Sam Matthews: Labour’s apology for antisemitism is the first step in the right direction

Just over a year ago I was joined by seven other former Labour Party staff in doing something that, in our near-century of collective service, we never imagined we would have to do. We blew the whistle on anti-Jewish racism inside the party in a now Bafta-nominated episode of Panorama, Is Labour Anti-Semitic?

Far from acknowledge the problem, the Labour Party began a vicious public campaign to destroy our reputations by ascribing malign motives to our testimony. This campaign began before anyone had even seen the programme and continued for almost a year. After the broadcast Jeremy Corbyn hid from the media for days — his lofty statements about the importance of whistleblowers applying to Julian Assange, but not to the young former staffers in