NASUWT agrees to pay £65k costs after pro-Israel smear campaign against left-wing general sec

Union settles case with would-be candidate represented by pro-Israel law firm after smears of left-winger appointed as GS

As Skwawkbox reported over the past few days, the NASUWT teaching union has called a new general secretary election, despite having appointed left-winger Matt Wrack last week, after a concerted and apparently coordinated smear campaign against Wrack by Israel-linked pressure groups and the right-wing and centrist press for his support for Jeremy Corbyn against the antisemitism smear campaign mounted against him as Labour leader, and for calling out and opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The smear campaign and u-turn took place as Neil Butler, NAUWT’s Welsh regional secretary and the husband of its former president, went to court for an injunction against Wrack’s appointment – a demand that the NASUWT has now settled by calling the election and by paying £65,000 toward Butler’s legal costs.

Butler was represented in his legal action by Mishcon de Reya, the Israel-supporting London law firm that was forced to pay a record fine for ‘serious breaches’ of money laundering rules and which has been accused by the family of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia of trying to ruin her financially.

Mishcon de Reya also advised, for free, pro-Israel groups trying to remove Professor David Miller, a critic of Israel, from his post at Bristol University. Miller was twice found by lawyers investigating his teaching comments on behalf of the university to have said nothing antisemitic, yet was sacked anyway and later won a landmark legal action against Bristol University for unfair dismissal in a ruling that anti-Zionist views are protected political speech.

NASUWT had appointed Wrack after telling Butler that he was not eligible to stand for the position as a non-member. Who was funding his original case and whether the court award covers his full costs is not yet clear. The union is expected to announce a schedule for the general secretary election shortly and has said that nominations received by would-be candidates in the previous election period can still stand if nominating groups wish to retain them.

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