Momentum founder Jon Lansman has apologised for joining Labour’s attack on the antisemtism whistle-blowers after the broadcast of last year’s BBC Panorama.

In an apology issued on Twitter, Mr Lansman said: “This is a link to the Labour party’s court statement apologising to former party staffers who appeared in the Panorama programme on antisemitism. I tweeted something similar based on the party’s advice and assurances and also apologise to the former staffers.”

The JC understands that the apology was part of the High Court settlement with the seven whistle-blowers who took part in last July’s antisemitism expose.

But Mr Lansman’s apology was in stark contrast to the statement issued by the Momentum national coordinating group on Thursday  who called on Labour to publish the legal advice received by the party.

In the statement issued this afternoon, the NCG said Labour must be “honest and transparent” with members and that they deserve to know “whether or not these settlements were in line with the legal advice the party received”.

It said that the apology and settlement of the case had taken place, “despite reports that the legal advice received by Labour said the party would have likely won in court because it had strong legal defences”.

The wording echoed the response of Jeremy Corbyn to Wednesday’s High Court settlement. Mr Corbyn is now being sued for libel by John Ware and some of the whistle-blowers after claiming the settlement was a “political decision, not a legal one”.

He also argued: “Our legal advice was that the party had a strong defence.”

Mr Lansman stood down as Momentum chair in May saying he wished to spend more time with family.