Inquiry is deeply critical of party workers who backed Jeremy Corbyn and those who opposed him
Heather Stewart and Jessica Elgot
The Forde report into Labour party factionalism under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership is deeply critical of staff members who were supportive of the Labour leader and those bitterly opposed to his time in office.Here are 10 key takeaways from the 138-page report:
Debilitating factionalism
Martin Forde QC paints a depressing picture of two rival camps – based around Corbyn’s office and Labour HQ in London’s Victoria – locked in a bitter struggle for control, which hampered the functioning of the party.
The factions ended up in a cycle of attack and counterattack, with each side assuming that the other was acting in bad faith (sometimes justifiably, sometimes not) and responding in kind.
Weaponising antisemitism
Both sides used antisemitism as a weapon, with some denying its existence and others using it primarily as a means to attack Corbyn.
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, its effect on Jewish communities and on the moral and political standing of the party.
Dysfunctional discipline
Labour’s disciplinary systems were “not fit for purpose” and exploited by different factions. In 2016, there were 5,000 unresolved complaints, almost of third of which related to antisemitism. But Forde did not find evidence of “systematic attempts” by Corbyn’s team to interfere in disciplinary process.
The problem was principally a lack of clarity – on both sides – about how involved Loto (the leader of the opposition’s office) should be; and this was aggravated by the mutual antagonism between HQ staff and Loto.
‘Trot hunting’ and bellringing
There was concerning behaviour by senior staff opposed to Corbyn attempting to expel party members. Staff described this process as “hunting out thousands of trots”, “trot busting”, “trot spotting”, “trot hunting” and one suggested searching the pro-Corbyn hashtag “#imwithjezza” to see if users had posted abuse. One employee described regular “bellringing” in Labour HQ.
I was advised that the bellringing was conducted by the ‘compliance’ unit and represented the successful suspension or expulsion of a member – often surrounded by the description of such members as ‘trots’.
Abusive WhatsApps
A leaked 2020 report, which triggered the Forde inquiry, was a “factional document” that “selectively quoted” some messages. But the Forde report found that the quoted WhatsApps from a group of senior management overall were not misrepresented or misleading.
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. The substance of the quoted messages is concerning – and totally inappropriate from senior staff of a purportedly progressive political party
2017 election campaign clashes
Anti-Corbyn staffers in Labour HQ did not deliberately try to throw the election, as some leftwingers have suggested – but did set up a secret operation, channelling funds to MPs who they wanted to protect. Loto, meanwhile, sought to support its own favoured MPs.
We find that both HQ staff and Loto staff wanted the party to win with as many of their favoured MPs in place as possible, which prevented fully objective decision-making; the two sides were trying to win in different ways.
Racism
There was “overt and underlying racism and sexism” in the abusive WhatsApp messages included in the leaked report, pointing to a deeper problem with racism in the Labour party.
Racism in the party is not experienced by individuals solely through acts of aggression or microaggression towards them personally – it is experienced through seeing colleagues being passed over for promotion; being the only person from an ethnic minority background around a meeting table; being managed by a near-exclusively white senior team; and hearing the particular disdain which colleagues reserve for (for example) ethnic minority MPs, councillors and CLP (constituency Labour party) members.
Chaos in Corbyn’s office
There was hostility from Labour HQ towards Corbyn’s office, but his operation appeared deeply dysfunctional.
We have heard from a number of staff who worked in Loto in this period that the operation was unstructured and at times chaotic, with a lack of clear decision-making and reporting lines and, in particular, a reluctance on the part of Jeremy Corbyn himself to make and communicate unequivocal decisions.
Factional hires
Recruitment became a battleground in the struggle for control of the Labour party under Corbyn’s leadership, with both sides seeking to shore up their power base by hiring sympathisers – leading to a lack of diversity.
Recruitment practices were weaponised by both HQ and Loto in the relevant period … The effect was to entrench and exacerbate the divisions between the two camps. It also meant that people deemed factionally appropriate were routinely hired or promoted (by both sides) to roles for which they were not an ideal fit.
Corbyn’s cooperation
Almost no named individuals are criticised by Forde. But he observes that the former Labour leader did not himself respond to requests for interview, instead signing a joint submission.
Regrettably, certain prominent members of the party – including those central to the factual matrix – either declined to meet with the panel or failed to respond to our requests for evidence. Most notably … Jeremy Corbyn did not engage in our requests to interview him.
Jeremy Corbyn hits out at ‘repulsive racism and sexism shown to Diane Abbott’ highlighted in Labour’s Forde Report
The report found that two groups within the Labour Party treated the issue of antisemitism as a 'factional weapon'
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that the Forde report should give Labour a “path forward”.
The long-awaited report into a leaked antisemitism dossier found that two groups within the Labour Party treated the issue as a “factional weapon”.
Labour said on Tuesday that its general secretary had received the report and was due to take the document to a meeting of the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC). It has since been published online.
The leaked 860-page document found “no evidence” of antisemitism being handled differently from other complaints and blamed “factional opposition” towards former leader Mr Corbyn for hampering efforts to tackle the issue.
In a statement published on Facebook following the release of the report, Mr Corbyn said: “The politics of the many, not the few, are more needed in this country than ever.
“We suffer a cost-of-living scandal while billionaire wealth soars and climate breakdown accelerates while fossil fuel companies boast record profits.
“For the Labour Party to be the vehicle for a better and sustainable world, things need to change. The appalling behaviour that Forde calls out, including the repulsive racism and sexism shown to Diane Abbott and others, should have no place in a progressive party.
“Toxic factionalism is far from over – nor are persistent problems of racism and sexism – and action must be taken, as Forde makes clear.
“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?”
The foreword to the Forde report said: “The evidence clearly demonstrated that a vociferous faction in the party sees any issues regarding antisemitism as exaggerated by the right to embarrass the left.
“It was of course also true that some opponents of Mr Corbyn saw the issue of antisemitism as a means of attacking him.
“Thus, rather than confront the paramount need to deal with the profoundly serious issue of antisemitism in the party, both factions treated it as a factional weapon.”
The foreword also said the inquiry panel found the disciplinary process was “not fit for purpose” and “potentially prone to factional interference” during the period it investigated – 2015 to 2019.
However it did say “many aspects of the party’s recent reforms of disciplinary procedures” were to be applauded, and the changes were “generally steps in the right direction”.
The report also found that while “some progress” has been made in relation to sexism, “there is more to be done”.
“The party clearly needs to continue to work to root out sexual harassment and misogyny in its workplaces… but it also needs to be alive to the subtler ways in which even senior women can feel excluded and undermined,” it said.
On tackling racism, it found that “less progress has been made”.
“Many respondents felt they were confronted with a less welcoming atmosphere in which many respondents felt they were forced to immerse themselves daily, and this amounts to a constant drain on the attention and energies of talented people who would prefer to be focused on their work,” it said.
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