Corbyn ‘ultimately accountable’ for Labour’s failure, says EHRC lead investigator

A summary of the report’s findings confirmed Labour had been served with an unlawful act notice after the investigation found it responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.

The EHRC concluded that Labour was responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act — over political interference in antisemitism complaints; failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints; and harassment.

The investigation found evidence of 23 instances of “inappropriate involvement” by Mr Corbyn’s office, including staff influencing decisions on suspensions or whether to investigate a claim.

That included a complaint against Mr Corbyn himself over the antisemitic mural daubed in Tower Hamlets, east London, that he had commented on in 2012.

In an email, his office’s staff said the complaint should be dismissed because it “seems to fall well below the threshold required for investigation”.

The EHRC concluded that the Leaders Office had “directly interfered” in the mural complaint.

The report also revealed the party had a policy of “not investigating complaints about members’ social media activity if they liked or shared content without commenting on it”.

It added: “This policy applied, albeit inconsistently, from at least June 2017 to mid-2018.

“We give examples of antisemitism complaints that should have been investigated but were not as a result of this policy.

“We explain that the Labour Party no longer uses this policy and accepts that it led ‘to extremely poor decisions made on antisemitism cases’.”

In an embarrassment for those behind the leak of an internal report into antisemitism earlier this year that attempted to protect Mr Corbyn from claims of inaction of antisemitism, the EHRC confirmed the 850-page document “includes personal communications relating to antisemitism complaint handling, which the party did not provide at the time we requested them.”

The watchdog launched its investigation in May last year after receiving complaints from the Campaign Against Antisemitism and a submission from the Jewish Labour Movement, prepared by the legal firm Mishcon de Reya.

Damningly, the report highlighted two cases — relating to the former London mayor Ken Livingstone and a borough councillor, Pam Bromley — in which they concluded the party was responsible for “unlawful harassment” against Jewish people and party members.

The report also made 11 recommendations, including the need for Labour to set up an independent complaints process and clearer rules, an acknowledgment of the prior political interference, and proper training for those involved in handling complaints.

It also set out examples of antisemitic conduct which “amounted to unlawful harassment”.
This included the use of tropes around Jewish power, the denial of the existence of antisemitism, or the suggestion that the problem was just a smear.

Citing the examples of Mr Livingstone and Ms Bromley, the report says: “As these people were acting as agents of the Labour party, the Labour party was legally responsible for their conduct. In each case, the EHRC considered the perception of those affected by the conduct, and Labour party members told the EHRC that the comments contributed to a hostile environment for Jewish and non-Jewish members.”

The report also noted evidence of antisemitic conduct by an “ordinary” member of the Labour Party, who did not hold any office or role and for whose conduct the party could not be directly responsible for under equality law.

In these cases it cited comparisons between Israel and the Nazis or Hitler, the use of the term “Zio”, questions about the loyalty of British Jews and claims the “Israel lobby” was to blame for stirring up antisemitism.

Caroline Waters, the interim chair of the EHRC, said: “The Labour party made a commitment to zero tolerance for antisemitism. Our investigation has highlighted multiple areas where its approach and leadership to tackling antisemitism was insufficient. This is inexcusable and appeared to be a result of a lack of willingness to tackle antisemitism rather than an inability to do so.”

The inquiry found that antisemitic comments by Mr Livingstone, the former London mayor, and Ms Bromley, a councillor in Rossendale, Lancashire, amounted to harassment of Jewish members under law, and this was “only the tip of the iceberg” of such behaviour

The EHRC said another 18 cases where there was not enough evidence for a legal conclusion that the party was responsible for the conduct, covering councillors, candidates and constituency party officials.

The report also said the party could have tackled antisemitism more effectively “if the leadership had chosen to do so”.

“We found specific examples of harassment, discrimination and political interference in our evidence,” the EHRC said in the foreword to the report.

“But equally of concern was a lack of leadership within the Labour party on these issues, which is hard to reconcile with its stated commitment to a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism.”

While the EHRC did not put blame directly onto Mr Corbyn, the EHRC’s lead investigator, Alasdair Henderson, said the failure of leadership had to be laid at his door.

“As the leader of the party at the time, and given the extent of the failings we found in the political interference within the leader of the opposition’s office, Jeremy Corbyn is ultimately accountable and responsible for what happened at that time,” said Mr Henderson at a briefing as the report was released.

Mr Henderson also said the EHRC had faced significant obstruction under the previous leadership.

“There were times in late summer, early autumn last year where we were seriously concerned about their commitments to work with us and had to push quite hard on them,” he told the briefing.

The report added: “The Labour Party must now produce an action plan to address our findings and recommendations. The new leadership under Sir Keir Starmer has already publicly committed to implementing our recommendations in full. It must now put this into practice. The recommendations are clear, fair and achievable. 

“They will help the Labour Party to make positive change in its policies, processes and culture, to benefit all of its members, and to rebuild trust among the Jewish community and the wider public.”

The EHRC report said “there was political interference in the handling of antisemitism complaints”, which it said was part of a “wider practice” of the leader of the opposition’s office getting involved in disciplinary cases that were deemed politically sensitive.

The report also looked at the involvement of Thomas Gardiner, who was promoted to head of complaints under former General Secretary Jennie Formby.

It made no findings over his elevation to the role, but concluded that Mr Gardiner “did take a decision-making, rather than purely advisory, role in some antisemitism complaints.”

The report added: “We understand why some people perceived Thomas Gardiner to have been ‘installed’ by the party’s senior leadership for political reasons, whether or not that was the case.”

Citing examples of poor practice in dealing with complaints about antisemitism, the EHRC said an email inbox for these “was largely left unmonitored for a number of years and no action taken on the majority of complaints forwarded to it”. 

Of 70 files reviewed for the inquiry, 62 had records missing.

The report found Labour was responsible for“unlawful harassment” due to the actions of two “agents” one of whom was former mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

In April 2016,  former London mayor Mr Livingstone defended  the Labour MP, Naz Shah, who had reposted a Facebook image suggesting that Israel be relocated to the United States.

At the time, Mr Livingstone was a member of Labour’s national executive committee and so, according to the EHRC, an agent of the party.

“Ken Livingstone repeatedly denied that these posts were antisemitic,” the EHRC said. 

“In his denial, Ken Livingstone alleged that scrutiny of Naz Shah’s conduct was part of a smear campaign by ‘the Israel lobby’ to stigmatise critics of Israel as antisemitic, and was intended to undermine and disrupt the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn MP.”

In conclusion, the EHRC said Ms Shah’s comments “went beyond legitimate criticism of the Israeli government” and were not protected by rights to free expression. “Neither is Ken Livingstone’s support for those comments,” the EHRC added.

Mr Livingstone was suspended from the party in April 2016 and resigned in May 2018 before the internal investigation against him concluded.

The watchdog also examined the case of Ms Bromley, a Labour councillor in Rossendale, Lancashire. 

She made “numerous statements” on Facebook between April 2018 and December 2019 that the EHRC said amounted to “unwanted conduct related to Jewish ethnicity” and “had the effect of harassing Labour party members”.

On 15 December 2019, she posted on Facebook about Jeremy Corbyn: “My major criticism of him — his failure to repel the fake accusations of antisemitism in the LP [Labour party] — may not be repeated as the accusations may probably now magically disappear, now capitalism has got what it wanted.”

Ms Bromley, who had been suspended from the party in April 2018, was expelled by Labour in February 2020.

The EHRC said that of the 70 complaints of antisemitism it investigated, the vast majority — 59 — concerned social media.

The report also contrasted the way sexual harassment complaints had been treated with the failings over antisemitism cases.

The equality body said its analysis points to a culture within the party which, “at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.

“This is in direct contrast to the comprehensive guidance and training in place to handle sexual harassment complaints that demonstrates the party’s ability to act decisively when it needs to, indicating that antisemitism could have been tackled more effectively,” the EHRC said. 

The JLM later said blame for what happened “lies firmly with those who held positions of leadership  — those who possessed both power and influence to prevent the growth of anti-Jewish racism”.

It added: “Antisemitism within the Labour party had serious consequences for many people, causing real emotional pain and despair to those who have given their lives to the Labour party. As the EHRC points out, it undermines confidence in our politics and the fabric of our democracy.

“It will now be for the Labour party to set out how they intend to eradicate anti-Jewish racism from our party. This will in part be achieved by implementing the legally binding actions set out of the EHRC’s report in full and without delay.”

“The Labour Party must now produce an action plan to address our findings and recommendations. The new leadership under Sir Keir Starmer has already publicly committed to implementing our recommendations in full. It must now put this into practice. 

“The recommendations are clear, fair and achievable. They will help the Labour Party to make positive change in its policies, processes and culture, to benefit all of its members, and to rebuild trust among the Jewish community and the wider public.”

Mishcon de Reya, the City law firm representing the Jewish Labour Movement, suggested there could now be  further legal action against the party — which has already paid out hundreds of thousands to former staffers who alleged defamation — as a result of the report’s conclusions.

Although the EHRC report makes a “general finding of harassment” against the party, a Mishcon lawyer said: “There are potential claims that can be brought in the employment tribunal.

“They’re fact specific and subject to specific timings but the report may provide people with fuel and comfort that, where they did not feel comfortable to come out, they now have the backing of an independent body.”

Gideon Falter, the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “The EHRC’s report utterly vindicates Britain’s Jews, who were accused of lying and exaggerating, acting as agents of another country and using their religion to ‘smear’ the Labour Party.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust – said in a joint statement the EHRC’s findings were “a damning verdict on what Labour did to Jews under Jeremy Corbyn and his allies”.