Labour’s £1.5million leak probe axed

Labour has dropped legal action against five ex-staff members accused of leaking an internal report to undermine Sir Keir Starmer‘s leadership.

The long-running legal case has cost £1.5million and could have been £900,000 more. 

The five, who denied it, included Jeremy Corbyn‘s communications director Seumas Milne and the ex-leader’s chief-of-staff Karie Murphy. 

The three others were Georgie Robertson, Laura Murray and Harry Hayball . 

The report into strife under Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the party was leaked when Sir Keir became its new leader in April 2020. 

The 860-page document, that included hundreds of Whatsapp messages, found ‘no evidence’ of anti-Semitism being handled differently to other complaints. 

Labour has dropped legal action against five ex-staff members accused of leaking an internal report to undermine Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership

The five, who denied it, included Jeremy Corbyn’s communications director Seumas Milne and the ex-leader’s chief-of-staff Karie Murphy (pictured) 

The report into strife under Mr Corbyn’s leadership of the party was leaked when Sir Keir became its new leader in April 2020. Pictured: Seumas Milne

It also alleged that those who were opposed to Mr Corbyn’s leadership worked against him and damaged the party’s success in the 2017 election. 

The five affected previously said they would ‘vigorously defend themselves’ in a High Court action and described the claims as ‘baseless’. 

An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office was also not able to dtermine the source of the leak. 

A joint statement issued on June 6 by Labour and law firm Carter Ruck read: ‘The Party is discontinuing its legal claims against Karie Murphy, Seumas Milne, Georgie Robertson, Harry Hayball and Laura Murray on a ‘no order as to costs’ basis.

‘The five welcome the resolution of the claims.’ 

Last year, Labour asked the High Court to delay a full hearing of the case until February next year at the earliest.