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The Equality and Human Rights Commission has shared its findings with the party
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Jeremy Corbyn
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has shared its findings with the party
In Depth
Holden Frith
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 2:46pm
Labour has been handed a draft report on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigation into anti-Semitism in the party, officials have confirmed.
The party has 28 days to respond to the watchdog’s findings, during which time the report will remain private.
In a statement last night, Labour said that anti-Semitism had been “a stain” on the party that had caused “unimaginable levels of grief and distress for many in the Jewish community, as well as members of staff”.
Why was the investigation opened?
The EHRC says it initially “contacted the Labour Party after receiving a number of complaints about allegations of anti-Semitism in the party”.
Having “carefully considered” the party’s response, a formal investigation was launched into “whether unlawful acts have been committed by the party or its employees or agents”. The inquiry has also look at whether the party “has responded to complaints of unlawful acts in a lawful, efficient and effective manner”.
What triggered to the anti-Semitism complaints?
“Anti-Semitism was generally not regarded as a big problem in the Labour Party before Jeremy Corbyn’s election as leader in September 2015, ” says the BBC. During his reign, however, the party was dogged by allegations of anti-Jewish prejudice and a failure to act against such discrimination.
The row hit the media spotlight in April 2016, when Labour MP Naz Shah posted Facebook messages comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. Days later, while seeking to defend Shah, former London mayor Ken Livingstone said Adolf Hitler had been a Zionist “before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”.
Some of the controversies directly involved Corbyn. In 2018, a round of protests “flared up after the leader gave his backing to an anti-Semitic London mural, something he later retracted and apologised for”, as The Independent reported in the aftermath.
Former Labour MP Frank Field subsequently claimed that the party had become “a force for anti-Semitism in British politics”.
Corbyn’s opponents have also “accused him of being too close to Hamas, a militant Islamist group, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese paramilitary group”, says the BBC. “Both groups are widely viewed in the West as terrorist organisations.”
How did Corbyn respond?
Throughout his leadership, Corbyn said repeatedly that he opposed anti-Semitism.
In 2016, he established an inquiry led by Baroness Chakrabarti, the former head of Amnesty International, to examine the allegations. She criticised an “occasionally toxic atmosphere” in the party, but concluded that Labour was “not overrun by anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or other forms of racism”.
But three years later, during the 2019 election campaign, Corbyn appeared to concede that his party did have a problem with anti-Semitism.
Invited by ITV’s Good Morning Britain to apologise to Jewish voters, he said: “Obviously, I’m very sorry for everything that’s happened, but I want to make this clear: I am dealing with it. I have dealt with it.”
Yet despite Corbyn’s seeming admission, some of his supporters maintained that “the problem had been exaggerated and was being used as a stick to beat him by people who didn’t like his leadership of the party or his views on the Middle East”, says the BBC.
An internal inquiry completed earlier this year “found ‘no evidence’ of anti-Semitism complaints being treated differently to other forms of complaint”, Sky News reports.
And where allegations were found to have been inadequately investigated, the inquiry blamed anti-Corbyn staff in Labour’s headquarters for creating a “hyper-factional atmosphere [that] affected the expeditious and resolute handling of disciplinary complaints”.
Last month, as Labour awaited the findings of the EHRC investigation, Corbyn cast doubt on the independence of the commission. In his first interview after stepping down as party leader, Corbyn told Middle East Eye that he believed the watchdog was “part of the government machine”.
Will the inquiry name names?
James Libson of law firm Mishcon de Reya, who represents the Jewish Labour Movement, said in June that he thought the EHRC would be “a little reluctant” to name specific people accused of anti-Semitism or of thwarting the investigation.
However, Labour List argues that “it is not considered beyond the bounds of possibility that individuals will be censured”.
What happens next?
Although EHRC reports are not always made public, Labour officials have said the party would like to see the investigation findings published. That is likely to happen in September.
“If the EHRC concludes after the investigation that the party has committed an unlawful act, it can give Labour an ‘unlawful act notice’ under Section 21 of the Equality Act, ” says Labour List. “This notice can require the party to prepare an action plan so that it avoids continuing or repeating the unlawful act.”
Labour last night said that “we are committed to cooperating fully with the commission’s investigation and implementing its recommendations when the final report is published”.
UK News
Jeremy Corbyn Keir Starmer Anti-Semitism
https://www.theweek.co.uk/107518/labour-ehrc-report-what-is-it-whats-in-it