Lisa Nandy demands Labour Party publishes in full secret report on the anti-Semitism scandal

Lisa Nandy today challenged Labour’s high command to publish in full a secret report on the anti-Semitism scandal that engulfed the party under Jeremy Corbyn.

In an Evening Standard interview , the leadership candidate revealed she is pressing general secretary Jennie Formby, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, to end secrecy over Labour’s evidence to the Equality and Human Rights Commission that is investigating the controversy.

In other highlights of the interview with the rising star, she:

• Called for a peerage recommended by Mr Corbyn for former aide Karie Murphy to be shelved until the EHRC probe is completed.
• Urged Labour to be “brave and bold” about making the case for possible tax rises, and would not rule out a rise in the basic rate paid by lower and middle earners.
• Urged Labour to stand up for immigration, even if free movement had been “unpopular” in some areas. “I don’t think there’s a single person in this country who would believe me or the Labour Party if we turned around tomorrow and said, ‘We want to be tough on immigrants’,” she said. 
• Called on Prince Andrew to do “the right thing” by co-operating fully with a US investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On the need to publish the party’s findings about the anti-Semitism scandal, Ms Nandy said: “There is a huge question of trust at the moment, not just from the Jewish community, but in the Labour Party.”

She stressed: “There’s no reason, as far as I can see, not to publish that submission. And in fact being open and transparent about what the party has done, where we stand, what we believe, is the only way to start rebuilding trust. It ought to be out in the open.”

Ms Nandy said she pressed Ms Formby to disclose the documents yesterday when leadership candidates were invited to a private briefing on what the party is doing to tackle anti-Semitism. Ms Formby refused, citing legal advice, and declined to explain the reason for the confidentiality.

“I pushed on that,” said Ms Nandy, “and was told that was the advice of their own legal counsel for reasons that would not be disclosed.”

Ms Nandy said that if elected leader she would ensure the report was published and also pledged to implement any recommendations made by the EHRC.

She added: “If there are individuals who are found to have covered up, perpetuated enabled or allowed anti-Semitism in the party, whether they’re elected or not, they ought to find that they have no place in the Labour Party.” 

On the reported peerage nomination for Ms Murphy, she ruled: “While the EHRC is investigating Labour for institutional racism, we ought not to be sending any of our officials to the House of Lords.”

She hinted at a clear-out of officials who were close to Mr Corbyn, saying: “Every leader needs to build a team that they feel confident in.  The biggest issue for me is to make sure that we are a party fit to win elections, and to deal with some of those very serious incidents like anti-Semitism and sexual harassment. I don’t think the Labour machine currently is.”

Ms Nandy said she would move Labour headquarters out of central London if elected, to connect the party better with other regions. And she said she would be “tough about creating a new culture” in the party, saying the atmosphere had been “toxic” among Labour MPs in recent years. 

On taxes, she criticised a “lack of radicalism” in Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s 1997 pledge not to raise income tax rates. Asked if she was prepared to raise the basic rate to fund public services, she said: “I do not believe that you can go to the country and argue for the level of investment in public services that we did at the last election without being honest and clear about where that money comes from. And that does mean raising money through tax revenue.”

On immigration the MP, whose father is Indian-born, said: “My dad is an immigrant, and I’ve always stood up for and championed free movement.” She said voters disbelieved the party when it painted the slogan “Tough on Immigration” on an election mug, and urged: “We have to be honest about our values.”

On a report in the election defeat, that critics have dubbed a whitewash because it blames Brexit rather than Mr Corbyn’s leadership and policies, Ms Nandy said: “Brexit was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It wasn’t where it started and it won’t be where it ends.”

She said she would give shadow cabinet posts to rivals Sir Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey.

Ms Nandy rejected party chairman Ian Lavery’s call for frontrunner Sir Keir to drop out of the leadership race so that a woman could win for the first time. But she added despairingly: “You cannot tell me that in hundreds of years of parliamentary democracy there’s never been a woman good enough.”

The MP called on Prince Andrew to co-operate in full with the FBI investigation into his former friend, sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Asked what she would say to the prince if she was prime minister, she said: “Please comply with the investigation. It doesn’t bring Britain into a particularly good light and it’s also morally the right thing to do.” Ms Nandy, who has had to deal with child abuse scandals as an MP, pointed out: “Openness, transparency, sharing what you know, is really important. When you’ve got prosecutors saying ‘we really do need to get more information here’ then it’s really important that everybody included Prince Andrew step forward and do their bit.”

Listen to today’s episode of The Leader: