I intend to sue the party for “mental health defamation”

A suspended Labor MP is set to sue the party for discrimination, claiming he was the victim of a coordinated smear campaign targeting his mental health.

Karl Turner, who rebelled against Keir Starmer’s government in jury trials, alleges senior party figures used his history of struggles with mental health as a weapon to undermine his political position.

The former shadow attorney general claims he raised the issue directly on several occasions with the Prime Minister, who he says never responded.

His legal threat reveals a deep internal divide within the Labor Party and highlights the often toxic culture at Westminster between MPs and their party whips who are responsible for keeping them in line.

The dispute was publicly revealed in the House of Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

Turner, who was suspended in late March over his opposition to plans to restrict jury trials, publicly challenged Starmer over “hostile briefings and smears”.

He accused the prime minister of knowing about negative briefings and “enabling them” at a time when he was campaigning against government plans.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Turner, the MP for Hull East, said: “Has the Prime Minister thought about these hostile and discriminatory briefings, which he was aware of and allowed to take place?

Starmer responded: “I want to be absolutely clear that no one should be vilified when it comes to mental health… And I will do everything I can to ensure that that is the position.” »

Cabinet dragged into row

In an interview with The paper iTurner tells the full story of this extraordinary exchange with the Prime Minister, including how he spent nine days in a psychiatric hospital in 2016 after his nephew Matty, a young lawyer, committed suicide, and how other Cabinet members were drawn into the conflict.

According to Turner, the first indication that his mental health was in question came in the fall of last year when he attended a meeting with Jonathan Reynolds, the chief whip. Shortly afterwards, Turner had first expressed opposition to David Lammy’s plans to reduce jury trials for all but the most serious cases.

“The chief whip told me he was worried about my mental illness…and I turned around and told him to fuck off. I told him that the fact that I’m opposed to reducing jury trials doesn’t mean I’m mentally ill, it just means I have principles.”

At the time, Turner thought nothing of it, but in the days and weeks that followed, he says he was approached by several MPs, senior party officials and journalists inquiring about his mental health.

“A deputy came up to me and said, ‘Are you okay, honey? I’m worried about you.’ I asked them what they meant and they said, ‘Well, I was told you’re not okay.’

Turner claims that during this period he repeatedly raised the issue directly with the Prime Minister in text messages. In one message, he said he asked how the party could attack Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, for issuing a statement referring to Suella Braverman’s mental health, when the party was making similar claims privately about Turner’s mental health.

“I told him we can’t attack Kemi Badenoch for a briefing on Suella’s mental health when that’s what’s happening to me,” Turner said.

He claims to have never received a response.

Turner asked the Chief Whip to help stop the briefings against him.

In January, Turner sent his first legal letter to the chief whip, which was copied to the Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet. In it he demanded that the briefings against him, particularly any implied assertions or suggestions regarding failing mental health, cease. He also reminded her of the risks of discrimination based on mental health.

Several Cabinet ministers responded to him to offer their support for Turner, but he said that did not include the Prime Minister.

Turner is particularly saddened by his silence on this matter.

“Keir and I had conversations over the years about Matty, criminal law and the pressures on criminal lawyers, particularly young criminal lawyers… and he was incredibly friendly. »

Turner, who still sees a therapist, speaks openly about the struggles he faces with his mental health.

He claims to have had two “breakdowns” – the first almost 10 years ago after the death of Matty – the nephew he had raised as his own son.

When Turner’s older brother died, Matty was 11 years old. He took him in at age 12 and encouraged him to go into law. Turner watched with pride as he qualified as a lawyer and practiced in London, where Matty lived with him.

Two weeks after leaving Turner’s apartment in 2016, Matty took his own life. Turner said his grief quickly dissipated and he sought hospital treatment, although he was never sectioned.

The second episode occurred last year, early 2025, when he was affected by family stress. But this time he was not hospitalized.

“I spent five hours at King’s Cross station because I couldn’t get the tube between King’s Cross and Parliament,” he explains. Turner said he was suffering from suicidal thoughts at the time.

Although his friends say they are still worried about Turner, he flatly rejects claims that he still isn’t feeling well.

Turner said all he wanted initially was an apology for the way some leaders in his party had treated him, but he is now determined to go further. Her lawyer told her her discrimination claim under Section 50 of the Equality Act could be worth £90,000. If he wins it, he claims, every penny will go to Dove House, the hospice in Hull and East Yorkshire where his father died.

It is understood no evidence has been provided to the government whips’ office to support Turner’s allegations, despite requests, and Labor has yet to receive a pre-action letter. It was also reported to the party’s official complaints process. The whips offered their support on several occasions.

Mental health ‘should not be used as a weapon in politics’

The deeper goal, Turner says, is to prevent mental health from being used as a weapon in politics. He says he does it “not for me, but for others” who suffer silently in public life. He says he is aware of the irony that the so-called briefings took place throughout Mental Health Awareness Week, even as leaders were speaking publicly about the importance of wellbeing.

Ask him how he felt, and the answer isn’t what you’d expect from a man considering legal action. “Not angry,” he said. “Sad. Really, really sad.”

He still believes in the Labor Party as “a means to gain” power for the people it represents. But not, he says, under its current leader. “Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, tragically, this will never happen, because he is the one who has blocked all the transparency needed” to fix it.

On Wednesday – under the protection of parliamentary privilege – Turner said publicly what he had spent months saying in private and took the question of the smear campaign he said was being waged against him directly to the prime minister, where, he said, it could not be denied.

But even that didn’t end the matter. As Turner walked past the bench before Prime Minister’s Questions ended, the chief whip reportedly shouted: “That was disgraceful.” »

The Justice Secretary then stepped between the two men before Turner left the room.

Following the dramatic exchange, Turner tweeted a message he had received from the chief whip.

It read: “As this is my personal number, I would like to make it clear that you are never allowed to contact me regarding this matter again. If you violate this, please note that I will block your number.”

Number 10 and the whips office declined to comment.