Labour candidate sues own party

A Labour candidate is suing her own party over a leaked report which named her and several other anti-semitism activists.

Julie Cattell, who is standing for election next week in Westbourne and Poets Corner, was one of seven Labour Against Anti-Semitism members named in a report into how the party dealt with the issue under Jeremy Corbyn.

The report, which was written by party staff but not officially published, said they co-ordinated complaints against various individuals.

After it was leaked in April 2020, they launched a legal case against the party for misusing their private information.

All seven applied for anonymity, and their names were withheld pending a ruling. But this week, five of them dropped the application, partly because of the legal costs, and they were named for the first time.

Ms Cattell said: “This isn’t about politics. It’s about a breach of GDPR and trust that occurred under the previous general secretary when Jeremy Corbyn was still leader.

“As a result of the leak, threatening articles were published on neo-Nazi websites, which was extremely frightening for all of us.

“I remain totally committed to the Labour Party and hope the lawyers settle the case soon so all parties involved can move on.”

The defendant in the case, initially named as the Labour Party, but subsequently amended to Labour’s general secretary David Evans, is seeking to add five former Labour staff as third parties, on the basis they were responsible for the leak.

They are Corbyn’s former chief of staff Karie Murphy, his head of communications Seumas Milne, Georgina Robertson, Harry Hayball and Laura Murray.

The individuals against whom LAAS made complaints are not named in the leaked report, but several Labour members in Brighton and Hove were suspended or expelled after allegations of anti-semitism in the time period covered, 2014-19.

These include Tony Greenstein, who was expelled in February 2018 after allegations of harassment and abuse of fellow members, including dubbing them Zios, a term singled out as anti-semitic by the party.

The leaked report mentions Mr Greenstein as one of a handful of high-profile anti-semitism cases.

Two Labour councillors – Anne Pissaridou and Kate Knight – who were suspended over allegations of anti-semitism in 2020 but subsequently left the party are standing as independents in North Portslade and Coldean and Stanmer.

The leaked report was intended for, but never submitted to, an investigation by the equalities watchdog and it alleged that staff had worked to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

It was leaked in April 2020, shortly after Keir Starmer became the new leader of the party. One of those who posted it on social media was the Brighton Kemptown MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who put it on the Brighton Labour Party Facebook group.

Mr Russell-Moyle said this week: “The link to the report had already been posted in the Labour Facebook group when I made my personal comment.

“The reposted link was deleted when I was made aware that it contained some unredacted names in the annexes and footnotes.

“I never had a copy of the report myself.

“I was personally abused in that leaked report for which the subsequent Forde Report, commissioned by Keir Starmer, found there was a culture of such instances in the party from 2011-18.

“We’ve made good progress righting some of these wrongs and I look forward to recommendations of the Forde Report being implemented so no members are abused in the future.”