Why I just quit the Labour Party

Asa Winstanley From the Editors 7 February 2020

Asa Winstanley

Today I decided to quit the Labour Party.

I did so to protest the party’s illegal mishandling of my private data, and because it is using its complaints system to conduct a political purge of members who support Palestinian rights.

Almost a year after Labour’s faceless bureaucrats began investigating me, they sent me a letter this week threatening to expel me from the party.

They demanded I reply within just five days of the letter’s receipt – unless the party decides I have a “clear and compelling reason” for an extension – to a 45-page packet of accusations regarding opinions I expressed and facts I reported in my Twitter postings.

The absurdly short time given to respond makes a mockery of any fair process. I’ve concluded that going along with this sham any further would be to participate in a political show trial whose outcome is a foregone conclusion.

You can read the packet of accusations below.

The allegations amount to an attack on my reporting about Palestine, Zionism, the Israel lobby in the UK and the manufactured anti-Semitism crisis in Labour since 2015.

They are an effort to smear me personally as an anti-Semite in order to silence me and intimidate others into silence over Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.

This political inquisition also aims to stop people talking about and reporting on the role the Israel lobby plays in ensuring the ongoing silence and complicity of our political leaders in relation to Israel’s crimes.

What further confirms that there is no chance of fairness is that I already addressed most of the bogus allegations and political charges in detailed answers I sent the party last year.

But the nameless officials have ignored my responses and sent many of the same questions again.

Instead of wasting more time defending myself against baseless, politically motivated charges, I have written to Labour today with my resignation.

You can read my letter below.

All the tweets by me which I’ve embedded in this article are among the “evidence” the party is citing against me. But these tweets are legitimate commentary and reportage. Some don’t have anything to do with Labour, or with supposed anti-Semitism.

Illegal leak

After I learned last year – from a Jewish Chronicle reporter’s Tweet – that I had been suspended, I immediately lodged a complaint with the party.

It was clear from the timing of the Tweet, and from the subsequent story in the paper, that Labour had told the reporter about my suspension before it had even told me.

The legal advice I received was that this could amount to a criminal breach of data protection law by the party. I demanded that Labour investigate the source of the leak.

The party has never given me any serious indication that it would do so.

On 8 March, I exercised my right under UK law by submitting a Subject Access Request to the party, demanding it hand over the data it holds on me. I included a demand for all communications between the party and The Jewish Chronicle concerning me.

But almost a year later, Labour has still not replied to my Subject Access Request, other than to confirm it was received.

Since Labour failed to respond within the legal timeframe, in April I complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The office, the UK’s data and privacy regulator, ruled in May that Labour “infringed their data protection obligations.”

However, the government office said it would not take any action because the Labour Party had “a number of outstanding” data requests. The office said only that it is working with Labour “to ensure they action their outstanding requests.”

In August, the commissioner’s office wrote to me to confirm that it would be “considering” my request to investigate Labour’s mishandling of my data as a criminal offense.

In other words, the regulator recognized that Labour is in habitual violation of the law, but said that because there is such a backlog of violations the party would not face enforcement action.

Predictably, Labour’s new letter, which I received on 6 February, smears my reporting with the false allegation of anti-Semitism.

This is the same smear lobbed at so many on the left and in the Palestine solidarity movement over the last few years – including against outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The ream of allegations is similar to those the party questioned me about last March. You can read my 12-page response to that below, which I sent in April. This response was ignored.

The new flurry of allegations is, if anything, more extreme in its devotion to anti-Palestinian racism than the previous charges.

The Labour Party now claims it is potentially “anti-Semitic” to even use the phrase “Israel lobby” – as I do frequently, since it is my job to report on the Israel lobby.

It is exactly this sort of political witch hunt that my reporting for The Electronic Intifada has exposed since 2015. And that reporting has clearly made an impact.

Indeed the Community Security Trust, a pro-Israel lobby group, last year lamented that online, The Electronic Intifada achieved “narrative dominance” on the subject of Palestine, Israel and Labour anti-Semitism smears.

Suppressing reporting

This is why some in Labour are seeking to suppress my reporting, even punishing members who share it online.

Over the last few years, I have been told by several people targeted by the Labour purge that they have been suspended just for sharing one of my articles on social media.

A former member of Labour’s ruling national executive, Martin Mayer, was pilloried by The Sunday Times in 2016 for sharing one of my articles over email.

The paper was forced to correct one of the inaccuracies in its story after The Electronic Intifada complained.

In August last year, I was told that my press pass to attend the annual Labour conference in Brighton the following month had been revoked – initially without explanation, but later with an explanation that did not add up.

The National Union of Journalists objected, and more than 3,000 people signed a petition in protest.

While I was barred from the official conference, I went to Brighton to do my job as best I could, speaking at the packed Labour Against the Witchhunt meeting with former London mayor Ken Livingstone, party activist Jackie Walker and former lawmaker Chris Williamson – all longtime leftists expelled or hounded out of the party as a result of false anti-Semitism smears.

Political purge

Now that the left-wing grassroots movement to reclaim Labour, spearheaded by Jeremy Corbyn, has been smashed, the party’s neoliberal centrists are seeking to reassert their control.

The party bureaucracy conducting political purges under the guise of enforcing anti-discrimination rules is a key part of the right-wing effort to re-establish dominance.

All the contenders to succeed Corbyn as leader have agreed to the Israel lobby’s demands to purge the party.

The most right-wing candidate, Keir Starmer, is the frontrunner to replace Corbyn.

Starmer has close ties with the hard-right of the party. His leadership campaign staff includes Matt Pound, an operative for the anti-Corbyn group Labour First.

Pound apparently identifies as a “Zionist shitlord.”

The threat to expel me is a symptom of a wider purge of the party’s left-wing and supporters of justice for Palestinians that is only just getting started.

These are dark days for the left and the Palestine solidarity movement in the Labour Party and the UK.

But the hope for radical change and social justice that brought so many new members to the party under Corbyn’s leadership will not be easily extinguished.

Tags

Comments

picture

Jules Moules replied on

Dear Asa, I can't help but admire your stand in these matters. The McCarthy-like witch hunt by the offices of the Labour Party against Labour members who actively support or advocate for Palestinian rights is a disgrace.

Reading through the 'questions you should answer' was shocking. It reminded this reader of the Soviet show trials in the old USSR. I understand why you answered these questions but wonder about the mindset of a party that feels your public statements on Palestine/Israel were in any way a mark of 'proof' of anti-Semitism. This sickeningly transparent, guilty by suspicion, circular questioning is reminiscent of the school yard.

It is a tragedy that you have resigned from a party because you no longer have faith in the offices and officials of that party. But I am of the opinion that your course of action is the correct one in the circumstances. This witch-hunt must end.

picture

Jan Brooker replied on

Like you, my 2nd letter from the LP does not respond to my original 10-page rebuttal and evidence, and like you my SAR request has not been responded to and has *timed out*. A few good arguments in your reply to the LP that I may pinch and adapt in my response.

I also believe that it is unlikely that I will get a fair hearing [if I'm even granted one] but ~ as a pensioner on a limited income ~ I cannot afford to travel to London~ where I believe they are all held.

I believe that the *Left* has been defeated and that the changes necessary to ensure *Natural Justice* in disciplinary proceedings have not occurred under Corbyn's leadership, and that paid apparatchiks still rule the roost. The Chakrabarti Report's recommendations re. natural justice and fair practices have not been implemented by the [left-controlled] NEC, and clearly they are now a *dead letter*. As the former Company Secretary of 2 Law Centres, the mind boggles at the anti-democratic disciplinary procedures of the Labour Party.

One of the charges against me is that I shared [with a left-wing Solicitor facebook friend] a post by award-winning Journalist, Jonathan Cook, which made mention of [Orwellian] Thought Crimes as he shared an article in the liberal Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.

It is also now a Thought Crime to even mention a certain Tony G [that's how I referred to him] or that a certain well-known sax player has written a book. Kafka would be turning in his grave, as would be Blair [the other one]. Was 1984 already 36 years ago?

picture

Frank Dallas replied on

Jan, if you have less than £100,000 in equity in your house, or in other savings or investments you can claim Legal Aid to take a Judicial Review. The timing out of your SAR gives you a very good case. This is what we need. The political struggle is the essence, but we also need to defeat the corrupt bureaucracy in the courts. Judicial Review is a great remedy, which is why the Tories are trying to find a way to abolish it. If you can, do it. We'll all be with you.

picture

Jan Brooker replied on

By chance, just seen your reply. Gave up when my proud, Black African, partner was also accused of the Stasi's standard racism and anti-Zionist [AS] charges, with an extra dose of Holocaust belittling, because she dared to allude to the Maafa [African Holocaust].

picture

Joe Cairns replied on

While I can understand your decision to resign one has to ask how is the Labour Party to be turned around and the smear campaign defeated? Resigning only makes it easy for the apparatchiks. Surely everyone has to stand and fight their ground?

picture

Eliza replied on

Asa was always going to be expelled. One way to fight is to expose the sham disciplinary processes within UK Labour which Asa has done with his publication of the charges against him and his responses. I hope that others who have been expelled also publicize the details of their time before the kangaroo court.

I still hold that the Blairites within Labour willingly and venally used the UK Jewish establishment/Israeli lobby and the weaponization of anti-Semitism, not because they give a hoot about Israel (or even the sensibilities of UK Jews) but to gain ascendency within the Party over the more progressive socialist faction within the Party. Of course, the UK Jewish establishment/Israeli lobby also willingly and venally allowed themselves to be so used to buffer Israel/Zionism against criticism. The battle for human rights including economic and social justice issues can also take place outside the formal party system; there is no reason why Asa and others pushed outside the UK Labour tent cannot be more effective in pushing for change at the grassroots level. Our political leaders with the aid of the MSM may try to massage public opinion but they are at heart risk adverse creatures; they are followers who know they have to stay within the limits of their voters.

There really is little point to stay within the Party if you cannot have a voice. Do it outside the Party. In any event, if Labour actually allows the Jewish establishment to oversee its internal processes, then it deserves to have its members turn in their membership.

picture

Hungryfox1o replied on

Eliza,
The concern you have raised about Labour, especially the present fact of the BoD dictating AS policies that have been embraced by the all four candidates for the LP Leadership, echo my own reservations on my continuing support for a party which no longer represents me. Corbyn had my full and unreserved support throughout his leadership, but since he is stepping down the crisis in the party is worsening.

picture

Chris Khamis replied on

Asa,
I’m horrified at the way you have been treated by the Labour Party and saddened that you have felt it necessary to resign. If you weren’t a journalist writing on Palestine, I would argue that you should stay in and fight to the end. But I can see that the show trial would have led to your expulsion no matter what you said and despite the twisting of logic and the English language in the charges, and that this would lead you to having to waste time responding to the inevitable slandering in the media. In the event, you have done a great service for Palestinians and all anti-racists by showing how Labour’s disciplinary processes have been corrupted from the necessary task of dealing with anti-semitism to attacking and slandering those who expose the racism of Israel and many of Israel’s supporters.

What is even more dreadful about all this is that it is happening when it looks like Israel is about to embark on another phase of annexations with the inevitable drive for further ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Keep up your great reporting and know that those of us still in the LP will fight against this corruption and witch-hunting and for solidarity with Palestinians. And, as a British Palestinian, I would like to thank you for all your support which is needed more than ever now.
In solidarity,
Chris Khamis

picture

Brigid Harbour replied on

I am really saddened but not suprised by all this. You are right. Your show trial would just be more ammunition for the right of the party and the Israeli lobby. As an ordinary member I am trying to decide if there is any point in staying to fight. The suspension of Jo Bird might be the final straw. Never give up Asa. Solidarity.

picture

Ann Newton-Marcial replied on

I am truly sorry that you have been treated in such a disgraceful way. I am a LP member and belong to a PSC group; I am having a similar experience. Where will we be welcome?
I do understand your resignation, and thank you for the above, the film is so telling about what we are up against.
Best wishes in Solidarity.
Ann

picture

Tom Suárez replied on

Asa, full solidarity in your refusal to play along any further with this Kafkaesque charade.
There’s no greater testament to the increasingly surreal nature of today’s world than the spectacle of Labour witch-hunting its most dedicatedly anti-racist members in obeisance to a profoundly antisemitic ideology (Zionism) under the pretext of, in grotesque irony, antisemitism, to ensure that Israel can continue its crimes against humanity without interference.
I quit Labour after failing to get any response from my MP (Tulip Siddiq) in my repeated efforts to meet with her to discuss IHRA. Nor did she respond to my resignation letter. My membership meant nothing.
Quitting Labour is a difficult decision for the obvious reasons. But there is a point when one can no longer be party to the hijacking of the party. Corbyn’s legacy proved, if ever proof was needed, that appeasement, that feigning guilt to a crime you didn’t commit in an attempt to please the Inquisitors, backfires.

picture

k constantinou replied on

I am disgusted and furious about your treatment by the Labour Party.
you cannot as a British government fight against Nazism, and the apartheid regime in Africa, and then for over 70 years not support the plight of the PALESTINIANS. Its grossly wrong. The UN is controlled by Israel, and Israel controls most of the politicians in the western world. Look what they did to several decent men and politicians. If the Labour Party does not support the Palestinians actively , then I too will leave the Labour Party and my union.

picture

Jack replied on

Asa, you do invaluable work and the appalling way you have been treated by the LP is on a par with the way the witch hunt continues to target many of us, myself included.

It is quite obvious now, the LP has been corrupted from the top down by the JLM/LFI and is now a pro-Zionist, anti-Palestinian Party. The recent suspension of anti-Zionist, Jewish councillor Jo Bird for daring to put herself forward for membership of the NEC shows just how much control the Israeli Lobby has over the LP.

When even supposedly left wing blogs such as Skwawkbox censor my comments for attempting to state the obvious it shows there are serious problems in the Labour Party when anyone tries to highlight the complete lack of democracy.

There must be many in the Party in positions of some influence who know exactly what's going on, when will they have the guts to speak out against this Zionist take-over?

picture

Keith Ryder replied on

Went through all yout tweets and retweeted every one of them. Lets see wht happens

picture

Kanita replied on

Hi Asa,

May God reward you. If you agree, I would translate the article to Bosnian, and publish it at my personal blog or send to some digital media in Bosnia who stand with Palestine. It would also possibly be published in the printed journal in Middle Bosnia. If you agree, wherever I publish I shall report to you and to Electronic Intifada.

For any clarifications, please contact me by e-mail.

Best wishes.

picture

Tony Greenstein replied on

My normal advice to those who are suspended is not to resign and, like me, to face the kangaroo court that will be established. Also I'm very much opposed to socialists resigning from the Labour Party which only delights the Labour Right.

However I agree that Asa was left with no choice other than another exercise in futility and further waste of time.

Asa's treatment is scandalous and like me and many others was subject to illegal leaking by the Political and Governance Unit (aka Compliance Unit).

It is quite clear that by accepting the fake 'antisemitism' narrative that Corbyn made a rod for his own back. By stepping up the witch hunt against even journalists what did Corbyn achieve? A massive campaign against him which used his own submission to 'prove' that there was a problem all along.

Corbyn's behaviour has been abysmal and pathetic. As for Jennie Formby, the great White hope, she has turned out to be worse than the hated Iain McNicol.

The battle however will go on with the likely election of Keir Starmer, a representative of the British Establishment. Jon Lansman will continue to play the role of loyal servant to whoever is next in power. Principles are the last things these people have or understand.

picture

Leah Levane replied on

Asa, you know I suppott you. I hugely value your work and while certainly disappointed that you have resigned, I fully understand why and, of course, it allows you to publish the accusations, responses and the process (sic). We are in frightening times for many reasons and the Palestinians are being squeezed - and provoked - more than ever. The need for a strong, mass Labour Party committed to justice and internationalism is greater than in many years. We see the power and determination of the ruling class. I know you're still in the struggle. You'll always be a comrade to me. Leah Levane, Co Chair, JVL

picture

johny conspiranoid replied on

" it allows you to publish the accusations, responses and the process (sic)"
Why not do that while remaining in the Labour Party?

picture

Rick Hayward replied on

Asa -

Very sorry that your truth-telling has led to this. It is a shameful time for the Labour Party (or what purports to represent it). The response of Warwick University is what should be the model, not obeisance to the Board of Deputies and their absurd demands.

For myself, I will stay in the Party. But it's a hard swallow, and I totally understand your rationale.

picture

tom hall replied on

The tactic of asking you what you meant by what you said, wrote, etc is a classic technique of the police. They're not only determined to root out forbidden thoughts but to identify contradictions in your multiple answers to the same questions. You'll be asked to explain your explanation again and again, each answer then going into the file of evidence against your next attempt to clear yourself. Thus the accused is coerced into building his own trap.

There's simply no point in subjecting oneself to this inquisition. The Labour Party phase in the struggle for political rights in Palestine and in Britain has come to a troubled ending. A movement for reform became one of appeasement, and appeasement turned into tyranny and slander. So be it. The right occupies a commanding position, and it's up to us to advance the cause of justice while no longer relying on a treacherous, rotten system of power. That may sound hard, but it's easier than going through the motions again inside an organisation dedicated to your destruction.

picture

nev23 replied on

I think we should all resign our memberships and join the Green Party instead. Progressives stand a much better chance of being appreciated there than in this new whitewashed, centrist, hijacked-by-the-friends-of-the-Tories, New Labour.

picture

Mike Davies replied on

..."All that is needed for evil to triumph completely is for good (wo/)men to resign from the Labour Party".

Please don't go, we need you in the party.

picture

Jeanette Fletcher replied on

Like previous comments I am really sorry you have decide to resign party membership, but understand completely your reasons.

I too was smeared by the right because I supported Corbyn and against the wishes of the CLP when in 2017, I helped to elect a Labour MP in a marginal seat. He was parachuted onto the consitiuency, but if Labour was to form a government, we had to win. We did win. But the personal ambition by a councillor who wanted to be the MP for the constituency, would not tolerate this. So my social media was trawled through to find the "evidence". Apparently calling out Pretti Patel on twitter, for meeting an Israeli government minister in secret, twelve times was antisemitic enough. I got a SAR after input from the ICO and a legal battle, costing me £1,500 and I have enough to show that the CLP secretary, the regional office and the compliance unit colluded to have me expelled.

Since then, I have blogged about my experience and I have also done some digging. What I have found is quite sinister, relating to the adoption of the IHRA definition on antisemitism and the party's use of it.

Since the Labour party adopted the IHRA definition at last years conference, councils are also adopting it. But the means by which they are doing this is secretive and I believe, due to the way Labour councillors self select and run the councils are undemocratic. I have uncovered links in support of this assertion, which I would be happy to share with you if you wish.

Members are now making their voices heard after the suspension of Jo Bird. I hope the party and the unions listen, but frankly, I think it's now a lost cause.

picture

Frank Dallas replied on

Very sad, Asa. But you have done the right thing. Your position had become impossible. The important point though is the membership does not support these vile machinations. My own branch recently voted nem con against the 10 B o D pledges and called on the leadership candidates to reject them. The membership is being outmanoeuvred by a small group of right-wingers and unelected bureaucrats. Can there be any doubt that there is a Zionist influence at the heart of the bureaucracy? That is not a conspiracy theory. It is not a conspiracy. It is open infiltration for the purpose of pushing Zionism's racist cause. This was Abba Eban some decades ago: "One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all." From the horse's mouth. This is like saying there is no distinction between opposing Daesh and being Islamophobic. It is the deliberate attempt we have just lived through with disastrous consequences to make any criticism of Zionism, however mild, a form of anti-Semitism and it is carried out with the support of the US political establishment which props up the racist Israeli regime with billions of dollars. Let us not forget how long this has gone on. In the 1920s, Weizmann opposed negotiations with the Palestinians because they might be "moderate enough" to agree to a constitutional settlement. The moderate Arabs had to be smeared as violent, unreasonable savages. They still are. That the Labour leadership agrees with this is morally repugnant, and they do agree by submitting to the totalitarian demands of the B o D and expelling people like yourself who tell the truth. But we will win because truth is on our side and Israel is suicidal. Golda Meir believed the borders of Israel extend to wherever there are Jews. That's why they'll fail. Lunatic hubris. Keep researching and writing, Asa. You will be vindicated by history.

Asa Winstanley

Asa Winstanley's picture

Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist who lives in London. He is an associate editor of The Electronic Intifada and co-host of our podcast.

He is author of the bestselling book Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn (OR Books, 2023).