Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer issue an official response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission Report on Thursday which found the party responsible for unlawful acts of discrimination and harassment of Jewish people.
In the press conference following the report's release, Sir Keir described the findings as a "day of shame" for the Labour Party.
“I found this report hard to read and it is a day of shame for the Labour party”, the party leader said.
He pledged to "act" in the face of the report's conclusions and said he acknowledged the difficulties faced by those who left the party allegedly due to alleged antisemitic harassment.
Starmer, in an apparent reference to his 'New Leadership' messaging, stressed: “The Labour party I lead accepts this report".
The Labour leader said that those who are antisemitic "should be nowhere near this party and we will make sure you are not". He added that those who believe the report is a “factional attack" should be nowhere near it as well.
In response to a question regarding whether Jeremy Corbyn should remain in the party, Starmer said the report did not make and individual findings against the former Labour leader
After a query about Corbyn's claim responding to the report that the problem of antisemitism was "overstated", Starmer said that "those who deny there is a problem are part of the problem. Those who say it is exaggerated or factional are part of the problem".
Starmer was asked if Lucian Berger, Ian Austin and others who left under the Corbyn's leadership would be readmitted back into the Labour Party
“The test I have set for myself is effectively when they and others feel it is safe to return to the labour Party", he said.
“I can’t speak for them they will make their own decisions".
Jeremy Corbyn, under whose tenure of which the report covers, responded earlier to the publication saying he did not accepts all of the EHRC’s findings and said that the scale of the antisemitism problem within Labour was “dramatically overstated” with political intentions.
Corbyn described antisemitism as "absolutely abhorrent, wrong and responsible for some of humanity’s greatest crimes" and said that "was always determined to eliminate all forms of racism" in the party.
“The EHRC’s report shows that when I became Labour leader in 2015, the Party’s processes for handling complaints were not fit for purpose. Reform was then stalled by an obstructive party bureaucracy. But from 2018, Jennie Formby and a new NEC that supported my leadership made substantial improvements, making it much easier and swifter to remove antisemites. My team acted to speed up, not hinder the process", he wrote.
“Jewish members of our party and the wider community were right to expect us to deal with it, and I regret that it took longer to deliver that change than it should".
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), described it as a “sordid, disgraceful chapter” in the party’s history and said the responsibility “lies firmly with those who held positions of leadership”.
The equality body found Labour responsible for political interference in antisemitism complaints, failure to provide adequate training to those handling antisemitism complaints, and harassment.
The EHRC report identified “serious failings in the Labour party leadership in addressing antisemitism and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints” which “points to a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it”.
"This is in direct contrast to the comprehensive guidance and training in place to handle sexual harassment complaints that demonstrates the party’s ability to act decisively when it needs to, indicating that antisemitism could have been tackled more effectively", the report said.
According to the report, 23 instances of "inappropriate involvement" by the leader of the opposition’s office (LOTO) and 70 others was considered evidence of political interference in the complaints process.
This involved LOTO staff influencing decisions on complaints, primarily regarding suspensions decisions or investigations into claims with certain decisions made due to press interest as opposed to formal criteria.
"The Labour party adopted a practice of political interference in certain complaints and the evidence indicates that it occurred more regularly in antisemitism cases", the EHRC said. "A transparent and independent antisemitism complaints process, where all cases of alleged discrimination, harassment or victimisation are investigated promptly, rigorously and without interference is an essential part of the reforms needed to rebuild trust".
The report also identified harassment committed against Labour members with Jewish ethnicity was through "antisemitic tropes". Examples given included written or verbal suggestions of stereotypes deemed antisemitic.
A prominent Labour politician, as well as councillor Pat Bromley, and expelled former London Mayor Ken Livingston were explicitly named in the report.
The report highlighted Naz Shah's post seeming to show Israeli relocated to the United State under a caption "problem solved". The Bradford West MP
A Politically Motivated Investigation?
Former MP Chris Williamson, who was subject to widespread criticism over alleged antisemitic comments, said that the report was a "vindication" of his "longstanding record of standing up to racism".
"Today, I am pleased to say that, despite an intense campaign of vilification against me, the EHRC has determined that I did not contribute towards ‘unlawful harassment related to Jewish ethnicity’ by the Labour Party. This is despite the fact that the Commission desperately attempted to cobble together such a finding, and initially included an assortment of risible and offensive comments about me", he wrote in a formal response.
However, Williamson, who was an admant supporter of the former Labour leader, described the report as a "travesty" and politically motivated by "anti-Corbyn" factions.
"The EHRC launched its investigation following ceaseless lobbying efforts by two anti-Corbyn and pro-Israel outfits, the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) and the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA)", the former Derby MP wrote.
Williamson said that the report was an attempt by "Zionists and other racists to weaponise anti-Semitism in order to criminalise anti-Zionists and left-wing Jews".
"It also served another purpose, which was to help derail the Party’s pro-Palestinian leadership, after it had rocked the British establishment when it came tantalisingly close to winning office in 2017", he wrote.
He said the report failed to consider the motivations of those submitting complains, namely the CAA that he claimed: "committed data protection breaches through its evidence-gathering measures".
Contradictory Reports?
This follows a leaked report earlier this year that was released during the outgoing weeks of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership which seemed to find that the was active withholding of information from the leadership office by factional opponents of the leader.
The 860-page document, that was intended to be given to the EHRC for contextual purposes, discovered “no evidence” of antisemitism accusations being given different treatment than any other complaints.