Every day they misrepresented facts. Every day they pretend that leftist jews are antisemitic.”

While a further tweet claimed Wagner “is an absolute danger and a hater of leftist jews. Would not go near him with a barge pole.”

Wagner said in 2019 that the @arrytuttle account had “waged a campaign of anonymous abuse and harassment against me and others involved in the Labour antisemitism issues.”

The account repeatedly posted tweets in defence of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The Board concluded Bennett’s association with the account was likely to diminish the trust and confidence in him and the profession.

Bennett had been working at Doughty Street Chambers at the time time as Wagner. He left in 2019 over his links to the account and is now self-employed.

In July 2020 it emerged that the High Court had ordered Bennett to hand over deleted tweets and reveal whether anyone else had access to the account.

It was also reported at the time that Bennett “admits responsibility” for the @arrytuttle account and any “legal liability” for it, according to statements given to the High Court.

But he refused to say whether he actually wrote all the allegedly defamatory tweets.

Bennett later deleted the account targeted numerous activists campaigning against antisemitism in the Labour Party, includingCountdownTV presenter Rachel Riley and actress Tracy Ann Oberman.

Ina  decision taken on September 5th the Board reprimanded and fined Bennett £500 over his conduct.

He now has 21 days to appeal the BSB decision.

Bennett had previously apologised for any offence caused by the account and claimed he did not support or endorse any attacks on Wagner and others.

Following the Board’s decision Wagner tweeted: “This has all been incredibly stressful as you might imagine so I’m not going to say anything more about it for now.”