LABOUR IS riddled with anti-black racism, according to a whistleblower who used to work at the party’s HQ.

An investigation by The Voice has found that a document on identifying anti-black racism was watered down and black staff were not consulted until after it was written.

The allegations come amid growing anger at the decision to block popular anti-racism campaigner Maurice Mcleod from becoming MP in the safe south London seat of Camberwell and Peckham.

We spoke to the former head of Labour’s BAME staff network, who told us that senior officials had slashed funding for anti-black racism training.

Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott told us that the party strategy was now focused on white voters, with the assumption that the black community have nowhere else to go, and worried that more black voters would stay at home on polling day.

Another black MP, who did not want to be named, said that people around the leader Sir Keir Starmer were determined to “purge” black critics from the party.

Labour have been silent over the Labour Files documentary series broadcast by Al Jazeera which exposed a culture of anti-black racism.

We put these claims to the party multiple times, but their press office failed to answer most of our points despite our extensive efforts.

There is widespread anger among black MPs that Starmer has failed to adequately respond to the Forde Report, which he commissioned, that concluded the party suffered from a hierarchy of racism with Africans and Caribbeans at the bottom.

Despite Labour riding high in the polls with the Conservative government in chaos and the economy in turmoil, black activists are now questioning whether Labour has done enough to earn black votes.

The party’s frontbench post of race equality spokesperson is currently vacant almost two months after Taiwo Owatemi MP stepped down. And there is growing frustration that Labour once again failed to deliver on its’ promise of a party organisation to represent black and Asian members.

Meanwhile, experts note a failure to develop race equality policy and the only ideas being discussed are described as ‘low-hanging fruit’ that will not address systemic racism.

Whistleblower Halima Khan, who worked in Labour’s governance and legal unit at their Southside HQ from 2019 until earlier this year, said that the code of conduct for anti-black racism was given the least priority and that black stakeholders were only consulted after a watered-down version of it had already been agreed by apparatchiks.

She told The Voice: “There was such a big hesitancy in even getting the codes of conducts out. Right at the beginning, when I was working on the codes of conduct for Islamophobia and anti-black racism, the organisation wanted the Islamophobia code to come out first. I fought back as much as possible and said no, it’s both or nothing. They were then due to then come out at the same time. But after my suspension they then separated the two out.” 

Khan says she was suspended and then fired because she questioned the hierarchy of racism within the party. 

“The formulation of the codes – if you were to see the original which myself and others had written and then the party’s adoption – there was a lot that was cut out. The party also actively tried to minimise as many external number of people of colour and black women working on the document.

“So many processes were subverted.  The party went against the EHRC [Equality and Human Rights Commission] recommendations. The black stakeholders only saw the version that was already watered down by Keir’s people.” 

As Chair of the BAME staff network, Khan said she approached the party’s Secretary David Evans to introduce anti-black training but this request was frustrated, even though it would have only cost £650. 

Evans directed Khan to Helene Reardon Bond OBE, part of Starmer’s circle. A meeting was then set including Khan, and the director of Diversity Trust, Russell Thomas, and Ellie Robinson, then director of stakeholder relations.

“We had already built a good relationship with Diversity Trust. We thought at the meeting it would be about getting the money for the training.  In that meeting instead of talking about the training, she (Robinson) asks him (Thomas) to work with us to draft the codes of conduct on anti-black racism and mentions nothing about money. At all. 

“So essentially asks him to do free work for us for the party, and we’ll talk about training another time. So instead of paying him to train us so we can draft the code of conduct and then provide training for the entire organisation on the code, she wanted him to help the organisation draft the codes – for free – and do the training another time.”

Khan said that a senior staff member would “always make errors with [the] names” of black and Asian staff and on one occasion that official posted a wholly inappropriate ‘racist’ story on WhatsApp depicting a naked black woman. 

“She always spelt my name wrong and other BAME members’ names wrong. Even when they were not obvious ethnic names.  She would message me and other non-white people the same message as if we were the same person.  When Kamala Harris was elected in the US she sent a few of us the same article as if we should be grateful.” The senior official failed to respond to The Voice.

The Forde Report exposed evidence that Diane Abbott, and other black MPs, were subjected to anti-black racism in WhatsApp messages exchanged between senior HQ staff.

Abbott told The Voice: “This goes back further, to the 80s, and even the Scarman report. But with the Forde Report, Keir Starmer sat on it for nearly two years. It isn’t so much that he wanted to ignore the findings, he didn’t want anybody to know what the findings are. 

“He’s tried to say well everything’s alright now because I’m leader. It’s almost like he hasn’t read it. 

“Keir Starmer is not someone with a history of campaigning on racial justice.  He’s surrounded by people from the Blair years and their focus is on bringing back the Red Wall voters.  They call them ‘hero voters’.  Well my goodness me, what are we then?  Everything is focused on white voters. The assumption is that black voters have nowhere else to go.

“I think what they are going to find in marginal seats with BAME voters can make a difference, is not that people are going to vote Tory, people will just stay at home.  I hope it doesn’t come to this but as my mother used to say people that can’t hear must feel.  It’s like they have to see what the electoral consequences are of ignoring black voters and their concerns.”

Another black MP gave a damning critique of anti-black racism within Labour, and said they were convinced that nothing will change under Starmer. They added that the party is continuing to purge itself of internal voices which remain critical of Labour’s failure to tackle anti-black racism.

With speculation that Britain could see an election as early as next spring, time is running out for Labour to prove it is not taking black votes for granted.

Former director of the charity Race on the Agenda Maurice McLeod, who was one of several Left activists to be blocked from seeking the party’s nomination to contest Labour-held seats, said that while Labour remained the “political home for black, Global Majority and working class people.”

He added: “Like any home, Labour is need of constant renovation to make sure it is still fit for habitation. The roof’s leaky, there’s damp on the walls and the foundations are extremely fragile.

“The Labour leadership, especially while riding so high in the polls, seems to have decided that it has no need to court the votes of Britain’s inner city, BAME communities because they have nowhere else to go. They may simply stay at home on polling day.”

In recent months, Labour has failed to respond to enquiries from The Voice, including the Mcleod story. While writing this feature, we made over ten attempts to get responses to various questions, including allegations of racist bullying.

Eventually, a spokesperson said: “The Party undertook an extensive consultation process in developing the Codes with input from black members of the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] and NEC [National Executive Committee], local government stakeholders, socialist societies and community organisations.”

In response to several specific allegations of an ongoing culture of anti-racism, the party simply said: “Please find the response of the Labour Party here: https://labour.org.uk/fordereport/”