Corbyn Era Legal Bills AREN’T

Demonstrating that impartiality is becoming a more occasional concept for the Corporation, the BBC has been telling readers of its website about a potential legal bill coming down the track at the Labour Party. The story was originally headlined to claim that this was a “Corbyn-era” legal action, the inference being that any dent in Labour’s coffers as a result would be down to Jezza.

The headline has since been changed and the article rewritten (it’s no longer about the Corbyn era, but “Ex-Corbyn staff”), but still hinting very strongly that it was Jezza Wot Done It. So what’s it all about? Here’s the Beeb’s account: “three Jeremy Corbyn supporters - Georgie Robertson, Laura Murray and Harry Hayball … have been blamed by Labour, along with two other Corbyn supporters, of leaking a controversial internal party document, which included private emails and messages”. Zelo Street covered that episode HERE.

So what is Labour doing? Consider the new title of the BBC’s piece, “Ex-Corbyn staff court case could dent Labour election fund”, and then this snippet: “Labour is taking the five Corbyn supporters to the High Court for conspiring to put the document into the public domain”.

It might be more accurate to say “Labour high court action could dent party’s election fund”, then. And the reason for the potential dent? “The UK's data watchdog has told the BBC it will not be prosecuting three Jeremy Corbyn supporters - Georgie Robertson, Laura Murray and Harry Hayball”.

That makes the idea of the party going after them into a rather challenging proposition. Hence “some in the party are concerned that the commissioner's decision could make the case less likely to succeed … If it fails, lawyers for the Corbyn supporters say they will seek to recover their costs … The party has said it is confident of the case it is making to the court”. However.

“But the stakes are high … The BBC understands the estimated combined legal costs of the five Corbyn supporters, added to Labour's costs, range from more than £3m to around £4m”. But all is well, because “Labour says it does not recognise these figures”. Ho ho ho. In any case, “The case against the Corbyn supporters is likely to reach court in early 2024 - just before an expected general election”. And the party has already failed to find the leaker.

I kid you not. “The party brought in an external investigator to try to find the source or sources of the leak but this failed to reach a definitive conclusion. It then hired a top lawyer, Martin Forde KC, but his inquiry was also unable to identify the culprit or culprits”. Yet here it is naming and shaming.

Which the BBC confirms: “Labour's lawyers accused five prominent Corbyn supporters of putting the controversial document into the public domain. They told the High Court that the five had conspired to leak the document and to undermine the Starmer leadership in the process. The five ex-officials also included Corbyn's ex-chief-of-staff Karie Murphy and his former communications chief Seumas Milne". And it gets worse.

“[The five’s] lawyers, Carter Ruck, accused the party of ‘an attempt to deflect on to them [the five] its own liability’ as data holder for the leak, and in a statement said that ‘the individuals will vigorously defend themselves in the proceedings and will seek full reimbursement of their costs of doing so from the Party’”. The Beeb now suggests some in the party are getting cold feet.

“This includes a member of Labour's ruling national executive, who told me they feel too many of the party's resources are being drawn into disputes and disciplinary matters … some supporters of the current leadership fear a court case may simply bring some of the old enmities and issues back to the fore”.

I’ll go further: to carry out another act of petty retribution in the lead-up to a General Election campaign could be one own goal too many. Yes, Labour has been winning by-elections of late, but these are one-off contests where the party can throw everything at the campaign (and win without the Rotten Lefties™). It can’t do that at a General Election. Simple as that.

Blaming Corbyn for Labour’s financial woes, when his leadership saw a surge in membership and money coming into the party, will not wash. And blaming those against whom the new leadership takes legal action it does not need to take is equally bogus. Redefining reality and gaslighting have their limits.

Labour was about politics once. Maybe, just maybe, it should be about it now.

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