Labour ‘confident of case presented to court’ over leaked antisemitism report

Labour remains “confident of the case it has presented to the court” as part of a lawsuit against five former staffers accused of leaking an internal report on antisemitism.

Jewish News understands there is still “overwhelming” support from the party’s ruling national executive committee for the party to pursue the case “robustly” in the High Court.

Recent accounts published by the Election Commission also show that as a result of increased revenue from commercial sources, fundraising and donations, Labour is in an exceptionally healthy state, erasing fears that a costly High Court legal fight could impact on its general election campaign.

A report in the Guardian revealed Labour had spent at least £503,260 in its dispute with ex-staff members, including Jeremy Corbyn’s former chief of staff, Karie Murphy, and his former director of communications, Seumas Milne.

This figure was said to relate only to the total costs accrued for a recent hearing, that involved an attempt to force Murphy to disclose private phone messages. 

In a high court order handed down this month, Mr Justice Chamberlain refused to allow this, and ordered the party to pay £90,000 as an interim contribution towards Murphy’s costs.

Murphy, Milne and the three others – Georgie Robertson, Laura Murray and Harry Hayball – all deny leaking the report by Labour’s governance and legal unit in April 2020.

But senior party sources rejected claims that continuing with the case represented a “monumental waste of members’ and affiliates’ money pursuing what appears to be a pointless political vendetta”, as one member of the NEC has reportedly claimed.

They pointed out that the leaking of the report – titled The work of the Labour party’s governance and Legal Unit in Relation to Antisemitism, 2014–2019 – was an “exceptionally serious matter” that included the leaking of private data relating to members of the party, some of whom were Jewish, who had raised concerns about the failure to stamp out anti-Jewish racism in the party.

After the 800 page was leaked, firstly to Sky News, and then onto the internet, legal action was launched against the party for failing to protect their data, invasion of privacy and libel.

Names of the some of those who had lodged private complaints about incidents of antisemitism in the part ended up appearing on extremist websites as a result of the leak.

The Labour source added that whoever was behind the leaking of the report was clearly looking to damage incoming new Labour leader Keir Starmer with their actions.

The report was leaked to the media days after Starmer became leader. While it recognised that antisemitism was a serious problem in the party, it had attempted to point the blame for failing to tackle the issue on opponents of Jeremy Corbyn on the moderate wing of the Labour Party.

It was intended to be sent to the equalities watchdog as they looked into allegations of antisemitism inside Labour.

But lawyers acting for Labour, under Corbyn’s leadership, were of the view that the document should not be sent.

“No organisation or NGO would just sit back and allow its staff members to leak material that was clearly intended to cause serious damage,” added the Labour source.

“It perfectly understandable that Labour is taking the appropriate steps legally to get to the bottom of who was behind this damaging action.

“Nothing has changed in this respect.”

Labour began legal action against those accused of leaking the report in 2021, and a substantive trial might not be scheduled until next year.

A Labour party spokesperson said: “The party has conducted a wide-ranging and appropriately thorough investigation following the leak and is confident of the case it has presented to the court. That remains the case.”