Sam Matthews

Sam Matthews
Disaffected former official with a political axe to grind
Head of Disputes,  GLU In office 2016 - 2018 Employer Labour Party

Sam Matthews is the Labour Party's former Head of Disputes, Governance and Legal Unit (GLU) who was severely criticised in Labour's report on the work of the GLU in relation to "antisemitism", which was leaked in April 2020. Inter alia, the 851-page report states that Sam Matthews: “rarely replied or took any action, and the vast majority of times where action did occur, it was prompted by other Labour staff directly chasing this themselves”.

Sam Matthews was cited on page 53 of Labour's internal report:

"On 9 May 2017, GLU’s Head of Disputes Sam Matthews and Teddy Ryan, Regional Organiser, used offensive language about a Labour MP:

"Sam Matthews 10:39: Fuck 'em. Someone's got to stand up to these progressive alliance wankers.

"Teddy Ryan 10:40: tell me about it...Clive Lewis is the biggest cunt out of the lot.

"Sam Matthews 10:40: it's like outlook-whack-a-mole, yes. Yes he is."

"Signed off sick"

According to the BBC's Panorama programme “Is Labour Anti-Semitic?” broadcast on 10 July 2019, Sam Matthews was "signed off sick" two months after Jennie Formby became Labour's General Secretary, and considered committing suicide by jumping from Jennie Formby's office balcony.

In the Panorama programme, Matthews said that the suggestion by LOTO's Seumas Milne of a “review” into how "antisemitism" cases were being handled was “the leader’s office requesting to be involved directly in the disciplinary process”.

Matthews said:

“This is not a helpful suggestion, it is an instruction.”

In a statement the Labour Party accused Panorama of "deliberate and malicious representations designed to mislead the public" and accused some of the ex-staff members who spoke to the programme of being "disaffected former officials" who have "always opposed Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, worked to actively undermine it and have both personal and political axes to grind."

Suspending Matthews?

The Panorama programme also aired allegations by Sam Matthews regarding numerous complaints about "anti-Semitic" members that he said were not acted on quickly enough.

However, the Morning Star reported that Matthews' job was terminated just months after Corbyn ally Jennie Formby succeeded Iain McNicol as Labour’s General Secretary in Spring 2018, when Ms Formby reorganised the disputes unit to make it more efficient. It led to Matthews leaving his post in July 2018, when he signed a legally binding non-disclosure agreement with the party. He is now accused by Labour’s lawyers of breaching that deal and leaking private “email exchanges” he had with colleagues.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has criticised his own party for taking legal action but Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner said it was important to stop former staff from leaking information in a “partisan way for political purposes.”

The emails leaked by Sam Matthews were quoted selectively by right-wing media outlets to accuse Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters of interfering with the party’s complaints process. Other leaked emails from the unit appear to show that it was Matthews himself who failed to handle such complaints. Matthews was sent evidence, a year before he left his post, of a Labour council candidate posting "anti-semitic" material and issued a “notice of investigation” but did not suspend the member. Matthews received more evidence months later indicating that the same member had posted an article on Facebook claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax. Matthews once again decided against a suspension.

It was only on 22 March 2018, just days after Jennie Formby was elected as General Secretary, that Sam Matthews and his unit agreed to the member’s suspension. He finally acted after concerns were raised by Laura Murray, a Corbyn aide, who wrote exasperatedly:

“Should he not be suspended pending investigation?”

Matthews sues for defamation

On 13 July 2019, The Observer reported that Sam Matthews had instructed the prominent media lawyer Mark Lewis to act on his behalf because he believed the party had defamed him in its response to his claims. Lewis, who works for Patron Law, said:

“It is incredible that after the programme Labour wilfully attacked the whistleblowers, falsely accusing them of making deliberate, malicious representations, and misleading the public, while also calling them disaffected former officials whose credibility as sources was in doubt. These are very serious libels. Those representing the Labour Party have acted in a way that set out to destroy the reputations of the whistleblowers. In their effort to destroy these people they have left it for the courts to decide who is telling the truth. It is ironic that the bosses at the workers’ party have decided to go against the workers.”

Sam Matthews, who claimed he was left feeling suicidal because of the pressures placed on him, said:

“The Labour Party is choosing to ignore the central charges of antisemitism raised by myself and other whistleblowers on Panorama, and instead, they have engaged in a concerted campaign to damage my name. I have instructed Mark Lewis to ensure that the defamation and intimidation of whistleblowers is not allowed to continue.”

Starmer pays damages

On 22 July 2020, Sir Keir Starmer agreed to pay "substantial" damages to seven Labour ex-staffers who appeared in the Panorama programme "Is Labour Antisemitic?": Kat Buckingham, Michael Creighton, Sam Matthews, Dan Hogan, Louise Withers Green, Benjamin Westerman and Martha Robinson. The Labour Party also issued an unreserved apology in the High Court for making "false and defamatory" comments about the seven ex-staffers.

Former leader Jeremy Corbyn reacted on Facebook:

Labour Party members have a right to accountability and transparency of decisions taken in their name, and an effective commitment from the party to combat antisemitism and racism in all their forms.

The Party’s decision to apologise today 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.

Our legal advice was that the party had a strong defence, and the evidence in the leaked Labour report that is now the subject of an NEC inquiry led by Martin Forde QC strengthened concerns about the role played by some of those who took part in the programme.

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 antisemitism in the Labour Party in recent years.

To give our members the answers and justice they deserve, the inquiry led by Martin Forde must now fully address the evidence the internal report uncovered of racism, sexism, factionalism and obstruction of Labour’s UK/2017 General Election campaign.

Trial by email

The Good George, Bad Jess and Ugly Tom

On 10 April 2017, Patrick Haseldine sent the following email to Sam Matthews:

Dear Sam Matthews,

Governance & Legal Unit, Labour Party

Thank you for today's email saying that I'm expelled from the Labour Party because you reckon I've been actively promoting George Galloway, through multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter, who is standing against an official Labour Party candidate, and which is incompatible with membership of the Labour Party.

My posts on Twitter and Facebook up to 21 March 2017 were simply reporting the fact that George Galloway was planning to stand against the NEC-imposed all-Asian shortlist at Manchester Gorton. It was not until 22 March 2017 that Afzal Khan MEP was selected as the official Labour candidate.

Incidentally, could you please explain why Keith Vaz MP is still on Labour's National Executive Committee and is still a Labour MP after all that disgusting activity with rentboys?

My Facebook posts and Tweets on 26 March 2017 "The Good (George Galloway), The Bad (Jess Phillips MP) and The Ugly (Tom Watson MP)" were a carefully constructed critique and straightforward observation, and should not be construed as any sort of criticism of the official Labour candidate Afzal Khan.

I now await Iain McNicol's abject apology for this latest slur on my character, and for his completely unjustified suspension of my Labour Party membership two months ago.

Yours comradely (but getting a bit annoyed),

Patrick Haseldine congratulating Tory Pamela Walford at the Frinton by-election

Patrick Haseldine

Labour candidate in the 2017 Frinton by-election

Autoexpulsion

On 13 April 2017, Sam Matthews autoexpelled Patrick Haseldine:

From : legal_queries@labour.org.uk

Date : 13/04/2017 - 08:58 (GMTDT)

To : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com

Cc : iain_mcnicol@labour.org.uk

Subject : RE: Information regarding your Labour Party membership status

Dear Mr Haseldine,

Thank you for your email confirming that Facebook account referenced on pages 2-10 of our letter of the 10th of April is yours, thereby confirming the validity of the evidence used.

As our letter stated, you actively promoted campaign posts from George Galloway on a number of public social media forums. This is demonstrable support for a candidate standing against an official Labour candidate. In doing so, you made yourself ineligible for membership of the Labour Party in line with the rules set out in chapter 2.I.4.

The earliest time that the Labour Party will consider your application for membership is the 10th April 2022. We will not be responding further on this matter.

Regards

Sam Matthews

Head of Disputes

Governance and Legal Unit

The Labour Party

Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT

Ironic

Patrick Haseldine commented:

"The irony about my expulsion is that the 2017 Manchester Gorton by-election – scheduled for 4 May 2017 – was cancelled because a UK General Election was called for 8 June 2017."

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:BBC Panorama Investigation Into Labour Antisemitism Omitted Key Evidence and Parts of Labour’s Response	Article	22 July 2020	Justin Schlosberg	The fact that the Labour Party is now settling libel cases brought by both John Ware and the Labour 'whistleblowers' is remarkable, not least because there is meant to be an ongoing internal inquiry into the leaked internal report, whose findings have now effectively been prejudged. But I’ve been told this will cost the party close to half a million in damages and costs.
Document:How top Labour officials plotted to bring down Jeremy Corbyn	Article	16 April 2020	Jonathan Cook	The stench of cover-up is already in the air. Keir Starmer's Labour needs to come clean and admit that its most senior officials defrauded hundreds of thousands of party members, and millions more supporters, who voted for a fairer, kinder Britain.
Document:Labour ‘gagging orders’ put in place by McNicol – and gave hundreds of £1000s to allies	Article	16 July 2019		Shadow Cabinet learns ‘non-disclosure agreements’ on disaffected ex-staff appearing on Panorama and talking to media were authorised by former General Secretary Iain McNicol – and enriched staff (considered to be his anti-Corbyn allies) by hundreds of thousands of pounds
Document:Starmer’s Mortal Wound On The Soul Of The Labour Party	blog post	30 October 2020	Rachael Swindon	Starmer clearly believes he has now firmly established his own political identity and laid the foundations for the transformation of Labour’s electoral prospects – in the mould of Kinnock and Blair. It may be that he has simply destroyed his reputation for moral and intellectual integrity – and inflicted a mortal wound on the soul of his party.
Document:That Leaked Labour Party Report	blog post	20 April 2020	Craig Murray	That Leaked Labour Party Report proves conclusively that Sam Matthews’ allegations of unwarranted interference from Corbyn’s office to block anti-semitism action are malicious lies.
File:Labour internal antisemitism report.pdf	report	March 2020	Labour Party	An enormous (851 pages) report of an internal UK Labour Party investigation into alleged antisemitism in the Party between 2014 and 2019.

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