Labour withdraws lawsuit against ex-staffers accused of conspiring against Starmer

Labour has withdrawn a lawsuit against five former staffers accused of leaking an internal report on antisemitism and “conspiring” against Keir Starmer.

The legal action, which began after an 860 page document on antisemitism was leaked onto the internet, is believed to have cost the Labour party around £2million.

The court battle involved ex-staff members, including Jeremy Corbyn’s former chief of staff, Karie Murphy, and his former director of communications, Seumas Milne, and had been going on for over four years.

The accused – who also included Georgie Robertson, Laura Murray and Harry Hayball – “strenuously denied, and have consistently denied, any involvement or complicity in the leak whatsoever”.

A joint statement from Labour and from lawyers for the five states: “The party is discontinuing its legal claims against Karie Murphy, Seumas Milne, Georgie Robertson, Harry Hayball and Laura Murray on a ‘no order as to costs’ basis. The five welcome the resolution of the claims.”

Pro-Corbyn figures claimed the legal case used up funds that could have been used to fight the current general election.

Although Jewish News understands there is no connection between the funds used for these purposes.

The 860 page leaked document had examined the handling of antisemitism complaints under Corbyn’s leadership, but had attempted to suggest the former leader was not responsible for any problems.

It had instead attempted to put blame on anti-Corbyn Labour staffers for the problem claiming they had impeded progress on antisemitism complaints.

Labour had faced legal action from nine people – most of whom had made antisemitism complaints – who said their privacy and data had been breached.

But that dropped their claim in September last year, and the party continued to pursue the five to try recover some of its costs.

The report had been intended as a submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). But the party’s then general secretary Jennie Formby did not submit the document to the EHRC after taking legal advice.

But it was leaked early in April 2020, within a week of Starmer becoming party leader, in what appeared to be an attempt to undermine him.

Martin Forde KC, carried out a wide-ranging report into the culture of the party in response to the leak.