Former MP Ian Austin apologises as £40k damages paid over false anti-semitism claim
A former Black Country MP has apologised to an ex-aide of Jeremy Corbyn over a newspaper column in which he branded her an anti-semitic racist.
Former Dudley North MP Ian Austin, now Lord Austin, issued the apology to Laura Murray over an article he wrote in the Daily Telegraph on December 23 last year.
The newspaper has also agreed to pay £40,000 to Miss Murray.
In the article, former Labour MP Lord Austin – who quit the party alleging sections of it had become anti-semitic – described Miss Murray as an “anti-Jewish racist” and part of the “vile anti-Semitism of Corbyn’s Labour”.
His comments followed another court case where Miss Murray was successfully sued by Countdown presenter Rachel Riley.
In an apology published in the Telegraph, the newspaper acknowledged that Lord Austin's comments about Miss Murray were and remain untrue.
"We accept that there was and is no basis to suggest that Ms Murray is anti-Semitic," the statement said.
"On the contrary; the court heard in unchallenged evidence that Ms Murray devoted significant time and energy to confronting and challenging antisemitism within the Labour Party whilst she was employed there. The Telegraph and Ian Austin apologise to Ms Murray. We have agreed to pay her substantial damages."
Lord Austin, a former aide to Gordon Brown and a key figure during the New Labour era, was first elected as Labour MP for Dudley North in 2005 before quitting the party in 2019 in protest at alleged anti-semitism during the Corbyn leadership.
He did not contest the 2019 General Election, but urged people to vote Conservative and now sits as an independent peer.
He sat on Dudley Council as a Labour member for Coseley East from 1991 to 1995, before taking up a post as the party's regional press officer for the West Midlands.
