Labour drops legal action against five Corbyn-era staff

Sky News

Updated 6 June 2024 at 10:42 am·2-min read

The Labour Party has dropped its long-running legal case against five former staff members.

Labour had spent nearly £1.5 million up to October last year - with the final sum believed to be much more - on the case after accusing the former employees of leaking a controversial report into how antisemitism complaints were handled under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

The report was leaked soon after Sir Keir Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 - after Mr Corbyn was suspended for asserting the scale of antisemitism within the party had been overstated for political reasons.

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Two of the five were key figures from Mr Corbyn's main team - former director of communications Seumas Milne and former chief of staff Karie Murphy.

They had said they would "vigorously defend themselves" in a High Court action - that was expected to have cost Labour an extra £900,000 since last autumn.

The quintet were accused of leaking the 860-page report in April 2020 on Labour's governance and legal unit, which claimed to have found "no evidence" of antisemitism being handled differently from other complaints.

The report also contained thousands of private WhatsApp communications between former senior party officials that were often derogatory about Labour staff, members, and Corbyn-supporting MPs.

While Mr Corbyn was leader, there was a slew of antisemitism complaints and accusations senior officials were slow to crack down on members who promoted it.

A statement from Carter-Ruck, the lawyers representing the former staff members, said: "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."

Party sources had previously raised concerns such a costly legal case could dent the party's election fund.

Mish Rahman, a member of Labour's National Executive Committee, likened the case to the "targeting of Diane Abbott" and called it "pointless and vindictive" and "another example of Starmer allowing his bully boys to get carried away with their war on the left".

A Labour candidate and former shadow cabinet member, who did not want to be named, said the case was a "huge embarrassment for the party" and accused the official appointed to lead the case by Sir Keir of having "wasted eye-watering sums which could have made the difference in key seats in this election".

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A Labour Party spokesman said: "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."

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