In July 2022, Martin Forde KC produced a report on racism and factionalism in the Labour Party. Forde’s report had been commissioned by the party leader, Sir Keir Starmer.
Unlawfully obtained: Labour officials circulated hacked data. They never notified the police
The report identified what it called a “hierarchy of racism”, with antisemitism taken more seriously within the party than other forms of racism.
It is now six months since the broadcast of a series of Al Jazeera documentaries on the Labour Party, including a special episode about the nefarious activities of senior figures within the party in Croydon and the hacking of this website.
That documentary, The Spying Game, has been viewed by more than 100,000 people. But the Labour Party has refused to comment on the allegations of unlawful conduct by its senior staff and Croydon local councillors.
Withering report: Martin Forde KC
And now for the first time, Martin Forde reveals that he has heard almost nothing from the Labour Party since the report was published.
He tells Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit how he resisted pressure from the BBC to remove criticism of its 2019 Panorama documentary, “Is Labour Anti-Semitic?”
Forde says he felt “vindicated” by the I-Unit investigation, The Labour Files.
Watch The Spying Game here:
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: Source of hacked data worked for Evans
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: It’s long past time to clean-up the Party
Read more: #TheLabourFiles: anti-racism campaigner expelled by party
Read more: Racism, bullying and factionalism: Labour needs to do better
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I know Martin well and have instructed him many times very successfully . He is a superb advocate and a forceful barrister. It is shocking to read his comments .The labour party should learn and change
There are many aspects of this saga which give cause for concern to anyone with an interest in democracy and honest politics.
First there was a “leaked report” which demonstrated how certain senior staff members of the Labour Party worked to undermine Labour’s electoral chances in the 2017 General Election, when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. For example the officials set up a secret fund from Party monies to assist right-wing Labour candidates in seats where Labour had quite large majorities, while ignoring more marginal seats which Labour needed to win the election. The officials concerned also demonstrated blatant racism in their communications.
Faced with calls to take action on these matters Keir Starmer, who by now had become Labour leader, set up an Inquiry under eminent barrister Martin Forde . However, as can be seen from the article above and the latest Labour Files video, the conclusions of this Inquiry have been virtually ignored by Starmer and the Labour leadership, and also by most of the mainstream media.
So the “hierarchy of racism” in the Party (treating other forms of racism less seriously than antisemitism) continues. We also continue to see the unfair use of accusations of antisemitism, resulting in expulsions of many Party members who are not in reality antisemitic, including a disproportionate number of Jewish members of the Party.
The way prominent Labour figures in Croydon and nationally used information hacked from Inside Croydon’s website, rather than reporting the hacking to the police or Information Commissioner, is in my view part of the same toxic culture.