Ex-IDF soldier resigns from Labour Together board

Last month, I uncovered excerpts from the “IDF diary” of Jonathan Kestenbaum, the former Israeli soldier and current Labour peer who was serving as a board member of Labour Together. But on May 18th, according to Companies House, Kestenbaum resigned as a director of the disgraced think tank.

Labour Together rebrands

The organisation has desperately been trying to rebrand this month. It has adopted a different name, “ThinkLabour”, and brand new website.

Alison Phillips, the organisation’s CEO, told journalist Peter Geoghehan yesterday:

ThinkLabour is a very different organisation today compared to Labour Together then and what was done does not reflect and represent what we stand for and how we operate today under my leadership.

However, ThinkLabour has the same company number as Labour Together Limited, still registered as operating on Companies House. Alongside Alison Philips, the active directors are registered as Mike Craven, appointed in March 2024, and new addition Nicholas Forbes, appointed on May 12th.

Kestenbaum’s diary

Although the relaunch was announced on May 14th, with ThinkLabour promising to be “a unique political organisation dedicated to helping Labour govern confidently”, Kestenbaum remained a director until the beginning of the following week.

In Kestenbaum’s written account of his Israeli military service, he describes:

chasing a nine-year-old boy who broke a 30-day curfew to try to retrieve bread from a gutter.

And:

rounding up a group of elderly Palestinians who slipped into a field at night to pick a bucket of tomatoes.

In one anecdote, he remembers detaining a group of teenage Palestinians and then being asked by another officer:

How many dogs have you brought?

Kestenbaum writes:

Once the man opposite you is a dog, anything goes.

In his diary, he refers to the Israeli state as “our country”, and a 1988 article in the international edition of the Jerusalem Post reports that Kestenbaum had “settled in Israel three years ago”. On Companies House, however, Kestenbaum’s nationality is listed solely as British. He now joins a long list of former Labour Together directors that includes Trevor Chinn, Morgan McSweeney, Josh Simons, although his positions at Five Arrows Limited and the JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust are still extant.

Support from Ed Miliband and LFI

In 2010, Kestenbaum was nominated by the Labour Party hierarchy to the House of Lords. Ed Miliband, Labour leader at the time, is one of those reported to be eyeing Keir Starmer’s position, particularly if Andy Burnham loses the Makerfield by-election.

Like Starmer, Miliband is a long-time supporter of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI). At the lobby group’s 2011 annual lunch, Miliband declared:

I’m grateful to Israel, I respect Israel, I admire Israel and that is why I’m proud to be here to be [as] part of Labour Friends of Israel…

Under my leadership, I will ensure that the Labour Party remains a strong and steadfast friend of Israel.

Josh Simons

Labour Together has long been tainted by Morgan McSweeney’s concealing of over £730,000 in donations whilst serving as director, using the organisation as a vehicle to propel Starmer into power, but the think tank’s downfall has been accelerated by revelations that former director Josh Simons set private investigators on journalists reporting on McSweeney’s actions.

Geoghehan’s report yesterday revealed that McSweeney and Paul Ovenden, Starmer’s former head of communications, were told about Labour Together’s infamous “investigation” two years ago.

Simons has now resigned his parliamentary seat in order for Labour “saviour” Andy Burnham to have a clear run at Starmer. In the past, Simons has received donations from Mike Craven, a former press officer to Tony Blair and the second current Labour Together Limited director.

All the same cronies

Upon their launch, ThinkLabour said:

this is much more than a new logo or a change of name.

But on Companies House – for now, at least – they are still Labour Together Limited, with Simons, McSweeney, et al. amongst their alumni.

Featured image via the Devon Daily