Jeremy Corbyn launches High Court bid to reverse his suspension from the Labour Party, while a separate court challenge against the EHRC’s devastating report goes nowhere
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party, has launched a bid in the High Court to overturn his suspension from Labour over remarks he made following the publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) devastating report into antisemitism in the Party.
The first hearing, which took place earlier this week, related to the disclosure of evidence pursuant to Mr Corbyn’s insistence that there was a deal between his representatives and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on which Sir Keir supposedly reneged.
Campaign Against Antisemitism lodged a complaint against Mr Corbyn, holding him responsible for conduct that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Labour Party, as the Leader during the period of the EHRC’s shameful findings. Given the serious detriment that this conduct has caused, we are seeking Mr Corbyn’s immediate resuspension and, if the complaint is upheld, we will be requesting his expulsion. On the day the publication of the EHRC’s report, we also submitted a major complaint against Mr Corbyn and other sitting MPs. These complaints are yet to be acknowledged by the Party, and they must be investigated by an independent disciplinary process that the EHRC has demanded and Sir Keir has promised but has yet to introduce.
Separately, a case brought against the EHRC in connection with its report by two members of the public has apparently failed to advance because the claimants lacked legal standing. At least one of the claimants, Justin Schlosberg, last year lost a case in the High Court challenging Ofcom’s decision not to sanction the BBC over the Panorama investigation into Labour antisemitism.
Another challenge against the EHRC has reportedly been brought by the disgraced former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and Cllr Pam Bromley, who were both singled out for criticism by the EHRC’s report.
The Labour Party was found by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to have engaged in unlawful discrimination and harassment of Jews. The report followed the EHRC’s investigation of the Labour Party in which Campaign Against Antisemitism was the complainant, submitting hundreds of pages of evidence and legal argument. Sir Keir Starmer called the publication of the report a “day of shame” for the Labour Party.
In the first release of its Antisemitism in Political Parties research, Campaign Against Antisemitism showed that Labour Party candidates for Parliament in the 2019 general election accounted for 82 percent of all incidents of antisemitic discourse by parliamentary candidates.
Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.
Campaign Against Antisemitism advocates for zero tolerance of antisemitism in public life. To that end we monitor all political parties and strive to ensure that any cases of concern are properly addressed.
