Labour has settled legal claims brought by 20 people, mainly former staffers, who were named in a leaked internal document about antisemitism in the party, with costs estimated at nearly £2m. The settlements include a payout to 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 total just under £1m, but with Labour covering both sides' legal fees, the overall cost to the party is close to £2m. This brings total legal costs linked to the dossier to over £4m, following Labour's abandoned lawsuit against five staffers accused of leaking the document, which cost £2.4m.
The 800-page dossier, produced under Corbyn's leadership, was intended for the Equality and Human Rights Commission but was never submitted. It was anonymously leaked and contained private WhatsApp messages showing hostility towards Corbyn, alleging that factional infighting hindered antisemitism handling. The document also included claims of anti-black racism, Islamophobia, sexism, and bullying.
Six claimants opted to be named, including Heneghan, former head of governance John Stolliday, governance staffer Fraser Welsh, former councillor Joe Goldberg, and Ben Santhouse. Their legal team stated that the dossier made false allegations, such as Heneghan sabotaging the election and Goldberg being Islamophobic. Santhouse, who had made a confidential antisemitism complaint, was labelled a 'vexatious complainant'.
Under Keir Starmer's leadership, Labour commissioned a report by Martin Forde KC, published in 2022, which found that infighting under Corbyn led to antisemitism being used as a 'factional weapon'. It noted that some staff ran an alternative campaign supporting anti-Corbyn MPs, but said it was 'highly unlikely' this caused the 2017 election loss. The Forde report described the leaked dossier as factional but did not agree that messages were 'cherrypicked'.
