Document:EHRC discredits itself again even as it settles with Livingstone and Bromley

Pam Bromley & Ken Livingstone vindicated

Pam Bromley and Ken Livingstone said: “Rather than fighting this case for potentially another year or more, we believe we need to refocus our resources on tackling the Israel lobby’s current efforts to stifle pro-Palestine speech in schools, universities and other sectors.”

 blog post  by Editor dated 15 September 2023

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Subjects: EHRC, Ken Livingstone, Pam Bromley, Forde Report, Antisemitism, CAA, Labour Party
Source: SKWAWKBOX (Link)

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EHRC discredits itself again even as it settles with Livingstone and Bromley

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"Refusal to apologise or withdraw flawed comments about pair in political attack on Corbyn’s Labour, after incurring huge costs in abandoned defence, is a disgrace"

Pam Bromley and former London mayor Ken Livingstone have accepted a settlement in their case against the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for its flawed comments to name them, in its report on so-called ‘Labour antisemitism’, as the only two alleged perpetrators of unlawful acts of harassment. The EHRC will pay all its own costs, as will Livingstone and Bromley, although theirs were far smaller and were covered by a fundraiser set up by former Labour MP Chris Williamson.

In a statement, the pair noted the significance of the asymmetrical settlement:

We believe that, deep down, the EHRC understands that its investigation was flawed and that it acted unlawfully. That’s probably why they were willing to settle the case without recovering a penny of their exorbitant costs."

The EHRC, however – despite its report already being discredited by expert legal analysis and especially by the findings of Labour’s own (largely ignored) Forde Report that antisemitism was ‘weaponised’ for factional gain – still doubled down by claiming it had acted properly and complaining about the costs it had incurred in defending its actions.

Even in settling the case, the body – which defended one of its senior figures after she was exposed as a substantial Tory donor and has been condemned by a former director as unfit and ‘not independent’ – has discredited itself yet again.

It is understood the EHRC legal costs were over £215,000, while the Labour Party and the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also spent tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees.

Ken Livingstone’s and Pam Bromley’s costs amounted to £35,000 and were funded from a fighting fund established at the end of 2019 by former Labour MP Chris Williamson from the costs he won from the Labour Party.

An EHRC spokesperson said:

“We firmly stand by our robust and fair investigation, the findings of which were accepted in full by the Labour Party.

“We welcome the decision to withdraw this judicial review claim, with disappointment at the valuable time and resource that we have had to expend on defending it.”

The EHRC investigation also found that the Labour Party had committed unlawful acts.

In a joint statement, Mr Livingstone and Ms Bromley said:

“We were worried that the purpose and effect of the EHRC report would be to shut down criticism of Israel by giving credence to false accusations of anti-semitism.

“Rather than fighting this case for potentially another year or more, we believe we need to refocus our resources on tackling the Israel lobby’s current efforts to stifle pro-Palestine speech in schools, universities and other sectors.”