Labour has settled claims brought by 20 people, mainly former staffers, who featured in a leaked internal document about antisemitism in the party, with costs estimated at close to £2m. The settlements include a payout to Labour’s former elections chief Patrick Heneghan, who was falsely accused in the dossier of trying to sabotage Jeremy Corbyn’s 2017 general election campaign.
The payouts are understood to total just under £1m, but with Labour covering both sides’ legal fees, the overall cost to the party nears £2m. This brings total legal costs connected to the dossier to over £4m, following the party’s earlier £2.4m expenditure on its own abandoned lawsuit against five staffers accused of leaking the document.
The 800-page dossier, produced under Corbyn’s leadership, was intended for the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into Labour antisemitism but was never submitted. It was anonymously leaked and contained private WhatsApp messages showing hostility towards Corbyn, along with allegations of factional infighting and mishandling of antisemitism complaints.
Among the six named claimants are Heneghan, former governance head John Stolliday, staffer Fraser Welsh, former councillor Joe Goldberg, and Ben Santhouse. Their legal team stated that the dossier contained false and defamatory allegations, including claims of sabotage, obstruction, Islamophobia, and vexatious complaints. The claimants argued that private messages were used to create misleading narratives without their consent.
In 2022, a report by senior lawyer Martin Forde KC, commissioned under Keir Starmer’s leadership, concluded that antisemitism was used as a “factional weapon” within the party. While it found that some staff had run a covert alternative campaign, it deemed a deliberate election loss “highly unlikely.” The Forde report also described the leaked dossier as factional but rejected claims that messages were cherrypicked.
Last June, Labour dropped legal action against five former staffers, including Corbyn’s former chief of staff Karie Murphy, who were accused of leaking the report. All denied responsibility, and the Forde report could not determine the leaker’s identity.
