Destructive infighting in Labour under Jeremy Corbyn meant antisemitism was often used as a “factional weapon” by his critics and denied by his supporters, a damning report into the party’s culture has found.
The Forde report details “toxicity on both sides of the relationship” between Corbyn’s office and Labour headquarters, which seriously hampered the party’s ability to fight elections.
It also lays bare how senior Labour staff displayed “deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes”.
The 138-page report follows an independent inquiry by Martin Forde QC prompted by the leak in 2020 of a Labour document containing hundreds of derogatory WhatsApp messages. After long delays, the Forde report was passed to the party’s National Executive Committee on Tuesday.
Corbyn, who declined to be interviewed for the inquiry but signed a joint submission, was described in the report as “notably silent”.
Among its findings, the report concluded that:
Both sides believed the other was trying to sabotage their work.
Derogatory messages were not “cherrypicked and selectively edited” as claimed, but were representative of insensitive and sometimes discriminatory attitudes.
It was “highly unlikely” that a parallel campaign run by anti-Corbyn staff in 2017 cost the party the election.
The leaked 2020 report itself was a factional document with an agenda to advance.
Overall, Forde concluded the party had been torn apart by infighting that not only left it hamstrung in contesting elections but also did a disservice to those experiencing antisemitism.
“Some anti-Corbyn elements of the party seized on antisemitism as a way to attack Jeremy Corbyn, and his supporters saw it simply as an attack on the leader and his faction – with both ‘sides’ thus weaponising the issue and failing to recognise the seriousness of antisemitism,” the report found.
Under Corbyn, the party was “spending more time occupied by factional differences than working collaboratively to demonstrate that the party is an effective opposition”, it concluded.
One of the key allegations of the 2020 leak was that Labour staff hostile to Corbyn ran a parallel campaign in the 2017 general election, which could have cost the party the chance of winning power.
The Forde report concluded this was “highly unlikely” while noting that the two sides “were trying to win in different ways”, based in part on seeking support for MPs they favoured.
Keir Starmer commissioned the report after the leak of a document containing private WhatsApp messages that exposed factionalism in Labour’s efforts to tackle antisemitism. Forde said he had not ascertained who leaked the document, and ceased investigating this when the Information Commissioner’s Office launched its own investigation.
Leftwing Labour supporters said Tuesday’s report vindicated their experiences of being undermined during the Corbyn years by staff working against the then leader.
Hilary Schan, a co-chair of Momentum, said: “The Forde report is a damning indictment of the Labour right’s attempts to destroy from within the Corbyn leadership, and with it the hopes of a radical Labour government for the many.”
One senior Labour official close to Starmer said the difference between now and the Corbyn years was “night and day”, with the functioning of the party since transformed.
The official said the Forde report also “debunked” the idea that the party could learn lessons from the 2017 election when Labour performed better than expected. Forde found that a parallel campaign run by anti-Corbyn staff to help MPs without the direction of the leader of the opposition’s office was not itself damaging to the election effort.
Though most groups within Labour said the report was fair, a number of Jewish Labour members have privately complained about criticism of antisemitism training and the suggestion that a wider number of groups should be included.
A Jewish Labour Movement spokesperson said: “The experiences of Jewish Labour members are yet again vindicated. It confirms that the Labour party had a serious problem with antisemitism and its denial and downplaying, which it demonstrably failed to address.”
The full report describes a “debilitating inertia, factionalism and infighting, which then distracted from what all profess to be a common cause – electoral success”.
WhatsApp messages and other evidence showed “online abuse, segregation of the staff in each of the ‘camps’ during campaigns and, in one instance, a deliberate go-slow by certain members of staff designed to frustrate the efforts of a colleague from an ‘opposing faction’ to promote the party’s wider interests”.
While noting that internal divisions within Labour previously existed, the report sets out that “factionalism permeated relationships” between Corbyn’s team and party headquarters.
It also found there was not clear evidence that Corbyn’s team or others overtly interfered in investigations into alleged antisemitism, saying most of the problems were caused by a lack of clarity on procedures “aggravated by the mutual antagonism between HQ staff and Loto [the leader of the opposition’s office]”.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The Forde report details a party that was out of control. Keir Starmer is now in control and has made real progress in ridding the party of the destructive factionalism and unacceptable culture that did so much damage previously and contributed to our defeat in 2019.”
Corbyn said the report confirmed his leadership had consistently been undermined by “powerful groups” in the party and suggested some problems remained.
“Toxic factionalism is far from over – nor are persistent problems of racism and sexism – and action must be taken, as Forde makes clear,” he said. “Most of all, the party needs to decide what it is for and who decides that. Are we a democratic socialist party, run by members and affiliated unions, that aims for a fundamental transfer of wealth and power from the few to the many? Or are we something else?”
Forde’s inquiry began after a leak in April 2020 of an unredacted 860-page report into Labour’s handling of antisemitism claims, including hundreds of private WhatsApp messages from named staff members using deeply offensive language.
The report was intended to be submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was conducting an inquiry into the party’s handling of antisemitism, but senior party staff blocked the submission and it was eventually leaked to journalists.
The report dismissed the complaint by Labour staff that derogatory messages were “cherrypicked and selectively edited” in the leaked report.
“We find that the messages on the SMT [senior management team] WhatsApp reveal deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes expressed by many of the party’s most senior staff,” it found.
Legal cases connected to the report continue. Labour has launched a legal claim against five former members of staff whom it accuses of leaking the original report: the head of communications, Seumas Milne; Corbyn’s chief of staff, Karie Murphy; and the aides Laura Murray, Georgie Robertson and Harry Hayball. All of them deny leaking it and the case is not expected to be heard until 2023.
