Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

• A LEAKED Labour Party report into how its Governance and Legal Unit (GLU) worked is now circulating widely on social media.

It is, quite simply, dynamite.

The report provides strong evidence that key figures in the party machine worked hard to prevent a Labour victory in 2017 because a Labour victory would have been a Corbyn victory as well.

They expressed ongoing, visceral hatred for Jeremy Corbyn and those around him.

The sheer lack of professionalism of senior staff in the party, revealed in the report, beggars belief. Jon Trickett and Ian Lavery, former national campaign co-ordinators in the 2017 election, call it “shameful”.

Sienna Rogers of the respected LabourList says: “It paints a truly horrible picture of an atmosphere dominated by politically motivated cruelty.”

Phrases like “bitch head” or “pube face” are used to denigrate senior people in Corbyn’s team, Diane Abbott is treated in contemptuous, abusive and racist fashion.

And they didn’t do their job. Before Jennie Formby became general secretary in spring 2018 the party’s GLU failed disastrously to pursue complaints of anti-Semitism that it had received.

This was at a time when Corbyn was being hounded for not acting, but the processes for pursuing the cases were controlled by the then general secretary who repeatedly assured Corbyn they were going full speed ahead. GLU’s failure allowed the accusations against Corbyn to fester.

This situation is a real challenge for Sir Keir Starmer. He and Angela Rayner have already called for an urgent independent investigation into the report.

We, Labour Party activists, and indeed the general public all need access to the report too. Though it is all over the net, people are threatened with legal action if they even pass it on.

For whoever leaked the document showed gross neglect in not redacting it; as a result many people named in it have lost their right to privacy and protection.

I call on Sir Keir Starmer to do two things:

One, release the document, redacted, as a matter of urgency.

Two, do not allow the circumstances of the leak to get in the way of a serious investigation into its allegations.

We need a transparent process that scrutinises the alleged conduct of individuals while serving as senior salaried officials of the party, followed by legal action against them if necessary.

Only in that way can Sir Keir restore faith in the party machine.

RICHARD KUPER
N6