Panorama host to sue Jeremy Corbyn?

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 10h

Panorama host John Ware is reportedly considering suing former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for defamation.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could be sued for defamation by Panorama host John Ware for comments he made last week.

The 71-year-old's time leading the political party was dogged by repeated accusations of anti-Semitism among the membership, as well as allegations that Corbyn himself is anti-Semitic - a charge he has vehemently denied.

In an episode of Panorama titled 'Is Labour Anti-Semitic?' which aired last July, seven whistleblowers from Labour HQ went public to detail what they believed to be systemic anti-Semitism within the party.

At the time Labour denied all of the allegations, dismissing them as former employees with "political axes to grind", but last week new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer issued them with an apology and agreed to pay big-money compensation to the whistleblowers.

Following Starmer's decision, Corbyn doubled down on his stance, saying in a statement: "The party's decision to apologise... and make substantial payments to former staff who sued the party in relation to last year's Panorama programme is a political decision, not a legal one.

"The decision to settle these claims in this way is disappointing, and risks giving credibility to misleading and inaccurate allegations about action taken to tackle anti-Semitism in the Labour Party in recent years."

According to the Daily Mail, the whistleblowers and Ware are now giving consideration to suing Corbyn for defamation over his statement.

In a separate case, Labour is facing potential bankruptcy following the leak of a report into anti-Semitism during Corbyn's leadership, with over 30 people identified in the report considering multi-millionpound lawsuits against the party.