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Labour whistleblower claims Corbyn ally took control of 'all' antisemitism complaints

Tim Dexter, who left party just three months ago, claims Thomas Gardiner had personal sign-off of all complaints

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A Labour whistleblower who left the party just three months ago has said an ally of Jeremy Corbyn seized control of "all" complaints over antisemitism.

Tim Dexter, 26, a former complaints officer at Labour HQ, told the Sunday Times Thomas Gardiner, was given personal sign off of all complaints involving anti-Jewish racism.

Mr Dexter said Mr Gardiner refused to suspend one man who had called two Jewish MPs "Zionist c*m buckets."

The senior Corbyn ally also said it was "ridiculous" for the party to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism, Mr Dexter said.

In further damning revelations, Mr Dexter told the said Karie Murphy, Labour's chief of staff, spied on employees demanding details of their computer searches.

Mr Dexter, who has given evidence to the EHRC investigation into Labour, claimed the party was "unwilling" to tackle its Jew-hate crisis, and said Jewish people were right to feel "distressed and disturbed" by the failure of the leadership to punish those guilty of antisemitism.

Meanwhile, the Observer revealed that two of the whistleblowers in last week's BBC Panorama documentary had confirmed they had instructed media lawyer Mark Lewis to represent them over claims they had been defamed by the party.

Ex-Labour staffers Sam Matthews and Louise Withers Green are understood to have been left fuming by the official response of Labour to the BBC show and the claim that they were  "disaffected former officials" who lacked "credibility".

Mr Lewis told the paper: "It is incredible that after the programme Labour wilfully attacked the whistleblowers, falsely accusing them of making deliberate, malicious representations and misleading the public, while also calling them disaffected former officials whose credibility as sources was in doubt."

The JC has learned that all seven whistleblowers featured in the programme have discussed the possibility of pursuing legal action against the party as a result of slurs made against them by Labour after the documentary.

In further developments Heather Mendick, a member of the pro-Corbyn Momentum group who is also believed to belong to Jewish Voice For Labour, has been appointed in a job to rebuild the party’s fractured relationship with the Jewish community. B

But Ms Mendick, a member of Hackney South Labour Party, has previously claimed antisemitism has been "weaponised against the left." 

Last year she joined MP Chris Williamson on his ‘Democracy Roadshow’, touring the country calling for mandatory reselections for sitting Labour MPs. 

Mr Williamson has since been suspended by the party over his remarks on antisemitism.

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