Incumbent Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer (L) commissioned the Forde report into factionalism in Labour under Jeremy Corbyn (R). (Credit: Jeremy Corbyn/Flickr)

Hamed Chapman

A “racist, sexist and otherwise discriminatory culture” is undermining Labour’s efforts to promote itself as being “in the vanguard on diversity and inclusion”, a damning report commissioned by the party into its own management practices has concluded.

The long-delayed and watered-down inquiry, led by eminent barrister Martin Forde, also found that allegations of antisemitism within the party were “treated as a factional weapon” by both officials in the party headquarters and in former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s office.

The 138-page report said a factional conflict between the left and the right of the party had reached a level of intensity not seen prior to Corbyn’s leadership between 2015 and 2020, resulting in a “toxic mutual hostility” but names no individuals as being responsible.

The report commissioned the incumbent Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer found that, under Corbyn’s leadership, Labour was “spending more time occupied by factional differences than working collaboratively to demonstrate that the party is an effective opposition”.

It even revealed that campaign funds were secretly diverted to support anti-Corbyn candidates standing in the 2017 general election, which was condemned as “unequivocally wrong”.

The leaked 2020 report into Labour’s handling of antisemitism accusations, which Forde was originally charged to investigate, described itself as a “factional document with an agenda to advance, and that the quoted messages were selected pursuant to that agenda”.

Forde concluded that there are “serious problems of discrimination in the operations of the party” and highlighted the “undoubted overt and underlying racism and sexism apparent in some of the content of the WhatsApp messages between the party’s most senior staff”.

In response, Corbyn, who remains suspended from the party, warned that the “toxic factionalism is far from over – nor are persistent problems of racism and sexism” and said action must be taken as made clear by the report.

“Whatever arguments there are about specific findings, this report should help us see a path forward.

The politics of the many, not the few, are more needed in this country than ever,” he said.
Nearly a month after the publication there remained to be no official response from Labour or the current leader, Sir Keir Starmer, despite the report calling for an expensive culture of reforms.

Criticism has been widespread with Momentum Co-Chair, Hilary Schan, describing the findings as a “damning indictment of the Labour right’s attempts to destroy from within the Corbyn leadership, and with it the hopes of a radical Labour government for the many”.

Black Labour MPs attacked their party’s lack of response to the damning report finding “overt and underlying racism” in its ranks, one calling it “a kick in the teeth”.

“The report concluded that the party has failed to tackle anti-Black racism and Islamophobia. The leadership of this party needs to respond to that now,” said Kate Osamor. Ali Milani of Labour Muslim Network went as far as to say that “Labour’s Islamophobia crisis is missing from the commentary on Forde” but was an emergency and needed to be met with the intensity it deserved.

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