An expansive internal investigation into the handling of anti-Semitism complaints by the U.K. Labour Party will not be handed over to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, after advice from the party’s legal experts.
According to Sky News, the 860-page report concluded that complaints were largely mishandled due to friction between then leader Jeremy Corbyn and senior party officials, which caused a “litany of mistakes.”
The investigation, which wrapped up during the end of Corbyn’s tenure as party leader in 2020, alleges that there was no evidence of complaints of discrimination against Jewish members being treated any differently than other types of complains or that staff were “motivated by anti-Semitic intent.”
The report, “The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014-2019” blames a lack of "robust processes, systems, training, education and effective line management" for the party’s mishandling of anti-Semitism complains, along with "abundant evidence of a hyper-factional atmosphere prevailing in Party HQ (toward Corbyn which) affected the expeditious and resolute handling of disciplinary complaints."
Sky News reported that lawyers for the Labour Party told General Secretary Jennie Formby not to submit the report to the equality commission for fear it would damage Labour’s attempt to clean up its reputation.
Current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer suspended Corbyn in October 2020 over the former leader’s statements downplaying the problem of anti-Semitism within the party, which he said had been “dramatically overstated” by political opponents.
At the time, Starmer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "I made it clear the Labour Party I lead will not tolerate anti-Semitism, neither will it tolerate the argument that denies or minimizes anti-Semitism in the Labour Party on the basis that it's exaggerated or a factional row."