Labour pays out estimated £2m to settle claims over leaked dossier

The Labour party has settled claims brought by 20 people, mainly ex-staffers, who featured in a leaked internal document about antisemitism in the party, with the costs estimated to be close to £2m.

- Peter Walker

The settlements include a payout to Labour's former elections chief Patrick Heneghan, who was falsely accused in the dossier of having tried to sabotage Jeremy Corbyn's chances of winning the 2017 general election.

It is understood the payouts will total just under £1m, but with Labour paying both sides' legal fees the cost to the party will be near to £2m.

This puts the total legal costs for Labour connected to the dossier at more than £4m, with court documents released last year showing the party spent £2.4m on its own eventually abandoned lawsuit pursuing five separate staffers it accused of being behind the leak.

The 800-page document was produced under Corbyn's leadership. Billed as being part of a submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission for the watchdog's inquiry into antisemitism within Labour, it was never submitted.

It was leaked and included hundreds of private WhatsApps from named staff detailing hostility towards Corbyn and his allies. The report said factional hostility contributed to an ineffective handling of antisemitism complaints, and set out claims of anti-black racism, Islamophobia, sexism and bullying.