BREAKING: The Jewish Labour Movement's closing submission to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission have been leaked in full, the document can be read at the link below. I will tweet out its conclusions in the thread below:
scribd.com/document/43836…
scribd.com/document/43836…
The submission is a legal document, with evidence given by sworn statements by witnesses, examples are referenced in the annexes.
The Jewish Labour Movement has concluded that "The Labour Party is no longer a safe space for Jewish people”
This conclusion has been based on the testimonies of former staff, Labour Party members and officials.
This conclusion has been based on the testimonies of former staff, Labour Party members and officials.
Antisemitism in the Labour Party is a pervasive culture that is present in all parts of the Party; local party meetings, party conferences, online forums, the disciplinary processes and it’s officials.
The scale of antisemitism, as reported by the Labour Party, is inaccurate.
The scale of antisemitism, as reported by the Labour Party, is inaccurate.
There are no credible figures as the backlog of cases are not reported.
Claims made by the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, that all individuals subject to complaint have been suspended or expelled are untrue.
Claims made by the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, that all individuals subject to complaint have been suspended or expelled are untrue.
A failure of leadership across the Party has allowed antisemitism within the Party to grow.
Jews are said to have been subjected to different, humiliating, and exclusionary behaviour.
Jews are said to have been subjected to different, humiliating, and exclusionary behaviour.
One respondent reported "that the membership secretary in the South Tottenham constituency objected to 25 applications for membership from the ultra-orthodox Jewish community, and required home visits to these prospective members' houses.
This was not a requirement for other prospective members and appears to have been direct discrimination against Jewish applicants for membership."
The JLM accuse Jeremy Corbyn's office of political interference, saying that in order to have processes that protect minorities, those who make decisions and put into practice policies must approach discrimination with understanding and sensitivity.
The JLM claim that it is clear from their evidence that there is a culture of denial and discrediting victims as part of a smear campaign.
The specialist antisemitism panels, used since 2018, have no specialist training and do not follow normal decision making guidelines.
The specialist antisemitism panels, used since 2018, have no specialist training and do not follow normal decision making guidelines.
LOTO expected Governence and Legal Unit staff to follow unwritten guidelines that raised the bar on which antisemitic conduct warranted disciplinary action.
The role of Thomas Gardiner shows the political interference and manipulation in the antisemitism complaints process, namely as final arbiter on antisemitism complaints and encouraging staff not to leave a paper trail and requiring political sign-off only on antisemitism.
Members of LOTO were frequently copied into emails relating to antisemitism complaints in order to recommend a particular sanction. Cases would be judged based on the individuals involved and could disappear
The Head of Disputes was instructed via Whatsapp by Gardiner to upload batches of complaints to USB sticks and deliver them to the LOTO staff office where they would review cases and make recommendations. She was instructed to lie about where she was going and what she was doing.
Excessively lenient sanctions were issued on cases of antisemitism, such as Reminders of Conduct which became commonplace in order to shut down complaints that were too politically difficult.
Elected Labour Party officials cannot be trusted to oversee cases of antisemitism. NEC Panel meetings that judge cases of antisemitism featured figures like Claudia Webbe and Darren Wiliams who would argue against sanctions, particularly when they knew the individuals involved.
According to JLM, antisemitism in Labour has been treated differently than other forms of discrimination. JLM reached this conclusion by stating that statements from whistleblowers show the contrast between how complaints of sexual harassment were dealt with differently.
The Party put in place new systems recommended by campaigners and victims and implemented specialist training, no such measures were put in place regarding antisemitism.
JLM's submission was based on the testimony of 70 former and currently serving Labour party staff members who decided to blow the whistle.
The full 28,000 word report is viewable here in PDF format:
scribd.com/document/43836…
The full 28,000 word report is viewable here in PDF format:
scribd.com/document/43836…
Both the BBC:
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
And The Times:
thetimes.co.uk/article/electi…
Have now covered the story, but neither have published the report in full, which is available in the link above.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
And The Times:
thetimes.co.uk/article/electi…
Have now covered the story, but neither have published the report in full, which is available in the link above.
* The report incorrectly refers to the Tottenham constituency as South Tottenham - JLM source has confirmed this mistake and says that the constituency in question is just called Tottenham *
Laura Kuenssberg confirms we have the same documents @BBCLauraK.
@bbclaurak Earlier this year Labour pre-emptively briefed that they were bringing Lord Falconer in to review the party's antisemitism complaints process before he had accepted the job offer. Today, he calls the submitted JLM dossier "utterly damning".
The Jewish Labour Movement has confirmed the authenticity of the submission.
