{"id":196204,"date":"2019-10-13T08:40:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T08:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=196204"},"modified":"2019-10-15T07:26:54","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T07:26:54","slug":"reality-check-chris-williamson-won-his-legal-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=196204","title":{"rendered":"Reality Check: Chris Williamson WON his legal challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Kit Knightly \u2013 Off Guardian Oct 11, 2019<\/h1>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fligdi4sMro\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n&#8212;<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Unless you\u2019ve been paying close attention, it\u2019s probably hard to keep up with just how many times Chris Williamson MP has been suspended from the Labour Party. For those of you keeping score, it\u2019s three times. That number likely surprises some of you, but we\u2019ll get to that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Here\u2019s a quick timeline:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>FEBRUARY 2019<\/strong> \u2013 A video emerges of Chris Williamson speaking at an event for Momentum in Sheffield (above). In the video Williamson claims that Labour have been \u201ctoo apologetic\u201d in dealing with accusations of antisemitism, and that they should stand up for their record as an anti-racist party.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The press portrayed this very dishonestly \u2013 and still do to this day \u2013 summing it up as <em>\u201cWilliamson claimed Labour too apologetic over antisemitism\u201d<\/em>. He is suspended before the end of the month, pending an investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>26th JUNE 2019<\/strong> \u2013 Four months later<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> <a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newstatesman.com\/politics\/uk\/2019\/06\/why-was-chris-williamson-readmitted-labour\">Williamson is re-instated<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. This<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/lifting-chris-williamson-labour-suspension-002550992.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> caused much outrage in both the press and PLP<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">A list of <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/voices\/chris-williamson-labour-party-suspension-antisemitism-jewish-corbyn-a8977046.html\">very predictable names<\/a><\/strong><\/span> wrote articles about it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>28th JUNE 2019<\/strong> \u2013 Amazingly, just TWO DAYS LATER,<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> <a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thejc.com\/news\/uk-news\/chris-williamson-suspended-again-after-backlash-from-mps-and-jewish-groups-1.485932\">Williamson is \u201cre-suspended\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The decision of the disciplinary panel was overturned, a second panel claiming the decision to reinstate Williamson <em>\u201ccannot safely stand\u201d<\/em>. (They never explain what, if anything, that actually means).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>8th JULY 2019<\/strong> \u2013 <em>The Guardian<\/em> publishes an open letter signed by, among others, Noam Chomsky and Norman Finklestein, defending Williamson against charges of racism, and claiming the accusations were \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>9th JULY 2019<\/strong> \u2013 <em>The Guardian<\/em> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2019\/07\/09\/guardian-deletes-open-letter-defending-chris-williamson\/\">takes the letter down<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, with no explanation. <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/entry\/chris-williamson-guardian-letter_uk_5d249fefe4b07e698c412ab5?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABgybiFQ25rDaCnEvGg4KQnPu3yI0wyqtvxib24S12j4ChdJSR284N2ld3wus_X%20\">The Huffington Post wrote a piece defending the decision<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. OffGuardian <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2019\/07\/09\/open-letter-in-defence-of-chris-williamson\/\">republished the letter in full<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>14th AUGUST 2019<\/strong> \u2013 Williamson, following a crowd-funding campaign, announces he is<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/asa-winstanley\/chris-williamson-sues-over-unlawful-labour-suspension\"> taking the Labour Party to court<\/a>.<\/strong> <\/span>He claims they violated their rules when they \u201cre-suspended\u201d him without a hearing or explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>3rd SEPTEMBER 2019<\/strong> \u2013 This is where things get\u2026convuluted. The Labour Party announce they are suspending Williamson\u2026again. As in, he\u2019s now suspended twice. (Extra-suspended? Mega-suspended? Double-suspended?)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Why did they do this seemingly pointless thing? Well, they argue, it\u2019s because Williamson had:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">undermined the party\u2019s ability to campaign against antisemitism by publicly characterising the disciplinary processes against racism as \u201cpolitically motivated and\/or not genuine\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Williamson, and his legal team, argued it was more cynical than that \u2013 That Labour had added a further suspension because they knew they were about to lose in court.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">An argument that gained some strong circumstantial evidence when\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>10th OCTOBER 2019<\/strong> \u2013 Labour lose in court. Ignore the headlines: That\u2019s what happened. The original case brought was that Labour had acted unlawfully when \u201cre-suspending\u201d Williamson, and the Judge \u2013 Justice Pepperall \u2013 found in Williamson\u2019s favour, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/morningstaronline.co.uk\/article\/chris-williamsons-re-suspension-labour-was-unfair-judge-rules-%E2%80%93-left-wing-firebrand-remains\">declaring that Labour had acted \u201cunlawfully\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Having communicated the panel\u2019s decision as final, the Labour Party acted unfairly in that there was no proper reason for reopening the case against Mr Williamson and referring the original allegations to the (national constitutional committee)\u2026.the Labour Party is no longer able lawfully to pursue the original disciplinary case against Mr Williamson.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">However, the Labour party had issued its \u201cdouble suspension\u201d on unrelated matters, and on that front the Judge ruled:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">nothing in the new allegations, the timing of the letter of September 3 or the decision to suspend that entitles me to take the view upon the papers that the Labour Party is acting either unfairly or other than in good faith.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">So, to sum up, the sneaky workaround was highly effective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Chris Williamson is still suspended from the Labour Party, despite a court ruling that the NEC had acted \u201cunfairly\u201d and \u201cunlawfully\u201d, the PLP still get exactly what they wanted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">This has allowed every mainstream publication to run this headline:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">MP Chris Williamson loses anti-Semitism suspension appeal<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> <a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-derbyshire-50002636\">BBC<\/a><\/strong><\/span>,<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> <em><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2019\/oct\/10\/chris-williamson-loses-legal-bid-over-labour-party-antisemitism-suspension\">The Guardian<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span>, <em>The Jewish Chronicle<\/em>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/mp-chris-williamson-loses-high-153200294.html\">The Evening Standard<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-7559475\/Jeremy-Corbyn-ally-Chris-Williamson-LOSES-court-battle-reinstated-anti-Semitism-row.html\">The Daily Mail<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u2026they all take the same dishonest angle. Only a couple of them even mention the first finding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">All of them running the same dishonest headline, saved from outright deception by a tiny kernel of manipulated, contrived and contextless \u201ctruth\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Chris Williamson won. Labour cheated. The media lied.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">That\u2019s the <em>actual<\/em> truth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2019\/10\/11\/reality-check-chris-williamson-won-his-legal-challenge\/\">Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MP has been suspended three times from the Labour Party for saying it was \u201ctoo apologetic\u201d over charges of Anti-Semitism.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies","category-The_Media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196204"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196207,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196204\/revisions\/196207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}