Labour descends into civil war over Panorama anti-Semitism claims as MPs defend ‘disaffected’ whistle-blowers MPs defended former staffers who broke NDAs to speak about the anti-Semitism scandal in the party

Labour has descended into civil war after a documentary alleging political interference in supposed impartial anti-Semitism investigations sent shock waves through the party.



A BBC Panorama documentary, which aired on Wednesday night, claimed anti-Semitism investigations were being undermined by senior Labour figures who interfered with the process.

Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson said the revelations were “harrowing” and MPs raced to defend whistle-blowers, saying anyone who justified the incidents “should be ashamed of themselves”.

‘Disaffected’ former staff

But other senior figures in the party accused the BBC of knowingly producing a “seriously inaccurate” report.

In the documentary, former officials alleged that Labour’s director of communications, Seumas Milne, and its general secretary, Jennie Formby, interfered with investigations into anti-Semitism in the party.

Four of those who spoke out, including former Labour general secretary Iain McNicol, were forced to break non-disclosure agreements to do so.

Labour denied the claims and accused the former staff making the accusations of being “disaffected”.

Watson backs automatic exclusions

Mr Watson tweeted that he was “shocked, chilled and appalled” by the documentary and suggested the party introduce a policy of automatically excluding people for anti-Semitism.

“Hearing the testimony of party members and former staff was harrowing. They are not ‘disaffected’, they have been incredibly brave. Very serious questions now have to be answered.”

He later told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there was “almost a permissive culture” towards anti-Semitism in the party, as he claimed there was evidence of “some participation” from Jeremy Corbyn’s office in disciplinary cases.

“I think we need a rule change – and this has been argued by others like Keir Starmer and Gordon Brown – that allows us to auto-exclude from the membership people who have a prima facie case to answer of using anti-Semitic behaviours and language within our own structures.”

MPs attack party

Mr Watson said he thought Mr Corbyn was the “only one” who could fix the anti-Semitism issue within the party.

“Not only do I think he can fix it, I think he is the only one who can fix it. And if he adopts some of the proposals that I’m making then these rule changes will go through our party.”

Wes Streeting, Jess Phillips, Lisa Nandy and Ruth Smeeth were among other Labour MPs to publicly speak of their horror and called on the party to step up its efforts to deal with the issue.

Tonight’s #Panorama investigation has yet agin laid bare the scale of Labour’s antisemitism problem. We must act now to tackle this racism, while there is still a Labour Party worth saving. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/eXBicXfmTt — Ruth Smeeth (@RuthSmeeth) July 10, 2019

I know some of the staffers on tonight’s Panorama. They joined the Labour Party, like me and most party members, because they hate racism as much as they hate poverty. A statement accusing them of having “political axes to grind” is deeply wrong and indefensible — Lisa Nandy (@lisanandy) July 10, 2019

I haven't rode out publicly because what can I possibly say. I found Panorama worse than I expected. The Labour party response tells me that they don't care. — Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) July 11, 2019

Tonight’s @BBCPanorama powerful and shocking. Huge bravery shown by the young people who spoke out. This goes to the soul of what Labour stands for. And it’s not just about processes – it’s about the world view that created the permissive environment for all this. — Pat McFadden (@patmcfaddenmp) July 10, 2019

But other figures in the party, including shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, accused the BBC of a “hatchet job” and suggested that it was biased reporting.

Throughout Wednesday Labour campaign groups shared videos online discrediting Panorama journalist John Ware and accusing the BBC of being anti-Corbyn.

Labour hits back

The party issued a statement saying that the reporting was “seriously inaccurate, politically one-sided polemic, which breached basic journalistic standards, invented quotes and edited emails to change their meaning”.

#Panorama edited the email sent by Seumas Milne to completely misrepresent it. It stated: "But if we're more than very occasionally using disciplinary action against Jewish members for antisemitism, something's going wrong, and we're muddling up political disputes with racism." — Labour Press (@labourpress) July 10, 2019

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the BBC should carry out an investigation into complaints made by the party about the programme.



“There have been complaints put into the BBC now. I think the BBC should investigate those and then we can come to a conclusion,” he said.

“What we have got is ex-staff making accusations against existing staff and those existing staff have challenged those complaints so it does need an objective look at.”

A BBC spokesman said: “The programme adheres to the BBC’s editorial guidelines. In line with those, the Labour Party has been given the opportunity to respond to the allegations.”