US/World News

Labour Party apologizes for defaming ex-staffers calling out antisemitism

(JTA) – Britain’s Labour Party apologized and offered damages to former employees who sued the British party for libel after being maligned by officials for talking about its antisemitism problem in the media. The apology, offered July 22 at a High Court hearing in the suit filed by the seven ex-staffers in 2019, is part of a policy reversal under the party’s newly elected leader, Keir Starmer. His predecessor, the far-left politician Jeremy Corbyn, had insisted that Labour was dealing correctly with instances of antisemitism by individual members and dismissed allegations that the party was institutionally antisemitic. Starmer has acknowledged and apologized for antisemitism in the party. 

A Labour spokesperson in 2019 called the ex-staffers, who spoke with the BBC on antisemitism within Labour, “disaffected former officials” with “personal and political axes to grind.” The ex-staffers sued for libel, resulting in the apology and settlements.

“We would like to take this opportunity to withdraw these allegations,” a Labour spokesperson said in a statement about the settlement. “We would like to apologize unreservedly for the distress, embarrassment and hurt caused by their publication.”

The party has also apologized and agreed to pay damages to the journalist who presented the BBC investigation, John Ware, for falsely accusing him of “deliberate and malicious misrepresentations designed to mislead the public.”

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