Harry Gold of Compass sets the scene for an important discussion about the findings of the Forde Report – with the author himself

It’s been eight months since the Forde Report concluded that Labour’s “toxic” factionalism “undermined the UK’s democratic process” – but what, if anything, has the Party done since to address these issues?

This vital question, and more, will be answered next Monday when Martin Forde KC makes his first public appearance since the publication of the Forde Report in July last year.

The report was commissioned by Labour to investigate the Party’s culture and practices following the leak of a document in April 2020 that contained hundreds of private WhatsApp messages from named staff members.

The leaked document was meant to be sent to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which was conducting an investigation into the Party’s handling of antisemitism; instead, it was leaked to the press.

The now-infamous 860-page leaked document revealed deep factionalism in the Party’s efforts to combat antisemitism.

The document’s contents ignited a huge row within the Labour Party and after Starmer was elected leader, he ordered an independent inquiry, led by Martin Forde KC, to investigate the leaks and examine the Party’s wider culture and practices.

After several delays, the Forde Report was finally published in July 2022 – and the findings contained some hard truths for the Labour Party.

Mr Forde sifted through thousands of pages of submissions to find “little evidence of mutual respect and a great deal of evidence of factionalism so deep-rooted that the Party has found itself dysfunctional.”

The report found the leaked document exposed “deplorably factional and insensitive, and at times discriminatory, attitudes expressed by many of the Party’s most senior staff.”

It also revealed that “subtlety and nuance all but disappeared” during the years of the Corbyn leadership and concluded that antisemitism was used as a “factional weapon” by both sides of the Party.

Since the publication of the Forde Report, people and organisations from all sides of the Labour Party have come forward with differing interpretations of its findings, many claiming vindication.

But sadly, Labour and its leadership has done little to heed the recommendations of the report and is still dominated by short-term, factional interests.

Starmer has tightened his grip on the Party over the last few years and Labour Party HQ has exercised this control by ruling out many left-wing candidates in selections locally and nationally, often on the thinnest grounds.

This shallow dismissal of talent disregards the urgent need to build an open, inclusive politics that respects all Labour’s traditions and brings them together in a wide-reaching, pluralist project.

The problems we face as a country and a planet demand big solutions, but we aren’t going to solve them if our country is ruled by one small group within one political party.

In an age of permanent, compounding crises, such a political culture will cost us our democracy – and our future.

But while the debate about Labour Party factionalism has continued to rage on since the publication of the Forde Report, Mr Forde has kept his counsel – until now.

He is due to make his first public appearance at 6pm on Monday 20th March at an event hosted by cross-party campaign group Compass to discuss his findings and recommendations – and where Labour finds itself today.

800+ people have already signed up to attend the event, Post-Fordeism: Party and Political culture in a perma-crisis age, which promises to be an informative discussion about the operation of the Labour Party and our wider political culture.

Martin will be joined by:

• Jennifer Nadel, Director of Compassion in Politics
•  Francesca Klug OBE, human rights academic
• Daniel Levy, President of the US/Middle East Project

The panellists will examine how the Labour Party’s factional and short-term, centralised culture stands in the way of realising lasting progressive change.

They will also reflect on our political culture, within parties and beyond them, following the publication of the Forde report.

You can sign up to attend the Compass event with Martin Forde here.

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/52637282813 Creator: Creator: Benedikt von Loebell. Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)