Wes Streeting threatens to use Parliamentary privilege to 'torpedo' NDAs gagging ex-Labour staff
3 min read
A prominent Labour MP has vowed to use Parliamentary privilege to break "gagging orders" against party staff who want to speak out about its handling of anti-semitism.
Wes Streeting threatened to use the rules - which guarantee freedom of speech for MPs in the House of Commons - to "torpedo" non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) drawn up to stop staff from making their concerns public.
The Sunday Times reported this weekend that up to half a dozen former Labour employees have torn up their NDAs to speak to a BBC Panorama programme about Labour's treatment of anti-Jewish abuse.
The move has seen legal letters sent to former party officials from top law firm Carter Ruck - a move described as "as futile as it is stupid" by the party's deputy leader Tom Watson.
Mr Streeting told The Daily Telegraph: "We have seen before how Parliamentary privilege has been used to effectively torpedo unscrupulous non-disclosure agreements and powerful people who try and silence whistleblowers.
"I’m prepared to do that again to expose the depth of Labour’s anti-semitism crisis and the extent to which decent people are being gagged by a political party that ought to know better."
He added: "The Labour party is quite rightly opposed to non-disclosure agreements. But we cannot on the one hand say that we will tackle NDAs while on the other use them to gag party staff. Not only is it deeply hypocritical, it looks absolutely terrible."
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell on Sunday denied that the party - which has committed to ending the use of NDAs to silence whistleblowers - was guilty of hypocrisy for imposing the conditions on ex-staffers.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: "What we’re trying to do is remind them of their confidentiality agreement."
Mr McDonnell added: “What’s happened is the Labour party has reminded them of their confidentiality agreement because you can’t have people particularly when you’re dealing with individual cases, individual information about individual members, that can’t be right.
“What we will be saying we’re going to reform the law so that whistleblowers will be protected, NDAs will not be used against them when they are using whistleblowers."
CRYER: WE'VE FAILED TO ADDRESS ANTI-SEMITISM
The row over NDAs came as the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party told the BBC that the party had still not done enough to tackle anti-semitism.
John Cryer told the BBC's Westminster Hour: “We’ve failed to address anti-semitism. The bottom line is, are we kicking people out of the party who are anti-semitic? In some cases yes we are, but in some cases no. If you’re a racist, you shouldn’t be in the Labour party."
He added: "In quite a lot of cases you get a suspension but then the case just drags on and on, and it’s those cases where we need to act much more quickly."
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