Jeremy Corbyn to be sued over criticism of Labour libel deal

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Jeremy Corbyn is facing legal action after criticising Labour’s decision to apologise and pay damages to anti-Semitism whistleblowers who highlighted failings under his leadership of the party.

Seven former party staff members and journalist John Ware are bringing a case against the former opposition leader after he attacked successor Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to settle a libel claim sparked by a BBC Panorama documentary.

After the programme aired last year, Labour accused the whistleblowers of being ‘disaffected former officials’ and said they had ‘worked actively to undermine’ Mr Corbyn as leader and had ‘both personal and political axes to grind’.

In a statement released this afternoon Mr Corbyn, who quit after five tumultuous years in charge led to election humiliation in December, said the decision to settle was ‘disappointing’ and ‘a political decision’ as Labour’s anti-Semitism civil war erupted into fresh conflict.

Mr Corbyn went on to say that the legal advice the party received said it had a ‘strong case and the evidence in the leaked Labour report that is now the subject of an NEC inquiry led by Martin Forde QC strengthened concerns about the role played by some of those who took part in the programme.’

It is believed that it is this criticism that is the subject of the proposed new libel action. When asked if action would be taken arising from Mr Corbyn’s statement after the hearing, lawyer Mark Lewis, from Patron Law, who represented the Panorama whistleblowers and Mr Ware, said: ‘I can confirm that I have been instructed to pursue cases.’ 

And one of the whistleblowers, Louise Withers-Green, later told Times Radio: ‘Jeremy Corbyn’s comments were obviously disappointing. I would have liked him to take responsibility for the flourishing of anti semitism under his leadership.’ 

The decision to apologise and pay an estimated £500,000 in compensation and legal fees is part of a settlement aimed at drawing a line under allegations made during Mr Corbyn’s leadership that the party had allowed the overt hatred of Jewish people to fester. 

The decision was welcomed by MPs and Jewish Labour activists who have long campaigned against anti-Semitism within the party.

But in a sign that the move could reignite factional infighting with the party’s hard Left element, Mr Corbyn and his followers including Unite leader Len McCluskey attacked the payout.

In other developments:

• Labour also agreed to pay ‘substantial damages’ to journalist John Ware for falsely accusing him of ‘deliberate and malicious misrepresentations designed to mislead the public’ in the documentary
• The whistleblowers’ laywer, Mark Francis, said they would take further legal action against Corbynistas who had repeated the libellous claims or might do so in future
• Labour’s shadow attorney general Lord Falconer said the settlement drew ‘a clear line under a dispute between the Labour Party and people who had been whistleblowers about anti-Semitism’

Writing on Facebook Mr Corbyn said: ‘The Party’s decision to apologise today and make substantial payments to former staff who sued the party in relation to last year’s Panorama programme is a political decision, not a legal one.

‘Our legal advice was that the party had a strong defence, and the evidence in the leaked Labour report that is now the subject of an NEC inquiry led by Martin Forde QC strengthened concerns about the role played by some of those who took part in the programme.’

Mr McCluskey, whose union is Labour’s largest financial backer, tweeted: ‘Today’s settlement is a misuse of Labour Party funds to settle a case it was advised we would win in court. 

‘The leaked report on how anti-Semitism was handled tells a very different story about what happened.’ 

But former Labour MP John Mann, now an independent adviser to the Government on anti-Semitism, tweeted: ‘The bravest of the brave are the Labour staff members who did what was right.

‘Normal decent people doing what normal decent people do when faced with injustice. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude.’

And at Prime Minister’s Questions today, when Mr Corbyn’s leadership came up, Sir Keir said the party was ‘under new management’. 

A spokesman for the Labour leader later pointed out that all the Labour leadership candidates earlier this year – Sir Keir, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy – had pledged to ‘settle this issue’, adding: ‘It’s a sign that we will take a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism.’ 

Mr Corbyn’s criticism led the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism to demand he be suspended and investigated.

Chief executive Gideon Falter, said: ‘From the backbenches, Jeremy Corbyn continues to spread conspiracy theories to cover up how the Labour Party became institutionally racist under his leadership. 

‘A few weeks ago he gaslit the Jewish community by claiming that the EHRC, in whose investigation we are the complainant, is ”part of the government machine”. Now he is gaslighting the whistleblowers he bullied for standing up to Jew-hatred.’

The investigation, ‘Is Labour Anti-Semitic?’ was screened in July last year and made a number of serious claims about the party’s internal culture for dealing with complaints of anti-Semitism.

In a statement when the programme was broadcast, a Labour spokesman – acting for Mr Corbyn – called the whistleblowers ‘disaffected former officials’ and said they had ‘worked actively to undermine’ the leader and had ‘both personal and political axes to grind’.

Both Mr Corbyn and the Momentum founder, Jon Lansman, also suggested in statements following the programme that it had a pre-determined outcome.

Following those statements, seven of the eight whistleblowers, who are all former Labour staffers, instructed the prominent media lawyer Mark Lewis to take action against the party.

They claimed senior figures had issued statements attacking their reputations and suggesting they had ulterior political and personal motives to undermine the party.

Among the former Labour staffers taking action were the former head of disputes Sam Matthews; the former head of compliance Mike Creighton; Dan Hogan, a former disputes team investigator; and Louise Withers Green, a former disputes officer.

The others were Katherine Buckingham, Martha Robinson and Benjamin Westerman.

Iain McNicol, the party’s former general secretary who was the eighth interviewee on the programme, was not involved in the action.

At a brief hearing in London, William Bennett QC, barrister for the seven whistleblowers, said: ‘The whistleblowers were highly critical of the Labour Party’s approach to tackling anti-Semitism within its ranks.’

He told Mr Justice Nicklin: ‘Before the broadcast of the Panorama programme, the Labour Party issued a press release that contained defamatory and false allegations about the whistleblowers.’

Mr Bennett said Labour ‘accused the whistleblowers of having acted in bad faith during and after their employment with the intention of harming the Labour Party’, allegations he said were ‘untrue and defamatory’.

He added: ‘The Labour Party is here today to set the record straight and to apologise unreservedly to the claimants for the distress and embarrassment that the publication of the false allegations have caused them and for the continuing damage that has been caused to their reputations.

‘The Labour Party also has agreed to pay substantial damages to the whistleblowers.’  

Mark Henderson, representing Labour, told the court: ‘The Labour Party acknowledges that these claims about the claimants are untrue, and we retract and withdraw them and undertake not to repeat them.

‘The Labour Party is here today to publicly set the record straight and to apologise to the claimants for the distress and embarrassment that it has caused them.’

At the same hearing, Labour also apologised to John Ware – the journalist who made the Panorama programme – for falsely accusing him of ‘deliberate and malicious misrepresentations designed to mislead the public’.

Mr Bennett said Labour had alleged that Mr Ware ‘invented quotes, flouted journalistic ethics and … knowingly promoted falsehoods’ in pursuit of ‘a pre-determined outcome to the question asked by the Panorama programme’.

He added that the party had agreed to pay ‘substantial damages’ to Mr Ware.

The £500,000 payout that Labour has to make covers damages for Mr Ware and the seven whistleblowers, as well as legal costs. 

In a statement, the claimants’ solicitor Mark Lewis said: ‘Today in the High Court, the Labour Party retracted its false allegations made about the Panorama programme asking whether Labour was anti-Semitic.

‘The answer was a clear ”yes”. Labour chose to double down and attack the programme’s presenter, John Ware, and the whistleblowers rather than addressing the truth of the problem.

‘It is ironic that the workers’ party chose to act as disgruntled bosses who had been caught out.’

He added: ‘This is just the start. Actions are being taken against those who repeat the libels, and will be taken against those who choose to do so in future. An honest opinion has to be based upon facts.

‘Regrettably, there are too many out there who do not bother to check the facts when the facts do not support their factional view.’

Ofcom rejected 28 complaints against the programme for alleged bias, concluding that it was ‘duly impartial’ and included Labour’s response prominently throughout.

Today, the party issued a press release entitled ‘an apology from the Labour Party to Kat Buckingham, Michael Creighton, Samuel Matthews, Dan Hogan, Louise Withers Green, Benjamin Westerman and Martha Robinson’.

It said: ‘The Labour Party has today issued an unreserved apology to the former members of staff who contributed to a BBC Panorama programme about anti-Semitism within the Labour Party in July 2019.

‘Before the broadcast of the programme, the Labour Party issued a press release that contained defamatory and false allegations about these whistleblowers.

‘We acknowledge the many years of dedicated and committed service that the whistleblowers have given to the Labour Party as members and as staff. We appreciate their valuable contribution at all levels of the Party.

‘We unreservedly withdraw all allegations of bad faith, malice and lying. We would like to apologise unreservedly for the distress, embarrassment and hurt caused by their publication. We have agreed to pay them damages.

‘Under the leadership of Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, we are committed to tackling anti-Semitism within the Labour Party. Anti-Semitism has been a stain on the Labour Party in recent years. It has caused unacceptable and unimaginable levels of grief and distress for many in the Jewish community, as well as members of staff.

‘If we are to restore the trust of the Jewish community, we must demonstrate a change of leadership. That means being open, transparent and respecting the right of whistleblowers. We are determined to deliver that change.’

A BBC spokesman said today: ‘The BBC will always support fair and impartial reporting, exposing wrongdoing and holding power to account. The Panorama programme did precisely that, but was subject to an extraordinary and vitriolic attack by the Labour Party.

‘We welcome today’s long overdue apology to John Ware and the seven Panorama whistleblowers, who have been subjected to painful and damaging personal attacks on their integrity and character.

‘We applaud their strength to take this case forward and are pleased it has been recognised in court that these extremely serious and damaging allegations against them were false and have been unreservedly withdrawn. ‘John Ware is a reporter with an extraordinary record of excellence at Panorama for investigative journalism in the public interest.’ 

Speaking outside court after the hearing, Labour’s shadow attorney general Lord Falconer said: ‘It is a clear line under a dispute between the Labour Party and people who had been whistleblowers about anti-Semitism.

‘The Labour Party made absolutely clear in its statement in open court that it withdrew completely any allegation of dishonesty or bad behaviour against the whistleblowers and the journalist involved.

‘It is for the (Equality and Human Rights) Commission to make its findings public when it chooses … but we have brought to an end a chapter when the Labour Party was accusing whistleblowers of behaving dishonestly and I’m incredibly glad that we have brought it to an end.

‘We can focus now not on litigation, which is a disastrous thing for a party to be focusing on.

‘Instead, it should be focusing on championing the things that matter to the public, so it’s a good day.’

It comes nine days after Labour received a copy of a long-awaited report into whether it victimised Jews during the Corbyn years.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft conclusions have not yet been made public, but insiders expect them to be ‘damning’.

The watchdog said when it launched its official inquiry last May that it ‘suspected’ that Labour had committed ‘unlawful acts’ in its handling of its anti-Semitism crisis.

Last month Sir Keir told his hard-left former leadership rival Rebecca Long-Bailey to resign after she retweeted an online interview which contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

There was fury over a passage in Maxine Peake’s offending article where the actress said the US police had learned the tactics that killed George Floyd from the Israel secret services.