View source for Document:Labour ‘gagging orders’ put in place by McNicol – and gave hundreds of £1000s to allies

{{Document
|type=Article
|title=Labour ‘gagging orders’ put in place by McNicol – and gave hundreds of £1000s to allies
|publication_date=16 July 2019
|source_name=SKWAWKBOX
|source_URL=https://skwawkbox.org/2019/07/16/excl-labour-gagging-orders-put-in-place-by-mcnicol-and-gave-hundreds-of-1000s-to-allies
|subjects=Iain McNicol, Sam Matthews, Non-disclosure agreement, Golden handshake
|image=LFI_McNicol.jpg
|image_width=300px
|image_caption=[[Golden handshake]] for [[Iain McNicol]] & allies<ref>''[https://www.facebook.com/groups/469687696729900/permalink/890093884689277/ "Golden handshake for Iain McNicol and his anti-Corbyn allies"]''</ref>
|description=Shadow Cabinet learns ‘[[non-disclosure agreement]]s’ on disaffected ex-staff appearing on ''Panorama'' and talking to [[corporate media|media]] were authorised by former General Secretary [[Iain McNicol]] – and enriched staff (considered to be his anti-[[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]] allies) by hundreds of thousands of pounds
}}
The [[BBC]]’s highly-criticised ''Panorama'' programme last week featured a procession of former Labour ‘[[whistleblower]]s’ attacking the party – including its former General Secretary [[Iain McNicol]].<ref>''[https://skwawkbox.org/2019/07/10/excl-bbc-reveals-panorama-hatchet-job-is-embarrassingly-thin-misdirection/ "BBC reveals Panorama hatchet-job is embarrassingly thin misdirection"]''</ref>

The programme, along with the BBC’s trailers for it and most of the [[Establishment]] media after it, made much of the ‘courage’ of the former staff in breaking ‘[[non-disclosure agreement]]s’ ([[NDA]]s) to speak to ''Panorama'' – and criticised [[Labour Party|Labour]] for imposing [[NDA]]s in the first place.

But the [[SKWAWKBOX]] has learned that those [[NDA]]s were overseen by none other than [[Iain McNicol]], before his departure from his position and before current General Secretary [[Jennie Formby]] took up her duties.

And the process of signing the [[NDA]]s enriched departing staff loyal to [[Iain McNicol|McNicol]] – to the staggering tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The [[SKWAWKBOX]] understands that last week’s meeting of Labour’s Shadow Cabinet – which included deputy leader [[Tom Watson]] – was told by [[Jennie Formby|Ms Formby]] that: {{QB|She first became aware of confidentiality agreements being used when she was first appointed. Hundreds of thousands of pounds had been paid to former staff who had resigned before her arrival. When she asked why, she was told it was because they had been required to sign [[Non-disclosure agreement|settlement agreements that contained confidentiality clauses]] and that these had been in use for many years.}}

[[Jennie Formby|Ms Formby]] also informed Shadow Cabinet attendees that she asked for them to be reviewed and following advice from external solicitors new standard terms were drawn up. These new terms contained transparent confidentiality provisions and specific exceptions for protected disclosures.

[[Iain McNicol]] was contacted for comment and was also asked why he had not disclosed his involvement in the [[NDA]]s to the programme and whether he considered his failure to mention it had compromised his credibility. He had not responded by the time of publication.

[[SKWAWKBOX]] view:

The [[corporate media|media]] have made ‘Labour’s gagging orders’ a key plank in their attack on the party, as part of the innuendo that [[Labour Party|Labour]] has something to hide on the issue of [[antisemitism]] and is trying to hide it.

[[Iain McNicol|McNicol]] was involved in the suspension of thousands of [[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]]-supporting [[Labour Party|Labour]] members on spurious grounds during successive leadership contests<ref>''[https://skwawkbox.org/2016/09/24/the-numbers-labour-did-not-want-you-to-see-on-tv-this-morning-and-why/ "The numbers Labour did NOT want you to see on TV this morning – and why"]''</ref> and was a key witness in last week’s ''Panorama''.

The news that [[NDA]]s involving and enriching departing right-wing staff were overseen by the right-wing General Secretary whose own departure was the trigger for those right-wing staff members to leave – should be a bombshell.

That those same [[corporate media|media]] have failed to mention it in their coverage is a major scandal.

[[Brian Bostock]] commented:

It appears the ''Panorama'' programme doing a hatchet job on [[Jeremy Corbyn]] and [[Jennie Formby]] is unwinding even more. The programme made a big thing of [[NDA]]s (Non-disclosure agreements) that the ex-Labour employees were supposedly ‘forced’ to sign before leaving. I must admit this seemed strange to me at the time the programme aired because [[NDA]]s are normally signed BEFORE employment starts (and would a condition of employment when used) and there would be nothing to stop an employee refusing to sign just before leaving. So I wondered why they DID sign.

It now appears these ex-employees were paid hundreds of thousands to ‘sign’ these [[NDA]]s (not mentioned in the programme), and this was arranged by the previous General Secretary [[Iain McNicol]] who also appeared on the programme. Yes, [[Jennie Formby]] was NOT involved in these [[NDA]]s and it appears they were a means of giving these anti-[[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]] employees (like [[Iain McNicol|McNicol]] himself) a ‘[[golden handshake]]’. 

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