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CONCLUSION
This Inquiry was triggered by a series of unhappy incidents which did no credit to the Labour Party.
However, the test of a modern progressive political party should surely not be whether it has
problems, but how it chooses to address them. I was appointed by the Leader and my Terms of
Reference subsequently endorsed by the NEC. I have experienced no attempt at interference or
censorship from any quarter and have benefited from the generous and candid engagement of
hundreds of people and institutions both within the Party and from relevant minority communities
with an interest in this Report.
Seismic political developments since the beginning of the Inquiry process make the health and unity of
our Party more important than ever. This will only be possible if we live its values in the way in which
we conduct ourselves at every level. Whatever one's views on the outcome of the EU Referendum,
aspects of the ultimately successful Leave campaign and discourse leave a rather unpleasant aftertaste to those of us committed to values of equality, solidarity and internationalism in a shrinking
interconnected world. I hope that my recommendations will help Labour better lead by example, so as
to heal and unite a scarred and divided country facing a currently uncertain future.
To recap my key recommendations are as follows:
1.
Epithets such as "Paki", "Zio" and others should have no place in Labour Party discourse
going forward.
2.
Critical and abusive reference to any particular person or group based on actual or perceived
physical characteristics cannot be tolerated.
3.
Racial or religious tropes and stereotypes about any group of people should have no place in
our modern Labour Party.
4.
Labour members should resist the use of Hitler, Nazi and Holocaust metaphors, distortions
and comparisons in debates about Israel-Palestine in particular.
5.
Excuse for, denial, approval or minimisation of the Holocaust and attempts to blur
responsibility for it have no place in the Labour Party.
6.
Beliefs out-with the Labour Party's values are not to be protected when considering whether
a member has acted in a way which is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the party.
7.
The Code of Conduct approved in May 2016 should be amended so as to comprehensively
rule out all forms of prejudice, but in the light of this and the guidance in my Report, I do not
find other substantive (as opposed to procedural) rule changes to be strictly necessary.
8.
I recommend procedural rule changes (a draft is annexed to this Report) to improve the
Party's disciplinary process (as well as a wider review of the relevant provisions of the rules
and procedural guidelines in the light of those recommendations) and the adoption and
publication of a complaints procedure.
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