The biggest leak ever in British politics has revealed how certain people who weren’t elected tried to mess up democracy in the Labour Party.
This leak includes a huge amount of stuff – like documents, emails, videos, and audio recordings – from the Labour Party, going back from 1998 to 2021. The I-Unit, a group of investigative journalists, will be putting out a bunch of reports about what’s in these leaked files over the next week.
These leaked documents show how the party’s administrators, who are supposed to work for the party’s benefit, tried to make things difficult for members who supported Jeremy Corbyn. He was the Labour Party’s leader from 2015 to 2020.
Revealing the Labour Party Leak: Uncovering Intrigue and Democracy’s Challenge
Before he became the leader of the party in September 2015, Corbyn wasn’t very famous in British politics. He was mainly known for grassroots activism, like being part of movements against war and supporting Palestine.
When he did become the leader, he was the first socialist leader of the party since the 1980s. He got a lot of support from people who were unhappy with the usual politicians, and he wanted to do things like have important industries owned by the public, make the welfare system stronger, and stop the government from cutting spending so much.
Inside the Labour Party, there were problems brewing, and this led to fights between two groups: the left-wing “Corbynites” and the centrists who were in charge before 2015.
Inside the Labour Party: Power Struggles and Political Direction
The party bureaucracy, which Corbyn got from the leaders before him, played a big part in these fights. Back then, Iain McNicol was in charge of this bureaucracy. He had been the general secretary of the Labour Party since 2011.
The Labour Files tell us that before Jennie Formby took over from McNicol in 2018, the party didn’t agree much with the political direction Corbyn wanted to go.
Even though the party leader decides where the party is headed politically, things like how the party deals with problems inside itself, including the disciplinary process, are managed by the general secretary. This is the top job in the party that’s not about politics. The Governance and Legal Unit (GLU) keeps an eye on how the party handles disciplinary matters.
False Accusations and Political Turmoil in the Labour Party
The documents and details about how the Labour Party handled issues from 1998 to 2021. They show that some people who supported Corbyn were accused of doing bad things, like being mean to others because of their sexuality or religion. These accusations were sent to the Governance and Legal Unit (GLU) to kick these supporters out of the party.
Sometimes, entire local groups of the party, called Constituency Labour Parties (CLP), were stopped from having meetings because of these accusations. Other times, individual members were kicked out of the party, even though they disagreed with the reasons.
In Wallasey, a place in northwest England, some party members sided with Angela Eagle, who was a Member of Parliament (MP) and was running against Corbyn for the leadership of the party. After the UK voted for Brexit, some of Corbyn’s top team quit their jobs all at once. Then, Angela Eagle said she wanted to be the leader instead of Corbyn, but later she dropped out and supported Owen Smith instead.
Blocked from Running for Mayor
In 2019, Corbyn stepped down as the leader of the Labour Party because the party lost in the general election held in December of that year. Later on, Keir Starmer, who used to be in charge of prosecutions in Britain, took over as the leader.
Not long after Starmer became the leader in April 2020, Jennie Formby quit her job as the general secretary. David Evans took over from her. The documents from the Labour Files show that he has kept up the unfriendliness towards left-wing members of the party that started during McNicol’s time.
In early 2021, Anna Rothery, a Councillor in Liverpool, tried to become the Labour Party’s choice to run for mayor of the city.
Rothery has been a Labour Councillor since 2006. She also had the title of Lord Mayor from 2019 to 2021. She hoped to be the first Black person elected as mayor of Liverpool. She supported Jeremy Corbyn.
At first, Rothery, along with two other councilors, was chosen to be considered as candidates for the party. But then, all three of them were unexpectedly asked to come for another interview by a panel of five people. Rothery said this second interview felt unfriendly.