RACHEL'S COURT BATTLE
Ex-Corbyn aide who branded Rachel Riley ‘stupid’ claims star’s tweets were ‘deliberately provocative’ in court showdown
AN EX-aide to Jeremy Corbyn who branded Rachel Riley "stupid" claims the Countdown star's tweets were "deliberately provocative" in a court showdown.
Ms Riley, 35, is suing Laura Murray at the High Court in London for libel over a tweet in March 2019.
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Ms Riley's tweet came after Mr Corbyn - who was Labour leader at the time - had an egg thrown at him during a visit to a mosque.
Ms Murray posted her tweet on March 3, 2019 after an egg was thrown at Mr Corbyn by a Brexit supporter when he was visiting Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.
She was responding to a tweet posted by Ms Riley, the judge heard.
Ms Riley had initially posted a screenshot of a January 2019 tweet by Guardian columnist Owen Jones, about an attack on former British National Party leader Nick Griffin, which said: "I think sound life advice is, if you don't want eggs thrown at you, don't be a Nazi."
She had added "Good advice", with emojis of a red rose and an egg.
Later, Ms Murray tweeted: "Today Jeremy Corbyn went to his local mosque for Visit My Mosque Day, and was attacked by a Brexiteer. Rachel Riley tweets that Corbyn deserves to be violently attacked because he is a Nazi.
"This woman is as dangerous as she is stupid. Nobody should engage with her. Ever."
Ms Murray told the court Ms Riley was being "deliberately provocative" by tweeting "good advice" on the day that Mr Corbyn was egged.
Giving evidence, Ms Murray said: "All the tweets that I saw were saying 'how can you call Jeremy Corbyn a Nazi?'
"I didn't see any saying: 'This is a comment on hypocrisy, this is a tweet on double standards'."
'DELIBERATELY PROVOCATIVE'
Asked if she could see it was a "pile on" she said: "The way it seemed to me was that it was a deliberately provocative of Jeremy Corbyn being attacked.
"The tweet about Nazis being attacked, saying 'good advice,' 'if you don't want to be egged don't be a Nazi'.
'The way it looked to be was that it was deliberately provocative and designed to provoke a reaction from the left.
"And it was getting that reaction, lots of people were saying 'Jeremy Corbyn's not a Nazi, that's not a fair comparison to make'.
"Given that many, many people were criticising Rachel Riley like this, the purpose of my tweet was to advise people, as many as would listen, 'don't engage with this, it's a waste of time, no one gets anything from it, it's a huge waste of emotional resources'.
"I could see this was really counter productive. It's just totally useless."
"Owen's tweet had always meant to me that Nazi's deserve to get attacked, and she repurposed that advice and applied it to Jeremy Corbyn that was most obviously the language."
William Bennett, QC, for Ms Riley, directed Ms Murray to an article in The Sunday Times, which featured a personal Facebook picture of her wearing a necklace saying 'f--k the Tories' with the words "please no bourgoisie on my profile" superimposed.
Ms Murray said: "That's definitely not language that I use to people or about people."
She denied she was "upping the ante" by sending her tweet, saying she was also subjected to an "explosion of abuse and hatred".
'I posted to actually encourage people to disengage," she said.
The trainee teacher agreed that anti-Semitism was a problem that was not being dealt with, but said there were many other reasons struggled to be elected in 2019.
She agreed Ms Riley had been "very vocal" but didn't recall speaking about her in the Labour office.
"The issue of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party had been really prominent in public discourse since 2016 and this was 2019," she said.
"By this time I had been working in the Labour party with stakeholders from the Jewish community who were very concerned about anti-Semitism.
"I shared their concerns, I spent nearly every day trying to find solutions to it. To try and be a bridge between the Labour Party and the Jewish community.
"I will always support people who are fighting racism so I would never feel concerned if someone was taking a stand against racism."
JOB FEARS
Yesterday, the Countdown presenter told the judge that she worried about the security of her job after Ms Murray tweeted about her.
Ms Riley told Mr Justice Nicklin that Ms Murray's March 2019 tweet "incited" hate and caused people to try to get her sacked.
She said that her agent had arranged a meeting with a programming head at Channel 4, and she had to explain that Ms Murray had "misrepresented" what she had written in an earlier tweet.
Ms Riley said the tweet caused "serious harm" to her reputation.
Ms Murray, who no longer works as an aide to Mr Corbyn, says in her defence that what she tweeted was true, and reflected her honestly held opinions.
Ms Riley, who studied mathematics at Oxford University, told the judge she was Jewish and had a "hatred of anti-Semitism".
She said she spoke out against anti-Semitism and thought the Corbyn-led Labour Party was "fostering anti-Semitism".
Mr Justice Nicklin ruled at an earlier hearing that Ms Murray's tweet was defamatory.
The judge concluded that the tweet meant that Ms Riley had "publicly stated" Mr Corbyn had been attacked when visiting a mosque; that he "deserved to be violently attacked"; by doing so, she had shown herself to be a "dangerous and stupid person" who "risked inciting unlawful violence" and that people should not "engage with her".
He has now been asked to consider whether serious harm was caused to Ms Riley's reputation, and whether Ms Murray had a defence of truth, honest opinion or public interest.
I am sure that it would have been easier for Channel 4, and for me, if I had offered to stay silent but I could not agree to that
Rachel Riley
Ms Riley said she was being sarcastic in her tweet and had not called Mr Corbyn a Nazi.
She said the response to Ms Murray's "libel of me" was a "concerted attack".
The TV presenter said a campaign had been initiated to "get me fired", as being "someone who had advocated violence", adding she had received "a great deal of abuse" and "most of it" was caused by Ms Murray's tweet.
"It is very upsetting to see how the... tweet incited such hate towards me and caused people to try to get me sacked from my job," she said in a written witness statement.
Ms Riley, who said she had a freelance contract, went on: "Channel 4 accepted my explanation but this experience still made me feel vulnerable and worried about the security and longevity of my job."
She said her job depended on her maintaining popularity with the audience and told the judge her reputation was her "brand".
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Ms Riley said she had been asked whether she would "continue to be vocal about anti-Semitism" on Twitter, and told the judge: "I am sure that it would have been easier for Channel 4, and for me, if I had offered to stay silent but I could not agree to that."
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Ms Riley said she had also taken steps to improve "personal and home security".
The trial continues.
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Rachel Riley leaves Royal Courts of Justice during her ongoing libel against former Labour aide to Jeremy Corbyn
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