Jeremy Corbyn may face an investigation into his financial affairs after it was revealed that he has not declared the full extent of the support he has received to cover his legal fees from disputes over antisemitism.
In a court battle in January 2021, the former Labour leader was unsuccessful in his bid to force the Labour party to hand over documents related to his suspension from the parliamentary party. The Labour Party intends to recover the legal costs incurred from Corbyn.
A few months later, Corbyn lost an appeal in a libel appeal case brought about by the political blogger Richard Millett over comments which Corbyn made on the Andrew Marr Show in 2018. Corbyn had alleged that the behaviour of two pro-Israel activists at a speech given in 2013 to the Palestinian Return Centre had been disruptive to the extent that the police had almost asked them to leave. The comments were found to be defamatory.
Although Jeremy Corbyn’s register of interests details that he is “likely to benefit from a legal fund managed by JBC Defence Ltd which was set up on 16 October 2020 to help meet any legal costs” which he or his supporters may incur in relation to allegations of defamation, it remains unclear who has actually contributed to the fund.
In a letter written to the Parliament’s Standards Commissioner, Labour MP Neil Coyle – a critic of Corbyn – alleges that of the £150,000 Corbyn has spent to date, Unite have contributed nearly £100,000 for one defamation case alone. By not declaring the full financial support he has received, Neil Coyle alleges that Jeremy Corbyn may have broken the MPs’ code of conduct.
