2 Years Ago I Sued Dartford Councillor Josh Jones for Slander for Accusing Me of Being a Holocaust Denier – I Lost on a Legal Technicality – However Jones was Landed With £20,000 Costs!
Today Jones Claims He Was the Victim & Suffered Depression as a Result – the Evidence Shows That Not Only Is He a Liar But That He Obtained Money by Deception
Knowing how sensitive readers of this blog are, I recommend that before you read any further that you have a box of paper tissues handy.
Earlier this week my attention was drawn to an article in the Weekly Liar about an action for slander that I brought against ex-councillor Josh Jones of Dartford Labour Party.
According to the Weekly Liar I brought a bogus legal action against Jones alleging that he had called me a holocaust denier. Despite JJ denying my accusations I nonetheless proceeded with my claim forcing him to hire expensive lawyers, Peter Carter-F*** of Private Eye fame. When the High Court came to examine my allegations they threw them out and awarded Jones £20,000 costs.
As my courts costs were zero, being on benefits, I suffered no financial loss whereas Jones was let footing the bill. It is, as you will appreciate, a tale of wickedness and malice on my part. I picked on an innocent man who only wanted to do his bit fighting anti-Semitism.
As a result Jones became depressed at having to spend his entire savings defending his reputation. According to the Weekly Liar my actions had ‘a significant impact on his mental health and forced him to delay his dream of buying a house.’ At this point you are probably reaching for those tissues as this is nothing if not a morality tale.
However this story has a happy ending. After having suffered in silence for over a year, afraid of bringing his plight to my attention, Jones launched a crowdfunder. Helped along by an article Fury over £20k bill after failed Greenstein lawsuit Jones crowdfunder reached its £20K target in 4 days. His savings are now safe thanks to the gullibility of British Zionists!
It is noticeable that the main donor is ‘anonymous’. Most donors being too ashamed to give their names. The largest donor, Sir Trevor Chinn, who funds Labour Friends of Israel and other Zionist causes, was not so shy. He gave £1K. Chinn has previously given £50K to Starmer’s leadership campaign.
So is it true that I harassed and nearly bankrupted an innocent man? Should I hang my head in shame and forever shun polite company? Or is Josh Jones a liar, a conman and a fraud?
The evidence below makes it quite clear that JJ is all of those things and more. He is now employed by John Lewis. They might like to consider whether employing a fraudster, who has obtained via his crowdfunder money by deception, is a fit and honest person.
What happened in Dartford LP on Friday 27 April 2018?
A motion was brought by the Labour Group to Dartford General Committee that the racist Jewish Labour Movement should be asked to conduct ‘anti-Semitism’ training. Which was like asking Tommy Robinson to give a talk on the fight against Islamaphobia or the late Harold Shipman giving a lecture on how to care for the elderly!
The last time I made the front page of the Weekly Liar was some 14 years ago when I successfully proposed to UNISON’s conference that it should adopt BDS. This was the pre-Stephen Pollard era when the Jewish Chronicle was still a newspaper as opposed to a propaganda rag. Its reporter, Bernard Josephs, came up to congratulate me on what he termed my excellent speech.
However Bernard was a journalist of the old school who had this annoying habit of ringing you up before writing a story about you. Under the Stephen Pollard, a friend of fascists and anti-Semites everywhere (as long as they are Zionists) such quaint habits have long since died a death.
The motion from the Labour Group was amended by Paul Field to add Jewish Voices for Labour and the Jewish Socialist Group to those who should be invited to help train people in anti-Semitism.
My own view is that this ‘anti-Semitism training’ is a complete nonsense. If you don’t know what anti-Semitism is then you should consult the OED – ‘hostility to or prejudice against Jews.’ You don’t need to define racism to fight it. Those who want to define anti-Semitism have a hidden agenda – conflating anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism. That is the purpose of the IHRA.
Replying to Paul JJ opposed the amendment because the JLM didn’t contain holocaust deniers. The implication was that JVL did contain holocaust deniers. The meeting then voted to reject the Councillors’ motion in favour of Paul’s amendment. Paul then got up to say that he hoped JJ was not implying that JVL contained holocaust deniers.
It was at this point that Jones got up to directly allege that both Tony Greenstein and Alan Bull were holocaust deniers and members of JVL. In fact neither Alan nor myself are members of JVL. Nor are we holocaust deniers.
What is the truth?
Whoever took the minutes excised Jones’ naming of Tony Greenstein and Alan Bull. A subsequent meeting failed to amend them for the sake of accuracy. However the minutes nonetheless confirm that Josh Jones did make the comments about holocaust deniers. They quote Paul Field as saying:
Paul Field believes that Josh Jones earlier comments regarding holocaust deniers not being part of the membership of the JLM is slanderous as it infers that there are such deniers in other groups, such as the JSG.
The minutes then go on to quote Josh Jones:
He (Josh Jones) states that only the JLM is affiliated to the Labour Party, is the only group without holocaust deniers.’ (my emphasis)
It is clear beyond doubt that JJ was making an allegation that Jewish anti-Zionists were holocaust deniers, contrary to all his protestations.
Paul emailed me after seeing the Jewish Chronicle article to say:
The perpetrator presenting himself as victim again! 8 of us signed witness statements (including the then Chair of the Party) saying we heard Jones call Tony a holocaust denier. He managed to get that struck from the minutes but the fact that Jones also said JVL should not be asked to talk to members because it ‘harboured holocaust deniers’ was not removed. It prompted JVL to complain that this was grossly offensive and that many of its members had relatives who died in the holocaust.
In fact there were 9 not 8 independent witnesses. Graphical extracts from their statements are below. All names have been removed.
The statement of the Chair encapsulated what happened:
1. At the start of the meeting Steve Nunn, Chair of Dartford Labour Party, stepped down from the Chair because he wished to contribute to the debate….
2. When Paul Field’s amendment inviting Jewish Socialist Group and Jewish Voice for Labour as well as Jewish Labour Movement to a future meeting came up for discussion, Councillor Joshua Jones spoke against extending the invitation beyond the JLM which he said was the only group which is formally affiliated to the Labour Party and does not contain holocaust deniers.
3. Paul Field then spoke, and said he hoped that Joshua Jones’ earlier comment regarding Holocaust deniers not being part of the membership of the JLM was not intended to infer that holocaust deniers are among the membership of JVL and Jewish Socialist Group as it would be offensive and defamatory for him to suggest that they were.
4. Joshua Jones, then replied directly to Paul Field in the debate, saying JVL contains “holocaust deniers such as Alan Ball and Tony Greenstein.” Paul Field objected that his comments were defamatory and said “I hope you have a good lawyer”….
6 On 20 May 2018, I emailed Paul Field supporting his amendment to April minutes as as a true and accurate account of what was said in the meeting. A Copy of Mr Field’s amended minutes are at Exhibit One and a copy of my email to Mr Field is at Exhibit Two of this statement.
Jewish Voice for Labour Complaint
Not only was I defamed by JJ but Jewish Voices for Labour too were accused by this pathetic liar who parades himself as a ‘victim’, of being holocaust deniers. JJ personifies the fake Labour ‘anti-Semitism’ allegations of the Labour Right. The bigger the lie, the more they play victim. Except that in this case I didn’t let the lie pass quietly by.
JVL also submitted a complaint to Dartford Labour Party complaining about JJ. However the party chose to do nothing about what was an anti-Semitic attack. It is difficult to think of anything more disgusting than calling Jewish people holocaust deniers. But that is the irony. Non-Jewish supporters of Zionism, like Trump and Orban, are usually anti-Semites just as some of the most ardent Evangelical opponents of gay rights in the United States turn out to be gay!
Starmer’s Racism May Rebound in Batley & Spen
Today we are seeing Keir Starmer, who promised to ‘root out anti-Semitism’ in the Labour Party on the brink of losing Batley and Spen by-election as Muslim voters turn against Labour for its Islamaphobic and anti-Palestinian stance. Starmer’s war against anti-racism and anti-Zionism have proved disastrous. In his efforts to cuddle up to the British Establishment he has failed to lay a punch on Boris Johnson despite the COVID disaster.
This is where the poisonous politics of Blair, Mandelson and Starmer are leading. In the Chesham and Amersham by-election last Thursday, according to the BBC ‘Labour had the worst by-election result in the party’s history, with 622 votes’ and 1.6% vote. At the 2019 election Labour was in 3rd place with 7,166 votes and 12.9% of the vote. And that was after two years or right-wing sabotage. In 2017, Labour gained second place with 11,374 votes and 20.6%.
As I pointed out in the middle of the attacks on Corbyn, attacks which he failed to stand up to, the Labour Right has nothing to say and nothing to offer. It is in danger of going the way of much of European social democracy. That is why the refusal of the Campaign Group and Momentum to call for Starmer’s resignation is so pathetic and cowardly.
What Happened Next?
I immediately sent (28 April 2018) what is known as a pre-action letter to JJ threatening him with legal action unless he apologised and withdrew his comments. On 13 May 2018 JJ sent me what can only be described as a pathetic reply blaming everything on Paul Field!
I therefore decided that I would sue him. As I was also involved in litigation with the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism I had little spare time and it was not until 25th April 2019, two days before the time limit expired, that I issued my claim form. I was fortunate in securing the services of an excellent pro-bono barrister Carol Addy.
Although leaving it to the last minute was not deliberate, the arrival of my claim must have been a shock to Jones who thought he had got away with it and that I was bluffing!
Immediately Jones solicitors applied to strike out my application as having no reasonable prospects of success. The 3 grounds were particularised in their skeleton argument.
3.1. C is unable to particularise the words complained of with the precision necessary to found a successful slander claim and, even if amendment is permitted, C will remain in a position where he is unable to prove the actual words spoken.
3.2. The words that C complains of in these proceedings are not words that are actionable without proof of special damage, and C has put no evidence forward throughout this litigation to evidence such damage.
3.3. C’s position (both pleaded and actual) on serious harm to reputation is such that C is unable to fulfil the “serious harm” requirement as set out in section 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013.
Although Jones application failed on the 1st and 3rd grounds he succeeded on the 2nd. For slander to succeed it must constitute ‘the commission of a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment’.
Jones legal team then applied for £27K costs but because they had failed on 2 of the 3 grounds this was cut by Master Eastman to £20K.
Suffice to say that when his solicitors wrote to me asking for a cheque I pleaded poverty. Even if I had had the money wild horses would not have persuaded me to cough up a penny!
According to the Weekly Liar Jones claimed he had suffered from stress, anxiety and depression:
The stressed caused by Mr Greenstein taking him to court meant he needed to take time off work due to anxiety and depression.
“It got so bad at one point I was put on medication. I was having to use all my savings to defend myself, I closed down my ISA and I was living pay cheque to pay cheque,” Mr Jones said.
“Nothing like that has ever happened to me.”….
“I suppose it was just old fashioned standing up to bullies. The whole experience has been an education for me and I’ve learnt .. about antisemitism and how it manifests itself.”
Mr Jones, who now works for John Lewis in their head office, was reluctant to go public about his case or ask for help at the beginning because he didn’t want to draw attention to Mr Greenstein.
I have no knowledge as to whether JJ did indeed suffer depression. Given his record of lying I wouldn’t believe anything he says. But even if he did then that is nothing compared to the suffering of the people in Palestine whose torment JJ was defending.
False allegations of ‘anti-Semitism’ have but one purpose. To deflect support from the victims of Israeli Apartheid to bogus accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’.
As for the suggestion that JJ was ‘standing up to bullying’ I can only suggest that he consults a dictionary. Responding to false allegations is not evidence of bullying.
As for his having ‘learnt .. about antisemitism and how it manifests itself’ this unstable narcissist has clearly learnt nothing at all if he thinks making false accusations of anti-Semitism against Jews is combatting anti-Semitism.
I have also sent a letter to the Jewish Chronicle but since they don’t print letters from anti-Zionists I let it expand to 800 words as I told a few home truths to its editor Stephen Pollard!
Tony Greenstein
Redacted Witness Statements
Witness 1
Witness 2
Witness 3
Witness 4
Witness 5
Witness 6
Witness 7
Witness 8
Witness 9
Witness 10
