'COVER UP'
Jeremy Corbyn’s closest aides ‘stopped anti-Semites being kicked out of Labour and let them off with slap-on-the-wrist’, explosive documentary reveals
JEREMY Corbyn’s closest aides intervened to stop anti-Semites being kicked out of Labour and laughed off calls to tackle the crisis, an explosive documentary revealed tonight.
Eight ex-Labour staffers broke restrictive gagging orders to lay bare the sheer scale of racism in the party.
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They told BBC Panorama how the party was hit by a flood of cases of Jew-baiting racism after Mr Corbyn became leader in 2015.
The party's storm over how it deals with anti-Semitism allegations has now been swirling for more than three years - and the Labour boss has been repeatedly accused of not taking the problem seriously enough.
Labour insisted the leader's team have not intervened on such decisions - and said they would be making a formal complaint to the BBC.
The former staffers claimed recruits brought in by Jennie Formby – the party’s new general secretary and a close Corbyn ally – blocked racists being booted out.
Dan Hogan, a former investigator on Labour’s Disputes Team, said they “overruled us and downgraded what should've been a suspension to just an investigation or worse to just a reminder of conduct, effectively a slap on the wrist”.
Former staff told how they were left signed off work by the stress of dealing with anti-Semitism - with former head of disputes Sam Matthews saying he was left "suicidal" by the pressure.
He told the documentary how he once contemplated jumping off Formby's office balcony over the leadership's attitude to complaints.
On one occasion the leader's office ordered batches of anti-Semitism complaints to be brought to his office to be looked at by his aides, it alleges too.
While bombshell leaked emails reveal Ms Formby intervened to handpick who would sit on a disciplinary panel for Jackie Walker, former vice chair of the left-wing campaign group Momentum.
The controversial activist was eventually kicked out after alleged anti-Semitism back in March this year.
In an email on May 5 last year, Ms Formby wrote: “The NCC cannot be allowed to continue in the way that they are at the moment, and I will also be challenging the panel for the Jackie Walker case.”
Mr Corbyn, his chief of staff Karie Murphy and his spin chief Seumas Milne were all copied in.
Ms Formby later wrote to the group about the email, saying: “I’ve permanently deleted all trace of the email. Too many eyes all on my Labour address. Please use my Unite address.”
Mr Milne, the Labour leader’s controversial spin chief, was also dragged into the scandal.
He allegedly laughed at calls for a crack down on anti-Semitism and was said to have suggested the leader’s office should be handed direct control of the disciplinary process.
Mike Creighton, Labour’s former Head of the Labour Disputes team, said he was approached by Seumas Milne for advice in spring 2016.
Mr Creighton said: “[Milne] said, I want to talk to you about anti-Semitism, how we deal with it.
“And I gave him my advice, which as I recall was two things; one was, we should deal with some of the top level anti-Semitic cases much more swiftly and much more robustly.
“Second thing I suggested was that it would be the right time for Jeremy Corbyn as leader, to make a significant speech on the issue of the Middle East, particularly saying that Israel had a right to exist.”
“He actually laughed at me.”
A Labour spokesperson denied Mr Milne laughed at the crisis – saying he has no recollection of the conversation taking place.
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In an email on March 10 last year Mr Milne emailed to say: “Something's going wrong, and we're muddling up political disputes with racism... I think going forward we need to review where and how we’re drawing the line.”
Then Head of Disputes, Sam Matthews, interpreted that email as “the Leader’s Office requesting to be involved directly in the disciplinary process. This is not a helpful suggestion, it is an instruction.”
The former General Secretary of the Labour Party, Iain McNichol, told Panorama that the evidence should "set alarm bells ringing across the party… to try to interfere politically within the NCC is just wrong."
The bombshell documentary comes just 24 hours after three Labour peers quit with fuming attacks on the Labour boss for not taking the anti-Semitism crisis seriously.
In one astonishing attack, ex-Labour general secretary Lord Triesman said Mr Corbyn was anti-Semitic.
Blasting him for leading Labour “into the gutter”, he warned: “The experience of life in the party has become sickening.”
Labour have furiously denied the allegations and written to the director general of the BBC accusing the Corporation of bias.
A Labour spokesman said the party is absolutely committed to tackling anti-Semitism.
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List of names of interviewees and dates of service:
Kat Buckingham, Head of Disputes and Discipline 2015 – 2017
Mike Creighton, Director of Audit and Risk 2009-2017
Sam Matthews, Head of Disputes 2016-2018
Ben Westerman, Investigations Officer 2016-2017
Martha Robinson, Complaints Administrator 2018-2019
Dan Hogan, Investigations Officer 2016-2018
Louise Withers Green, Disputes Officer 2017-2018
Baron Iain McNicol, General Secretary of the Labour Party 2011-2018
Labour wrote to the BBC to ask them to reconsider showing the programme, it was revealed earlier today.
In response to the Panorama programme, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party at all levels is implacably opposed to anti-Semitism and is determined to root out this social cancer from our movement and society. Labour stands in solidarity with Jewish people and is fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and its organisations.
“Jeremy Corbyn has a long and principled record of solidarity with the Palestinian people and it is false to claim that he has associated with extremist groups. Jeremy Corbyn has proactively addressed anti-Semitism within the Party in direct communications to the Party membership, in articles, speeches, videos and interviews.
“The Leader’s Office did not intervene. These former disaffected employees sought the view of staff in the Leader’s Office, which was compiled with in good faith. These disaffected former officials include those who have always opposed Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, worked to actively undermine it, and have both personal and political axes to grind. It is simply untrue to say that there were any significant number of disagreements about what constituted anti-Semitism.
“The emails… are simply about ensuring the NCC is held accountable for the length of time they take to hear cases and about protecting the Party against any successful legal challenge on the basis of perceived bias if the same panel is used in high profile cases.
“Labour is taking decisive action against anti-Semitism, doubling the number of staff dedicated to dealing with complaints and cases. And since Jennie Formby became General Secretary, the rate at which anti-Semitism cases have been dealt with has increased four-fold.”
BBC Panorama: Is Labour Anti-Semitic? BBC One is on Wednesday 10 July at 9pm.
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