A lawyer representing the Jewish Labour Movement has accused Labour of not fully investigating all cases of antisemitism within the party.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, James Libson, a partner at the Mishcon de Reya law firm, said he has prepared 70 sworn testimonies from Labour party staffers past and present as part of evidence submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism in the party.
Libson, when asked if Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s assertion that every case of anti-Semitism had been dealt with was incorrect, said: “very much so.”
He added: “There are many, many outstanding complaints, many examples of interference and many examples of double-standards in the way in which complaints are processed.”
Asked if there was evidence that the Labour leader’s office was “interfering” in the investigations process, Libson said: “There has been interference and that interference has unfortunately become institutional.
“Institutional in the sense that people affiliated with the leader’s office – and now in the actual unit that are investigating – and that at a more basic level, information is passing between the leader’s office and investigating unit.”
He added: “Passed by USB sticks, by WhatsApp groups, secret WhatsApp groups.”
Shadow housing secretary John Healey said Labour has “toughened-up” its approach to tackling antisemitism.
He told Today:
“Having been too slow and too weak at the start, the action being taken now has been toughened-up.
“An in-house lawyer, special appeal panels to deal with complaints, new fast-track expulsion powers that are being used. I’m confident that cases coming in are being dealt with and if they are coming in they will be dealt with.”
Healey apologised to the Jewish community who he said “feel let down” by the way the Labour has handled cases of anti-Semitism in the party.
Updated
The shadow education secretary Angela Rayner has tried to get Jeremy Corbyn out of a hole with royalists, by suggesting he may watch the Queen’s speech on catchup.
Corbyn appeared to be caught out by ITV’s Julie Ethchingham when asked if he watched the Queen’s Christmas broadcast. He said “It’s on in the morning, usually we have it on some of the time.” Thee speech is broadcast at 3pm.
Challenged about the apparent gaffe, which made the front page of the Daily Express (see below), Rayner told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “That doesn’t mean to say he watches it on Christmas day. He said he watched it in the morning. He said he also visit is a homeless shelter.”
Asked if Corbyn meant he watched the speech on Boxing Day, Rayner said:
I don’t know, I’m not with Jeremy Corbyn on Christmas Day. What I’m saying is from my own experience sometimes I watch programmes on catch up, sometimes on the time it’s at. Most kids, including my kids, watch [programmes] on YouTube. So it can be confusing about which times people watch something. You don’t have to watch it at the time that is specified in the TV guide.
Asked if she would be watching the Queen’s speech, Rayner said: “I always do, my kids are named after Kings and so I’ve got James and Charles.”
Good morning everyone, it’s a week until election day. After the brief but amusing distraction that was Nato, all attention is back onto the vote and Boris Johnson will resume campaigning today.
Johnson survived the summit relatively unscathed. There had been concerns among the Conservative camp that the Johnson’s proximity to the US president might be damaging, stoking voter fears that the NHS might be on the table in US-UK trade deals. But the prime minister managed to avoid almost any public meetings with Trump, though he was caught on camera apparently joking about Trump with other world leaders, something Johnson astonishingly has no memory of. After the video of the interaction did the rounds, Trump called Justin Trudeau “two-faced” and then announced he was leaving early and would not be giving a press conference. Don’t miss Marina Hyde’s or John Crace’s take on yesterday’s events.
Now that all the Nato shenanigans are out of the way, normal programming can resume. Johnson has launched his plans for the first 100 days after he takes office if he wins on 12 December. He says his main focus would be passing the withdrawal agreement to ensure Brexit happens on 31 January. Other priorities include bringing in legislation to end the automatic release of serious violent and sexual offenders at the halfway point of their sentence – which the family of murdered student Jack Merritt have condemned as a kneejerk politicisation of the London Bridge terror attack – and increasing the amount that new immigrants pay to use the NHS.
Labour will be talking about education today as Jeremy Corbyn visits schools and shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, will pledge to recruit 20,000 more teachers, cap secondary class sizes at 30, and spend £7bn on repairs and upgrades to England’s crumbling school buildings. They will also promise free, healthy breakfasts for all primary-age children as part of a multibillion pound plan to “poverty-proof” England’s schools.
OK, thanks for reading along, we’ll be with you all day, so keep hitting that refresh button.
