Jeremy Corbyn faces legal action over Labour antisemitism scandal as Keir Starmer declares party to be ‘under new management’

Panorama presenter starts court case – after ex-Labour leader denounces High Court damages paid to whistleblowers

Jeremy Corbyn faces legal action over Labour’s antisemitism scandal after Sir Keir Starmer turned on him and declared the party to be “under new management”.

The leader and his predecessor clashed openly for the first time after the party agreed to pay “substantial” damages’ to seven whistleblowers over “defamatory and false allegations” made following a Panorama investigation.

Labour also issued an unreserved apology to the former staff members and to John Ware, the journalist who presented the programme.

Mr Corbyn reacted angrily, denouncing the decision to settle in court as political, rather than legal, and insisting: “Our legal advice was that the party had a strong defence.”

The settlement “risks giving credibility to misleading and inaccurate allegations” about the actions taken to tackle antisemitism under his leadership, his statement claimed.

It prompted Mr Ware to begin legal action. Mark Lewis, from Patron Law, who represented both him and the whistleblowers said: “I can confirm that I have been instructed to pursue cases.”

Earlier, Sir Keir made clear his break with the old regime, telling Boris Johnson, during a clash over the Russia report: “The Labour Party is under new management.”

The High Court settlement – Labour refused to comment on speculation it was as high as £500,000 – followed a July 2019 Panorama broadcast entitled Is Labour Anti-Semitic?.

Seven former employees from the party’s governance and legal unit, which investigated misconduct allegations against party members, highlighted “a lack of commitment” by their bosses.

They then sued Labour after it issued a press release describing them as having “personal and political axes to grind”.

In a statement, Labour admitted that the party, under Mr Corbyn, had issued a press release that contained “defamatory and false” allegations about their own employees and Mr Ware.

On the whistleblowers, it said: “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.”

But Mr Corbyn hit back, saying: “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.

“The decision to settle these claims in this way is disappointing, and risks giving credibility to misleading and inaccurate allegations about action taken to tackle antisemitism in the Labour Party in recent years.”

His close ally Len McCluskey, the Unite union chief, protested: “Today’s settlement is a misuse of Labour Party funds to settle a case it was advised we would win in court.”

The Jewish Labour Movement said: “It is a sad reflection of its historic role as the party of working people that Labour sought to pursue and silence its former employees for speaking out against racism.”