The Telegraph and Ian Austin (the former Labour MP and now member of the House of Lords) have today provided a full and unreserved apology to Laura Murray before Mr Justice Saini in the High Court in London, following Ms Murray’s successful claim in libel.
Dominic Garner of Carter-Ruck, on behalf of Ms Murray, told the Court that the claim arose from the publication, in December 2021, of an article written by Ian Austin which alleged, entirely falsely, that Ms Murray was an anti-Jewish racist and part of what the article described as the “vile anti-semitism of [Jeremy] Corbyn’s Labour”.
As the Telegraph and Mr Austin have confirmed in the High Court today, these allegations were entirely untrue. In fact – and as the Defendants have also recognised – during her time as Stakeholder Manager to the Leader of the Opposition, then as Head of Complaints, Ms Murray worked tirelessly to address issues of anti-Semitism and foster good relations with the Jewish community.
The statement in the High Court explained that the distress caused by these “false and extremely serious” allegations was rendered all the more acute because Ms Murray has “devoted so much of her working life to combating such prejudice and seeking to build bridges between communities”.
This follows on from the publication of full apologies on the Telegraph website and Twitter. Ms Murray has also received £40,000 in damages, as well as her legal fees.
Commenting after the statement in the High Court today, Laura Murray said:
“I’m glad the Telegraph and Ian Austin have admitted in court that these allegations against me are entirely untrue and have acknowledged my efforts to try to tackle antisemitism and to stand in solidarity with Jewish communities. The fact that they were published at all by a UK newspaper and by a member of the House of Lords is extremely troubling.”
Laura Murray is represented by and .