The BBC is formally challenging the findings of a barrister-led inquiry into antisemitism in Labour under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, the JC has learnt.
The corporation believes that the so-called Forde Report, led by Martin Forde KC, wrongly criticised claims made in its 2019 exposé on Labour antisemitism, Is Labour Antisemitic?, as “entirely misleading”.
The BBC Panorama investigation included interviews with seven former members Labour’s Governance and Legal Unit (GLU) who described the hostile atmosphere generated by Mr Corbyn’s supporters and alleged that some of their decisions on antisemitism complaints had been overruled.
JNV SIR KEIR STARMER PORTRAITS 16-min
Keir Starmer
Al Jazeera’s The Labour Files followed the Forde Report — commissioned by Sir Keir Starmer in April 2020 after an 860-page internal party dossier on Labour antisemitism was leaked — in making similar allegations about Panorama.
John Ware, who presented the BBC show, said Mr Forde appeared to have mischaracterised the way in which his investigation presented the decision to suspend key Corbyn ally Glyn Secker in 2018.
Mr Secker had likened Zionism to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings in a Facebook post, tweeted a Facebook post by Labour MP Naz Shah suggesting that Israel’s population be “transported” out of the Middle East to America, and posted conspiracist theories about Israel being in cahoots with Isis.
Mr Ware said that Mr Forde appeared to have regarded the Secker case as evidence of the GLU inviting Mr Corbyn’s office (LOTO) to get involved in the case, rather than the other way round.
To evidence that view in his report, Mr Forde referenced an email from Labour’s then-head of governance, Emilie Oldknow, on 9 March 2018, with Mr Secker’s social media posts attached, in which she wrote to Head of Strategy Seumas Milne and Mr Corbyn’s Chief of Staff, Karie Murphy: “We would normally suspend with this. View?”
However, Mr Ware said that the full stream of messages between Mr Corbyn’s office and the GLU made it clear that Ms Oldknow was only seeking LOTO’s “view” in response to interference by LOTO which had begun two days earlier, on 7 March.
Mr Ware added that texts, WhatsApp messages and emails he had seen showed that within hours of Mr Secker’s suspension, Mr Corbyn’s spokesperson, James Schneider, and Mr Milne, had protested to the GLU and to Labour’s Secretary General, Iain McNicol.
For Ms Oldknow, LOTO’s interference in the Secker case was the last straw. Thereafter, she referred all antisemitism cases to LOTO for their sign-off.
In the post-Secker cases referred by the GLU to LOTO, Mr Forde said media outlets had wrongly implied “LOTO staff members” had inserted “themselves unbidden” by the GLU ”into the disciplinary process” whereas LOTO’s help had been “bidden” — or sought — by the GLU.
Mr Ware told the JC: “The problem is Martin Forde seems to have lumped Panorama in with those later cases which is itself entirely misleading. In my opinion, for Al Jazeera and media activists this really shouldn’t have been hard to unravel, particularly if you style yourself as an ‘investigative journalist’.”
The BBC declined to give the JC further details about its complaint to Mr Forde other than to say: “The BBC has been in contact with Martin Forde KC to discuss his report, which has been interpreted as being critical of the BBC and of our reporter John Ware.
"We wish to clarify whether that was his intention, as we do not believe the evidence can support that conclusion. We stand by our reporting of the evidence in the Panorama programme.”
