[] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elp18OvnNV0
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Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit uncovers the true story behind the “crisis of anti-Semitism” that engulfed the British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. It made him appear unfit to govern and led to a crushing electoral defeat. An analysis of internal party documents, social media data and covert recordings reveals how senior Labour officials used the party’s procedures to undermine support for Jeremy Corbyn and to silence debate about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. The files also show how pro-Israel groups ask the party to distance itself from the Boycott Divest and Sanctions campaign, a protest movement that seeks to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, and how – in response – the Jewish Board of Deputies was assured that Labour would “never accept attempts to exceptionalise and deligitimise Israel.”
Transcript
foreign
0:08secretive people manipulate and control one of the two great parties in Great Britain what will
0:14they do when they have control of MI5 when they have control of all the levers
0:20of the state are they suddenly going to believe in Justice in proper
0:25investigations and fairness or they’re going to be the same as they are now or
0:31even worse Al Jazeera has obtained the largest leak of documents in British political
0:37history my God this is unbelievable it is absolutely shocking hundreds of
0:44thousands of internal Communications expose how operatives secretly take control of Britain’s labor party
0:51the labor party is a criminal conspiracy against its members free speech was shut
0:59down they tell the inside story of how circus Dharma who could be Britain’s next prime
1:05minister leads a lawless party I’ve waited 17 months to appear in front
1:13of you in this Hall as leader of our great party confidential documents expose tactics to
1:20discredit and expel rivals in the party people are actually quite dangerous who
1:27are room in the labor party they were playing with people’s lives here they reveal how starma’s predecessor was
1:33undermined by a smear campaign from within it disabled him as a politician and as a
1:40potential prime minister nice to see you there bye how British democracy known as
1:46the mother of parliament is being undermined by spying and dirty tricks
1:51no one would expect that a political party would associate themselves with a
1:56whole scale hacking of the press it looked like somebody is constantly
2:02monitoring me where I’m going and where my car is parked and where my children is going it just stinks to high heaven
2:08what they’re doing in the background we speak to people whose voices have
2:14been silenced including those who support Palestinian rights it’s very painful as Palestinians there was no
2:22room for us to enter this debate and that’s how it was designed to be and the files reveal how a hierarchy of racism
2:28exists under starmus leadership I face more racism in the labor party than I
2:33have in the rest of my life combined in episode 1 of the labor files they
2:40don’t care about the truth they want control how unelected party officials
2:45suspend and expel opponents in the party they were sabotaging the Democratic will of the party people will be absolutely
2:53Furious when this gets out into the public domain
3:05[Music] I love the city of Liverpool
3:11[Music] even though we’ve not been as rich as other cities financially
3:19we’ve been very rich in terms of our perceptions of each other and our aspirations for the city that is fair
3:25and equal and Democratic Anna rothery is active in local politics
3:31she has represented labor one of the two parties of government in Britain
3:37thousands of trade unionists searched to tag along with Mom posted the bread for the miners and the
3:43jockers the pool is a Bastion of Labor a party
3:50born from trade unions and the working class the city stands in contrast to Southern
3:56counties of England which overwhelmingly favor the right-wing conservative party
4:01[Music] I think Peru was known as a fight back City you know we are very steadfast in
4:08terms of fighting against Injustice we don’t quit we continue to fight until
4:15we see the movement that we need to see build Bridges not walls in 2015 labor
4:24party members across Britain elect a new leader he has a radical Vision that challenges Britain’s establishment
4:31the wonderful campaign that I was involved with that I was so proud to
4:37lead brought a lot of people back into politics because they believed there was
4:42something on offer for them membership of the labor party doubles
4:48[Applause] to tell the story of how the hopes of
4:53many new party supporters are crushed how established politicians and party
4:58bureaucrats use the media to destroy a movement that sought to change British Society
5:03[Applause] is no secret but quite a lot of papers
5:09had it in for Corbin they were open they wanted to hear that Corbin was a thug
5:17or his supporters were thugs and so they didn’t probably investigate
5:22these claims with the professionalism which we I’m including
5:28myself in this should have done this is obviously a very disappointing night for
5:33the labor party with a result Corbin loses two elections I will not lead the party in any future
5:40general election campaign the labor files tell the inside story of
5:47what happened to corbyn when he is elected four years earlier he
5:53has no control over the party’s bureaucracy as leader of the opposition party in
6:00British politics Corbin has his own office [Music] the general secretary Ian McNichol is in
6:07charge of the party staff at his headquarters foreign it includes a legal unit then headed by
6:14John stollerday deal with complaints and suspensions
6:20from the party from the moment Jeremy corbyn was elected he faced complete opposition and
6:27resistance from The Party Staff people have paid to do the work of the party
6:32the party headquarters is at a central London building called Southside
6:39the senior staff of the labor party were operating a different strategy from that
6:44which the leadership the democratically elected leadership had decided upon so
6:49they were sabotaging if you like the Democratic will of the party
6:55in Liverpool the files tell the story of a city deprived of its voice
7:02they closed drunk cement we don’t want anybody who’s got an ounce of time for Jeremy
7:08corbyn the labor files show how behind the scenes party bureaucrats prevent
7:13rothering seeking higher office she has a Jekyll and Hyde character
7:20someone who can be right quite rational and then in seconds turns into a scrape
7:25and banshee [Music] it’s a vile coming to make
7:31such a horrible comment to make about a woman you know a screaming banshee
7:41when you get to the point where you think a little cabal like this
7:46can pre-determine the direction of travel of an entire movement
7:52within you know uncharted waters
7:57story that starts across the mersey river in the summer of 2016. foreign
8:03labor party was a really friendly organization with no hostility no
8:08arguments towards the occasional debate about things where we differ
8:14but there is a mood of crisis in the party Jeremy corbyn’s labor leadership is in
8:20crisis as he loses 90. last night that I no longer had confidence is internal he
8:28was members of his shadow I just feel that farty needs leadership and Direction disastrous weekend to labor
8:33party there’ll be mass resignations by 11 Shadow ministers for the sake of our party leave he now needs to step aside
8:40it becomes known as the chicken coo in wallasee labor party members hold
8:46their annual meeting a year earlier they had nominated corbyn
8:52as party leader the Member of Parliament for wallacy is
8:57Angela eagle she is unable to attend the meeting
9:04our MP Angela Eagle had been very supportive of of Jeremy in the meetings
9:09where she would come along to constituency meetings and give a report about what had been going on
9:16according to runswick the meeting ends without incident a week later a prominent opponent to
9:22Corbin claims that eagle who was openly lesbian is the victim of abuse
9:28I got a phone call saying that there was a television program where Tessa jail was saying that
9:34Angela been subject to homophobic abuse at the meeting I mean I talked to answer
9:39about her meeting she faced homophobic abuse at that meeting Angela wasn’t at
9:45the meeting but the inference was that she was
9:50she wasn’t activists and members of parliament and their staff are facing a
9:57day in day out harassment and in some cases intimidation
10:08[Music] no one had this you know the sorts of
10:15people be oh you don’t use language like that foreign
10:21there was no homophobia or intimidation at the meeting it’s a very small room so it would be
10:28very easy to hear what was being said by other people
10:33the national media sees on the story
10:39it was articles and television interviews saying that there’d been people shouting that Angela was a dyke
10:45that there was homophobic gestures made and repeated homophobic comments
10:51then over the days and weeks to follow the allegations grew into first of all
10:56it was widespread homophobia what happened in
11:02what Corbin’s opponents in the party
11:09the labor files revealed a series of complaints filed by eagle supporters to the party
11:17limp wrist gestures were made at our LGBT officer a nasty homophobic comments
11:22were made about our MP
11:28I did not see any limpressed gestures and there were no
11:35homophobic comments made about the MP I had no homophobic views I don’t know
11:42anyone who did and there was no other abuse
11:49I’ve never seen such a Tosh in all my life the room was full of trade unionists
11:55foreign who are well aware that their jobs were on the line if any
12:02slurs about homophobia or misogyny were found to be true
12:09I just was stunned it didn’t happen and yes I did
12:16repeatedly say that these things didn’t happen because they didn’t simple as that and I’ll say that forever
12:22[Music] my daughter got married the day after the meeting and she married a woman
12:30I wasn’t alone on the top table with a relative who identifies as bisexual so
12:38it just seems strange that anybody would think that we would allow that to go on and
12:44here you have people who seem palpably decent men and women in order to damage
12:52the local labor party a real horrible Hatchet job
12:57is being done on the local members
13:03Eagle then reveals her intention not to support corbyn but to challenge him
13:09today I’m announcing my decision to stand for the leadership of the labor
13:16party [Applause]
13:21needed to be distraction from the fact that Wallace
13:26constituency were not supporting their MPS leadership bid
13:36Angela eagle and her staff started to become paranoid that she was going to be deselected as in her local members would
13:42say well we don’t want you to to be our MP next time there’s a general election um and so that was something which they
13:49they were very animated about I’m looking forward to having a debate with Jeremy corbyn about the things that
13:56really matter to our country a counselor Paul Stewart compiles a
14:02dossier of complaints from 17 people claiming they heard homophobic comments [Music]
14:08foreign very loudly now those 17 people here there’s other people in the room would
14:15also have heard it but didn’t hear it because it wasn’t said
14:23Stewart sends the dossier to party headquarters
14:29I have also attached a slip of paper that was handed to me previously by a momentum member
14:36momentum was an organization set up in 2015 to give some kind of organizational
14:42form to the the movement that that supported Jeremy corbyn Stewart claims the note is evidence of a
14:49plot by momentum how to take control of labor party meetings
14:56it’s not the kind of note that I’ve ever seen anyone circulating seriously
15:01this is a note caricaturing what the militant tendency was accused of doing
15:07in the 1980s but this year’s labor conference militants and its supporters seem to
15:13have had as higher profile as ever the militant 10 agency was a radical left faction that was accused of
15:20secretly plotting to take over the labor party at that time it controlled Liverpool’s
15:26local government for the right of the labor party the battle against militants in the 1980s is
15:32kind of biblical it’s the foundation of their politics a think tank from the right of the party
15:39publishes a review of a book about the militant tendency
15:45it claims to describe militant strategy for taking over party meetings in the 1980s
15:53foreign the note from counselor Stuart is copied directly from the book review
16:01[Music] has passed a note like that I don’t know
16:06that the totally Bonkers if they have [Music] I find it
16:12hard to believe that a document like that would be passed around that I wouldn’t have got to hear about
16:17personally some people have said Tom Watson’s there he knows Tom Watson Corbin’s Deputy but privately a Critic a
16:25obtains Stewart’s note Watson then writes to corbyn
16:33there is no denying that tightly organized factions are organizing within momentum and the party
16:40at the end of Watson’s letter he says
16:46I attach a document that I am reliably informed is being shared between momentum members with links to far-left
16:53parties which summarizes the methods used by militant in the 1980s
16:58foreign I hope this note helps to dispel any
17:03remaining notion that entryism is a conspiracy theory
17:09Paul Stewart’s note ends up in the National media
17:14as Tom Watson says are you allowing trotskius and the hard left to infiltrate labor this is how
17:24how you space do you have something which is reportable and it can always be
17:29referred back to and it becomes one of these facts which of course isn’t a fact and that’s how a large number of these
17:37uh these stories um come about I think the British media has a lot to answer for including me I
17:46remember reading this and thinking yeah well that’s uh you know some of the Corbin supporters are a rotten law the
17:53media should have done what the media is supposed to do which is the question the official versions of the truth or
18:00the labor party version of the truth and gone answer is it really what was really
18:06going on files revealed that Angela Eagle colluded with party bureaucrats in
18:12Labor’s London headquarters Stewart writes to Senior Party official
18:17Emily oldnow I think that the constituency labor party is out of
18:23control and should be suspended with immediate effect all no forwards the message to Ian
18:30McNichol the party’s General Secretary obviously anything would have to be
18:35agreed with Angela McNichol responds she is happy for constituency labor
18:42party to be suspended and so am I old no emails back
18:48we have to do what Angela wants in these circumstances now that that’s new to me because up
18:55until now I’ve always said that I could never prove that Angela was involved in any of this but I couldn’t
19:04South Side suspends wallacy labor party they are banned from holding official
19:09meetings Paul Davies organizes a public meeting
19:17this is your chance to find out what is really going on in wallacy labor party and your chance to have your say
19:26allies of Paul Stewart complained to party bureaucrats that Davies delivered the Flyers only to the homes of party
19:33members eyewitness Paul Davis Post in the flyer
19:39through our letterboxes no one else in our close received this flyer foreign
19:45claims Davies has illegally obtained party membership data
19:51[Music] that such clear data protection has been breached yet nothing seems to have been
19:57done about this Stuart demands that Davies is expelled from the party and reported to the
20:04police [Music] the police and or the information commissioner’s office should be informed
20:11of this clear breach of data but Davies was not in wallacy on the day
20:18they claim that was in London with the news
20:25but I hadn’t been in London if I hadn’t had train tickets if I hadn’t had credit cards I would have been expelled from
20:30the labor party because some people got together and decided that’d be a good way to get rid of me
20:35a party official emails a colleague who handles investigations
20:41well if he wasn’t even in town a bit lucky we didn’t suspend him
20:46well I like him he’s got a sense of humor look at he didn’t suspend me
20:53if that had been me I’d have been saying well how did this happen well they know how it happened they know
20:58that people are getting together to construct evidence against little old me
21:04metadata from the files reveals who wrote the complaints against Davies
21:10right so if you’ve got the original email or document you can get to who authored it
21:17and the author is the email address of Paul Stewart because I’ve emailed them so Paul stupid uh wrote that document
21:26um for one at least with relatives and friends to sign
21:33Davies dares the accusers to take a lie detector test in front of journalists [Music]
21:39party headquarters suspends him from the labor party for two years
21:46John stollerday leads the legal department [Music] ing to him is the head of disputes Sam
21:54Matthews he’s charged with investigating the alleged homophobic comments
22:01only four of the original 17 complainants heard any
22:07four people explicitly claimed to have heard the Dyke comment three of those four people have the same
22:14surname I interviewed one of them and I firmly believe his account the common surname is Stuart
22:24the party’s official report on wallacy claims that eagle
22:29received many hundreds of abusive homophobic and frightening messages sent
22:35by labor members the files show that despite this claim
22:40no labor party members are suspended for homophobic Behavior
22:46but Matthews keeps the constituency party suspended for over a year
22:52he emails old no I have every Sympathy for the fact that Angela is still in a difficult situation
22:59as they are properly organized in her constituency Matthews also recognizes that Wallace’s
23:07membership supports corbyn and not Angela eagle
23:14My worry is that based on track record no matter how much time we give Angela to organize so little work will go into
23:21it that will end up getting asked to extend it further and further [Music]
23:28so we have no democracy if you have an inner core six eight or ten people nationally with their tentacles
23:35spreading out to various regions saying who can be a candidate saying who
23:40can be a member then you control the body politic of one of the major parties in this country and I found that it’s
23:46undemocratic basically it’s a coup by a group of people to take over one of the major political parties in Britain
23:58Brighton is a progressive City in the UK it’s kind of known for being Progressive it’s known for being kind of liberal
24:05left-leaning [Music] and obviously the movement behind Jeremy
24:11corbyn was very strong in Brighton and actually in other places on the south coast the local branch becomes the largest in
24:18the country with over 6 000 members the party organizes its first general
24:23meeting since Corbin became leader the atmosphere in the labor party under
24:30Jeremy corbyn was one of optimism was one of cheer was one of solidarity
24:36we organized a rally before the annual meeting of the city party anyone was invited and we had about
24:42seven eight hundred people there [Music]
24:48a week before the meeting the the leader of the labor group in the Brighton City Council sends an email to his supporters
24:55I’m emailing to ask you a favor [Music] next Saturday our city labor party faces
25:02a takeover by a group of individuals for momentum and other Fringe left-wing groups
25:08this party has faced down militant before I’m asking you to help do that again
25:15I was a member of momentum at that time and we decided we would run a left slate
25:23which we did we went into that meeting
25:29open honest transparent
25:34to make speeches and when we were elected we were very pleased we all had
25:4165 of the vote two in three people attending it a record turnout a record
25:48majority had won fantastic but actually in retrospect
25:56we went into that meeting like Lambs to the slaughter
26:03we had no idea of the level of corruption and conspiracy
26:11and lies and abuse that would follow as a consequence of a
26:19democratic election within Brighton
26:25then I got a call it’s about 10 30 I think that night I was just outside the theater
26:32it was a call from someone named Jeremy corbyn’s office someone I knew and she said
26:39I thought she was ringing to congratulate me as I got text and phone calls me no she rang me and said yes
26:46we’ve we’ve got to do something about spitting we’ve got to be able to rebutt the spitting I said what
26:52spitting [Music] day Morgan sends a complaint to Labor’s
26:59regional office venue staff were allegedly spat at others were verbally intimidated our
27:06organizer was assaulted and abused I have no hesitation in saying that this
27:14is a hostile takeover of the party
27:19these fake accusations were shooting around the world before truth
27:24gets his boots on it it took me 48 hours to piece together what anybody could
27:29have pieced together and that is lies had been told they’d been told repeatedly over two or
27:37three days with repeated opportunities they lied they lied lied and lied again
27:44I took 78 statements 23 000 words named people who attended and every single
27:50person said there was nothing wrong when I got the CCTV footage proving
27:56there was no spitting the allegations disappeared [Music]
28:03despite having no evidence that spit or aggression took place the files show that Labor’s legal unit is intent
28:09on overturning the victory of the pro-corbon faction Catherine Buckingham from the disputes
28:16unit writes to her boss what’s your feeling on Brighton
28:22the head of the legal unit replies exactly what you proposed overturn the
28:29annual general meeting deal with individuals while we worry about applying the rules correctly and legal
28:35niceties Buckingham feels confident that the rules don’t matter
28:41it’s all about to come to a head I’m not worried about any of those things
28:47I say act now and worry about those things later
28:52days later the results of the election are overturned and the constituency is suspended
28:58[Music] the biggest mistake I’ve made apart from
29:04joining the labor party in the first place was winning an election in the labor party and they can’t stand that
29:15in a residential suburb of London labor party members meet to discuss the role of their local MP in the so-called
29:22chicken coop against Corbin failures are running quite High because
29:29there was a perception that the MP in Harrow West Gareth Thomas had been very
29:35unsupportive towards Jeremy corbyn the leader and had resigned from the shadow
29:41cabinet and there was a motion that that criticized garage Thomas for this and
29:48various people spoke in favor of it um but I actually spoke against it
29:53because I didn’t think it’d be that helpful Pamela Fitzpatrick says the mood
29:58suddenly turned sour Michael boreo who was a counselor became
30:04very agitated and stood up and started shouting shouting primarily at me and
30:10was very aggressive um I didn’t respond I continued to respond to the chair and I remained calm
30:18throughout that time and the meeting ended and that was that really
30:24Fitzpatrick is suspended from the labor party no reason is given
30:30I was really really upset in tears a lot of the time actually for this
30:38the files reveal that a complaint made by Michael boreo led to Fitzpatrick’s
30:43suspension yes so I’ve got an email here from councilor Michael boreo
30:51I haven’t seen this before none of this I’ve actually said which is quite shocking
30:57at a meeting where Michael boreo was aggressive and shouting at me and at
31:03which I’ve not responded he’s actually Twisted it so that I’m the aggressor shouting at him and being rude at him
31:12I was shouted down and heckled by councilor Fitzpatrick we should listen to others with respect
31:19and not Heckle abuse bully or attack our fellow labor colleagues
31:26it is completely fabricated so how is that a fair process it’s it’s astonishing that a party that calls
31:34itself a Democratic party would behave like this
31:39the branch chair compares the methods used to suspend Fitzpatrick to those of Soviet spies
31:46[Music] actions were done in a Draconian and
31:51secretive way which owed more to the style of the KGB than the labor party
31:57I was really really affected by it actually and had started to suffer with
32:02depression and anxiety about going to meetings that was the first time I started to worry that when I went to
32:08meetings I was going to be attacked the files reveal the role of local labor
32:16MP Gareth Thomas in expelling members of his own party
32:21Thomas sends a letter to General Secretary Ian McNichol asking for pro-corb and activists in Harrow to be
32:28treated more harshly Thomas proposes reviewing the disciplinary procedures
32:37I am concerned that the party has decided to rescind their suspensions and allow them to continue their
32:43infiltration activities into Harrow West the London Regional organizer writes to
32:50head of disputes Sam Matthews regarding Pamela Fitzpatrick
32:56Gareth is getting very worried about it all and wants to come in to have a chat about it [Music]
33:03Gareth is chasing via Ian’s office [Music] this email confirms that Gareth was
33:11behind all of this including me and he publicly will say that he’s very supportive of me he’s actually written
33:18whilst he was planning to get rid of me he’s written letters in support of me that he’ll send to local people to tell
33:25them that he’s actually supporting me the files reveal that a number of MPS
33:32are involved in the purging of members of their own constituency party [Music]
33:42the MP for Hove is Peter Kyle he sends an email to the governance and
33:48legal unit Rebecca Massey I would like to direct
33:53you in the strongest terms to investigate and to remove the member from the party you will see a pattern of
34:00behavior online which is also replicated in person she is regularly aggressive to my staff
34:07and myself at meetings I think it’s very important that abusive and uncomradly behavior is dealt with by
34:14the party astonishing that at that time
34:22an MP would be making those assertions
34:29in order to get me expelled from the labor party
34:38a man I will say I’ve had in my own house for meetings
34:50I’m not an aggressive person Rebecca Massey avoids disciplinary
34:57measures and is elected as chair of a local branch a former MP either Kaplan is in the same
35:04Branch he complains to the regional office [Music] I must immediately request that this
35:11person’s membership is suspended and subject to further investigation
35:17Kaplan sends a link to an article by a group known as The Campaign against anti-semitism
35:24Massey’s tweets describe her view of the influence of the pro-israel lobby in Britain
35:30the article states that Massey is dedicated to the demonization of Israel
35:38it also alleges that a problem of anti-Semitism in the labor party rests squarely in the black hearts of
35:45individuals like her
35:50article about how I was an anti-semite I began to be traduced
35:59February 3rd 2017 [Music] was the day that anti-Semitism was used
36:05for the first time in Brighton Hove as a weapon against pro-carbon
36:12candidates because it was on the 3rd of February
36:18that they campaign against anti-semitism published a shocking article about
36:24becking immediately Amplified retweeted and drawn to the attention of media
36:31[Music] foreign story
36:39there have been six years of abuse following
36:46always referring back to that initial story
36:51and that’s gone on for six six years now
36:58a month earlier Al Jazeera broadcast an investigation into Israel’s attempts to influence British politics using an
37:06undercover reporter Al jazeera’s investigative unit exposes Israel’s clandestine activities in London a city
37:13that’s become a major Battleground one of Israel’s main targets is the
37:19labor party for the first time its leader is a champion of Palestinian civil rights I’d be very happy to see
37:25Jeremy corbyn no longer leader of the labor party for sure it’s a covert action that penetrates the heart of
37:30Britain’s democracy sir at the Israeli Embassy discusses
37:38with a British civil servant how to deal with MPS who were critical of Israel
37:47the investigation forces the Israeli ambassador to apologize to the British
37:52government and the Diplomat is sent home the Diplomatic question no longer seems
37:57to be a functionary of the embassy in London uh and so whatever whatever he
38:03may exactly have been doing here his cover can be said to have been well and truly blown
38:09the undercover operation also shows how a former employee at the Israeli Embassy becomes leader of the Jewish labor
38:16movement [Music] so I’ve been introduced I’m Ella I am
38:22jlm’s barbecuer in Chief I’m a new director it’s probably higher small kids
38:27who knows you know what they’re doing before that is
38:34shy is the name of the disgraced Israeli operative
38:39Ella Rose discusses methods she favors to deal with Rivals within the party
38:46Jackie Walker is a pro-corban activist who supports civil rights for Palestinians
38:51saw Jackie Walker on Saturday and today
38:58and their existence as far as I’m concerned they can’t go blindfold
39:05[Music] well it’s interesting to see that again
39:10because obviously I have seen it before and just the sort of smugness of the woman
39:16talking about not only a fellow Jew and a fellow labor party member as Jackie
39:21says but a woman um it’s it’s extraordinary
39:26Naomi Winborn idrisi is one of several party members who complain so a few of us women in the labor party
39:33who were Jewish got together and we sent in an official Complaint and we wrote to
39:39Ian McNichol who was General Secretary at the time and we said obviously it’s
39:44completely inappropriate for a labor party member to be talking
39:49about another and other party members in this way what did he intend to do about it
39:57the labor files reveal that party officials treat Rose very differently to members who criticize Israel
40:05’s emails Sam Matthews the then head of disputes
40:10I would very much like to volunteer to come and meet with you and all relevant members of the disputes team next week
40:16in order to clear this matter up at the earliest opportunity
40:22four days later Rose meets Matthews had I known that our private meeting had
40:28been covertly recorded with the intention to broadcast our conversation on an international Network I would have
40:34never made those comments Days Later Matthew’s rights to Rose
40:42at interview you said that you understood the language you used was ugly and in retrospect you wished you
40:48had not used those words you noted that there isn’t nor will there ever be any
40:54public record of you using such language for the reasons outlined above the labor
41:00party will be taking no further action on this matter within a few days
41:07um I got an email back saying thank you very much I’ve looked into this
41:12um we’ve reminded Miss Rose of the conduct expected of members of labor party
41:18is closed goodbye the files include winborne address’s
41:24email asking the general secretary to bring the decision on Rose before the party’s governing body the NEC
41:34we are disappointed to have received no response to our email calling for a review of Ian mcnichol’s judgment on our
41:42complaint against Ella Rose we look forward to hearing what the NEC
41:48plans to do to correct the current unsatisfactory situation
41:56because immediate response is to male story day Matthews and old now
42:02saying happy Friday nice
42:07and then gets back to him Matthew isn’t hold now
42:13don’t think it needs a response we said clearly matter is closed
42:19the labor movement stands for decency and fairness and looking at the Yellow Rose
42:24disciplinary case it’s it’s sort of chummy uh you know this very rapid
42:30exchange of emails the personal meeting the Declaration that the case is closed
42:38Rosa’s case will not be discussed by the national executive committee the castology the head of the party’s legal
42:44unit ensures it is dealt with secretly a day after Matthew’s clears Rose
42:51staliday sends an email to fellow official odino he briefed an official on the NEC
43:00it’s fine so it’s important that we deal with it informally and don’t take it to any sea where everyone will get worked
43:07up Matthew tells members of the NEC that
43:13Rose’s case has been handled according to standard procedure
43:18I think I’m going to have a Google here offices applied exactly the same standards as they do for all
43:25investigations when deciding the most proportionate recommendation to make
43:36it’s hilarious really isn’t it never mind it looks like an example of abuse
43:41any sort of thing will ought to have gone to the NEC as far as I’m concerned
43:47it looks like there’s a set of double standards going on here that Ella Rose is being treated
43:54in a different way more friendly way after abusive Behavior which she acknowledges than people in Brighton and
44:00in wallacy Etc foreign
44:13[Applause] Fitzpatrick’s suspension is overturned and she becomes Labor’s parliamentary
44:20candidate in Harrow East constituency debates whether to affiliate to Jewish voice for labor or
44:27JVL JBL represents Jewish members who are critical towards the state of Israel
44:35the Jewish labor movement or JLM supports Israel
44:40there was a debate which was a very civilized debate it was a very balancing they voted overwhelmingly to support
44:48Jewish voice for labor Fitzpatrick suddenly receives a flurry
44:53of aggressive tweets the next day there were
44:59comments on social media attacking me for Harrow East having Affiliated to Jewish
45:06voice for labor and asking me to condemn Jewish voice
45:13for labor [Music] just kept getting worse and worse and
45:18then it was what your silence means you know you support it your silence means you support Holocaust deniers
45:27and then it turned into you are a holocaust denier one of the accounts attacking
45:34Fitzpatrick belongs to a labor party activist Luke Stanger
45:39counselor Fitzpatrick’s selection has already caused alarm to some in the Jewish community
45:46stirring things up and creating this perception that somehow I’m anti-semitic
45:52it’s really upsetting for me really really upsetting
45:58Stanger contacts an employee of fitzpatricks on Facebook
46:03I have been asked by a moderate counselor in Harrow to help build up a social media dossier on her which can
46:09then be leaked out and will hopefully result in the suspension of her candidacy
46:15she seems a nasty sectarian mouthpiece for the hard left
46:21I did some research and then found that there are other people that he attacked
46:26I’m one of many women um who’s been on the receiving end of
46:31Luke stanger’s abuse over the years started
46:36pretty much kind of constantly and relentlessly writing abusive tweets
46:43um about me he uses words like crazed
46:48deranged repellent Rancid
46:54Grandma this kind of language now this isn’t the language of political discourse and nobody could argue that it
47:01is but that’s the kind of language that Luke Stanger uses
47:06[Music]
47:12Luke Stanger then became uh
47:18associated with a group called Sussex friends of Israel and Luke Stanger would appear with some
47:29of the characters from Sussex friends of Israel where there were
47:36pro-palestinian stalls or Leaf litting
47:42Luke Stanger would appear and he would
47:47walk around filming he is one of those people that just
47:55seems to be able to act with impunity that whatever he does is going to be
48:02acceptable to party officials and you can’t help being suspicious really about
48:08you know who’s backing him who’s supporting him you know how does he
48:14manage to continue in the way he does
48:19after multiple complaints are filed the labor party suspends Stanger
48:25foreign er a questionnaire inviting him to respond to the allegations [Music]
48:32Stanger rejects the accusation that he has broken any of the party’s rules or codes of conduct
48:41metadata in the labor files reveals that Stanger didn’t write the letter himself
48:55okay so this shows that the author of what I’ve been looking at by Luke
49:02Stanger is another Luke Luke a cursed
49:10Luke akhurst is an influential figure in the labor party and now sits on the party’s national executive committee
49:17he’s also a key figure in the pro-israel lobby a director of we believe in Israel
49:28my word so the author of those documents surprise surprise is Luke aches
49:36Luke acurst is known to be the anti-core minister of all anticoptionists
49:43well this makes me feel is I had the sense all along that this was organized
49:49now Lou gehurst is behaving like this it it’s
49:55it’s quite shocking really
50:00[Music] we’ve always had a diverse mix of
50:07communities in Liverpool the proudest thing I would say is that
50:12I’ve made politics accessible to people I’ve shown them that you know you can
50:17represent communities it was about making sure that we did have the political representation than have a say
50:23on how the city was wrong
50:28the labor files reveal how Kirsten forces take control of the selection of
50:34the party’s candidates one of those men arrested is the mayor
50:40of Liverpool on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation
50:46when Liverpool’s mayor is arrested it Sparks a new selection process for the Party’s candidate in the upcoming
50:53election for mayor Anna rothery seeks the party’s nomination
50:59I believe real change comes from the ground up not the top down and it’s on
51:04that basis that I ask for your support [Music]
51:10Representatives interview rothery she is selected with two other candidates for a
51:15vote by labor members in Liverpool I was very surprised in terms of the way
51:22people rally drown to support me rothery was backed by one of Britain’s largest trade unions I was endorsed by
51:30United I was also endorsed by many MPS I was also endorsed by Jeremy corbyn I’m
51:37absolutely delighted to support Anna rothery as our candidate to be Liverpool’s mayor it’s great to have you
51:44know those endorsements by public figures but the most meaningful endorsements came from the people of
51:50Liverpool as far as I was aware it was then down to the people of Liverpool to choose who
51:57they wanted to be their candidate
52:07former leader Jeremy corbyn is one of the latest victims of The Purge against the left of the party
52:14he was suspended from the party’s ranks in Parliament will you be restoring the whip I put the stepping out last night
52:19thank you in Britain it is called having the whip removed thank you very much for coming
52:26foreign speaks out against the party’s treatment of corbyn
52:32I’d like to see the whip restored to Jeremy and the constituency labor party officers who have faced arbitrary
52:38suspension to be reinstated rothery’s statement lands in the inbox
52:44of senior officials at party headquarters one of our Liverpool candidates
52:50not ideal a fellow labor counselor in Liverpool
52:55also emails London headquarters Anna continued to call for the
53:01restoration of the whip to Jeremy corbyn this action has seen constituency labor
53:07party members suspended but we’re turning a blind eye to this party officials in South Side discussed
53:14dealing with rothery anything to do or see here
53:19I don’t see anything that’s really actionable in this well they’re obviously trying to filter
53:25for information that’s going to be detrimental seems as they’re trying to discredit me
53:31as a you know viable candidate
53:36and something the next thing I got an email saying we’re gonna have to hold
53:43off in terms of the elections the panel want to invite the free candidates back to
53:51another interview I didn’t really understand what was behind it I just thought it was just
53:57maybe they wanted to check some facts a letter arrives in the inbox of the new
54:02labor party General Secretary David Evans it comes from Alan Dean a former labor
54:09counselor in Liverpool dear David
54:14I’ve been asked to contact you in relation to counselor Anna rothery and here on suitability to stand as Labor’s
54:20candidate for the position of elected May of Liverpool I’m firmly of the opinion that she would
54:26be as a disaster disaster for the city and the labor
54:31party if she were to become the elected mayor it went on
54:37her sudden conversion to and support from various senior corbinister MPS is
54:44of huge concern for the direction she would take well you know it’s all beginning to slot
54:50into place you know the more I’m reading I’m thinking this was a conservative effort
54:56privately senior people to you know to disparage you know me as a as an
55:01individual the letter makes comments about rothery’s family
55:08I don’t even want to do peace but it’s just so I won’t show it’s on you know
55:14and you know it just tells me that [Music] um it’s such a vicious individual
55:22to bring people’s children into something
55:28it’s really Desy business this you know Dean’s letter also raises an incident
55:35involving a fellow labor counselor a decade earlier when the counselor which was Nick small
55:42came to my table I knew it was going to be nothing but trouble because the day was being trouble
55:48and I got to the point where I just avoided him and so he gradually worked his way around and he said um you know
55:54you only got that position because you’re black and I just ignored him
56:01a version of The Rao is leaked to a Liverpool newspaper alleging that rothery had prodded Nick small on the
56:07head a party officer conducts an internal
56:12investigation I don’t know what investigation he did but I know what the outcome was was that
56:20Nick small apologized to me
56:25Dean’s letter contains a condemnation of rothery she has proven herself to be
56:31untrustworthy dishonest person someone who is solely motivated by her ego
56:37status and financial gain the labor files do not establish who
56:44asked Dean to write the letter to the party General Secretary and it’s obviously designed or
56:50orchestrated you know to feed into something much bigger House of my control in terms of
56:57what they’re trying to do brother he goes to her second interview
57:02with a selection panel but this time it’s very different
57:08I think I knew within the first couple of seconds that there’s something not quite right about it um because the demean it had changed in
57:15terms of the panel the encounter with small is raised
57:20I was literally told by one of the panel members that had been an incident in 2011 that would bring the party into
57:28disrepute and because I’d slapped or punched or hit next more they felt that
57:35next World made an uh complaints against me whereas when I said but I’d made up
57:41against him they kind of like looked a bit deflated to say the least
57:50[Music]
57:56I was walking with my youngest boy to the nearby School [Music]
58:02near the school I saw Luke Stanger [Music]
58:07Luke Stanger remained suspended while the party investigates his case
58:13according to his notice a suspended member shall not represent the party in any position at any level
58:22social media posts show him campaigning for labor MPS during the 2019 general
58:27election he saw me I saw him I didn’t know him I knew of him
58:35and I didn’t want to talk to him
58:40then I received a private message from Luke Stanger
58:46which was a shock it said something along the lines of good to see you on
58:54the morning run with your son so not unfriendly
58:59but I didn’t interpret it as a friendly Act
59:07semitism I’m at home with my family and I start
59:12seeing these things appearing on my phone about me being a vile anti-semite [Music]
59:18completely it’s graceful and these vile horrendous allegations
59:25are being made against me I am not an anti-semite
59:32I absolutely detested that allegation it
59:37is completely and utterly untruthful I’m an anti-racist I’m proud to be an
59:43anti-racist Stanger increases the intimidation
59:49my workplace was telephoned by Luke stanker and the reception took a message and
59:57they said they wanted to speak
1:00:03because there was a dossier on me and I I thought what the hell is going
1:00:08on here I didn’t respond my stepdad was the owner of the firm at the time and he
1:00:16didn’t respond either a few days later we received a another
1:00:22phone call from Jonathan Hoffman
1:00:29advisor to the campaigning group labor against anti-semitism
1:00:34[Music] he’s been aggressive and
1:00:43Jonathan Hoffman said something along the lines of the he had a dossier on me
1:00:48and wanted that to be shown then the dossier was sent through to my
1:00:56pars my stepdad my pars private email address and that dossier
1:01:02was horrendous reading it was awful
1:01:07it was um interactions of me with someone
1:01:13online where uh that person said they wanted to
1:01:18behead my family [Music]
1:01:28thank you they wanted to behead me and my family
1:01:34and they said a whole number of things
1:01:41I don’t know if I can repeat them I can’t repeat them about my mother
1:01:49[Music] to make those threats against me and my
1:01:54family and to say those things about my mother
1:02:01my stepdad read that and he was very upset
1:02:06about reading all of that is I can’t I can’t talk about most of
1:02:12her my mum
1:02:17worked for the NHS person
1:02:27[Music] in Liverpool Anna rothery decides to seek legal advice
1:02:34her lawyer accuses the interview panel of subjecting her to an unfair arbitrary
1:02:41capricious and irrational process they seek legal redress
1:02:47our client will seek an emergency interim injunction to enable her name to
1:02:52go forward on the ballot to labor members in Liverpool and so we decided that we would ask them
1:03:00to Halt the process in terms of the the vote Etc and to give them time to put a case
1:03:08forward as to why I couldn’t stand [Music]
1:03:15lawyer reminds the labor party that it has a legal duty to preserve all
1:03:20relevant documents in your control [Music]
1:03:26passing between you and the other panel members the panel decides to exclude rothery and
1:03:34both other candidates from the shortlist we were basically told that they were
1:03:39reopening the contest and we need no reply
1:03:44the party tells her that the decision was taken after giving careful consideration to the additional
1:03:51information presented to it
1:03:57stale was you know during the juices of Lord mayor I just felt completely deflated and undermined I felt like it’d
1:04:05been a full-blown character assassination still can’t make out the tale of it even
1:04:11all this time after [Music]
1:04:16injunction sets the legal right to view evidence
1:04:23please disclose all additional information presented about our client
1:04:29[Music] the party’s lawyers respond to rothery’s request for disclosure of documents
1:04:35[Music] we declined to provide the disclosure requested none of the documents you seek
1:04:43from the labor party appears to be relevant to the decision to remove your client from the short list
1:04:49Alan Dean’s letter is never presented to rothery’s lawyer or to the court
1:04:55nor is a letter sent by Nick small repeating the allegation that rothery had prodded him at a dinner in 2011.
1:05:03[Music] I wish
1:05:10but time and effort has gone into this on their behalf the labor party has an
1:05:15obligation to to observe due process and fair dealing so the the judge wasn’t
1:05:22given the full picture now there is a problem here if that’s
1:05:29the way the labor party is conducting itself in opposition under let’s
1:05:35remember here star wonderful man director of public prosecutions
1:05:41is now going to behave like that in power
1:05:47the injunction is refused and rothery ordered to pay ninety thousand dollars in costs to the party
1:05:53[Music] I think I was literally hung out to dry by a party that I’ve been loyal to for
1:06:01many years at Labor headquarters the general secretary congratulates the party’s
1:06:07senior lawyer Alex Burroughs Curtis thoroughly well done
1:06:15your contract has been agreed we will not be including a win bonus
1:06:25the activist Luke Stanger is seeking to overturn his suspension from the party
1:06:31he is represented by an expensive city of London Law Firm
1:06:38mishkondarea are hired to challenge stanger’s suspension
1:06:43the labor files revealed the support that Stanger enjoys among senior politicians from the right of the party
1:06:52he receives character references from 14 MPS 30 councilors and dozens of party
1:06:58activists Gareth Thomas the labor MP for Harrow
1:07:04West I was very sad to hear of Luca’s recent suspension from the labor party
1:07:11I hope his case can be concluded soon and he can continue to be a good friend to Harrow labor in future years to come
1:07:20I think that people are actually quite dangerous who are in with the labor party the way that they’re behaving
1:07:29astonishing really the labor party now welcomes apartheid supporting racists
1:07:35and abusers of women and how that could possibly have happened is beyond me
1:07:42Stanger is on the campaign team for Peter Kyle the labor MP for Hove
1:07:48Stanger describes himself as his representative Kyle sends Stanger an email
1:07:56I have always found you an amazing active campaigner on behalf of the labor
1:08:02party
1:08:11well I’m not the same person that is certainly true
1:08:17in terms of security I’m always thinking about locks on doors windows
1:08:24where are where is my family I’m always worried about them
1:08:30and so on me and my family all of my family we are frightened as a result of what’s
1:08:36happened to us
1:08:41Steve Reed labor MP for Croydon North and now opposition Minister for justice Praises Stanger
1:08:49I have met Luke many times while out campaigning for the labor party
1:08:55would be wrong to exclude him from continuing to play a role in the party he loved so much
1:09:03the labor party doesn’t care I’ve reported all of this to the labor party at the end of the day
1:09:10that evil took place and you know it’s still a scar it’s still a
1:09:17scar on me it’s a scar on my sister my whole family
1:09:24and it’s still there it’s no one has dealt with it no one has dealt with this
1:09:34the highest disciplinary body in the party votes to expel Stanger
1:09:40expulsion is never carried out the former head of the governance and
1:09:45legal unit John stolliday voices his support
1:09:51Luke is a gentle giant who gives his all to his Progressive political beliefs and
1:09:57his deep commitment to equality and above all getting labor elected
1:10:05my Dad read those terrible comments
1:10:12and he was upset about that and
1:10:19he died not long after that foreign
1:10:28that was put into our lives
1:10:35caused by part to die I’m sure that was a central part of what happened
1:10:42and the lack of safety for me and my family
1:10:48the awful words that were used about my mother
1:10:53I think I’m still in a State of Shock I don’t think I’ll ever get over it
1:11:06completely despicable place to find ourselves after
1:11:11people have made so many sacrifices over so many decades fighting for the party that represents the working classes to
1:11:17end up at this point we’ll be being betrayed by our own party
1:11:23it’s a big No-No of my eyes the labor party is a criminal conspiracy
1:11:32against its members it acts unlawfully it liables its members
1:11:40it gives no natural Justice to those accused of offenses and it tears up the
1:11:47rule book The Constitution on a whim
1:12:00[Music] foreign
1:12:09[Music]
1:12:40[Music]
1:12:49[Music]
1:12:56in the second episode of the labor files the true story behind the party’s anti-Semitism crisis I feel so ashamed
1:13:04right now that it’s come to this I will like you speaking for me how truth was subverted
1:13:12[Music] and reality turned on its head that’s an absolute lie I didn’t say that the media
1:13:21was not interested in the reality of the story
1:13:30foreign
luke akehurst, luke stanger, mary rose, wallasey woman , jonathan hoffman, john stolliday,
[1] The Lobby P1: Young Friends of Israel l Al Jazeera Investigations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceCOhdgRBoc In the first of a four-part series, Al Jazeera goes undercover inside the Israel Lobby in Britain. We expose a campaign to infiltrate and influence youth groups, including the National Union of Students, whose president faces a smear campaign coordinated by her own deputy and supported by the Israel Embassy. CORRECTION: At timecode 25:16 of this programme, the phrase “range of shareholders” appears with respect to We Believe in Israel and who it works with. The correct wording is “range of stakeholders.”
[2] The Lobby P2: The Training Session l Al Jazeera Investigations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuk1EhkEctE In part two of The Lobby, our undercover reporter joins a delegation from the Israeli Embassy at last year’s Labour Party Conference. The programme reveals how accusations of anti-Semitism were made against key Labour Party members – and how a former official at the Israeli Embassy was upset when her background was revealed.
[3] The Lobby P3: An Anti-Semitic Trope l Al Jazeera Investigations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3dn-VV3czc In part three of The Lobby, our undercover reporter travels to the Labour Party Conference, revealing how accusations of anti-Semitism by group within Labour targeted Israel critics and saw some investigated.
[4] The Lobby P4: The Takedown l Al Jazeera Investigations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pddH2sfNKNY In part four of The Lobby, the senior political officer at the Israeli Embassy in London discusses a potential plot to ‘take down’ British politicians – including a Minster of State at the Foreign office who supports Palestinian civil rights.
Foxy's Extra Blog 