Mail Online

Corbyn v Starmer ... now it’s personal

Banned Left-winger vows to run against Labour Party

By Kumail Jaffer Political Reporter

LABOur was plunged into fresh turmoil last night with former leader Jeremy Corbyn set to stand against the party at the next election.

The veteran Left-winger was said by friends to have decided to run as an independent after Sir Keir Starmer moved to block him from being an official Labour candidate.

Sir Keir will today ask the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) to approve a ban on his predecessor.

But Mr Corbyn and his Left-wing supporters accused the Labour leader of ‘ denigrating the democratic foundations of our party’. Corbynite group Momentum described Sir Keir as being ‘drunk on his own power’.

Friends of Mr Corbyn said the clash between the two men had ‘become personal’ and that the 73-year-old would announce next week that he will contest as an independent the Islington North seat he has held since 1983.

One ally told The Times: ‘ The debate is over. He will stand.’ Mr Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party in 2020 after he suggested the scale of anti-Semitism within the party under his leadership was ‘overstated’.

He was subsequently readmitted but was refused the party whip in the Commons, meaning he sits as an independent MP.

Last month Sir Keir, who was a senior member of Mr Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet, vowed his predecessor ‘will not stand at the next general election as a Labour Party candidate’. The NEC – made up of MPs, trade unionists, councillors and party members – will vote today on Sir Keir’s motion to block him.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Corbyn – who led Labour to a record defeat at the 2019 election – said: ‘Our message is clear: we are not going anywhere. Keir Starmer has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our party. ‘As the Government plunges millions into poverty and demonises refugees, Keir Starmer has focused his opposition on those demanding a more progressive and humane alternative.’

Momentum said: ‘We utterly condemn this venal and duplicitous act from Keir Starmer, which further divides the Labour Party and insults the millions of people inspired by Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.’

Apsana Begum, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, called the vote ‘disturbing’ adding: ‘What’s happening is against the democratic will of local party members. It’s unprecedented and unjust.’

Corbyn ally Diane Abbott quoted Sir Keir’s words from the party leadership election in 2020, when he called the former leader a ‘friend as well as a colleague’.

Sir Keir’s motion argues ‘it is not in the best interests of the Labour Party for it to endorse Mr Corbyn as a Labour Party candidate’ and to do so would ‘significantly diminish’ its election chances.

Tory chairman Greg Hands commented: ‘Three years ago, Sir Keir was trying to foist Corbyn on the whole country as prime minister.’

COMMENT

en-gb

2023-03-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/281797108249626

dmg media (UK)