A report into anti-Semitism at a high-profile Labour club has confirmed long-held suspicions that Jewish people are being abused within the party – but had to be leaked after an attempted cover-up.
The Jewish Chronicle has today published the report, written by Labour peer Baroness Royall (pictured above) into claims of anti-Semitism in the Oxford University Labour Club.
Royall cites “clear” evidence that anti-Semitism did take place in the party stronghold, which has fostered scores of party figures including leaders Ed Miliband and Michael Foot.
In the full report – published here – she also calls for individuals to be punished. Here is the relevant section:
The report was handed to Labour’s National Executive Committee almost three months ago.
But the full text was withheld, and its findings were mysteriously absent from the party’s broader-ranging anti-Semitism inquiry, controversially led by Shami Chakrabarti.
The latter report – which shambolically ended up presenting a forum for even more anti-Semitism – was widely considered a whitewash which absolved the party and its leaders from taking any action.
Royall herself was the vice-chair of Chakrabarti’s inquiry, and submitted her findings to her – which then for some reason failed to make their way into the public domain.
The process – and the sorry circumstances in which the evidence finally came to light – will inevitably reignite accusations that the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn is increasingly hostile to Jewish people.
That Chakrabarti has repeatedly refused to deny allegations she was offered a peerage in exchange for the whitewash report will do nothing to remove the stench.