Labour war over Corbyn: ex-leader may STILL make party election bid

Posted on 02/16/2023

Labour war over Jeremy Corbyn: disgraced ex-leader could STILL try to stand for party at the next election despite being blocked by Keir Starmer as his union and hard Left allies demand he is allowed back in despite ‘stain of anti-Semitism’

Jeremy Corbyn is set to force an election showdown with Labour over a decision to block him from running for the party.

The ostracised former leader reacted with fury after successor Sir Keir Starmer said he would not be allowed to be a Labour candidate at the next election due to the legacy of anti-Semitism during huis tenure.

The veteran hard-left icon is said to be considering applying to be the party candidate in Islington North – where he has been MP for 40 years – anyway, effectively daring the leadership to block him.

It came as his outriders including MP Diane Abbott and the Unite union went on the attack against Sir Keir and party moderates.

But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper hit back this morning, telling Sky News the new leader had had to clean up ‘an awful stain of anti-Semitism in our party’ left by Corbyn.

Jeremy Corbyn hit back at Sir Keir Starmer in a furious statement posted to his Twitter account this evening

It came as his outriders including MP Diane Abbott and the Unite union went on the attack against Sir Keir and party moderates.

Mr Corbyn, who is still lauded by many on the Left, condemned his successor’s decision as a ‘divisive distraction’ from Labour’s goal of removing the Tories from power.

He also insisted it was up to local Labour members – and not party bosses – who should be their parliamentary candidate at the next election.

The 73-year-old has been MP for Islington North since 1983 but had the Labour whip stripped from him by Sir Keir in 2020 as part of a row over the party’s past handling of anti-Semitism claims.

As a Labour member he is able to apply to be the party candidate in Islington North, but his previous remarks would face a due diligence test over whether they can be ‘used in a detrimental manner by the media and/or our political opponents’.

Ms Cooper backed Sir Keir Starmer’s decision, saying the status of the former leader’s party membership was a ‘matter for normal processes’.

The shadow home secretary told Sky News: ‘Keir Starmer has been very clear that he will not stand as a Labour candidate for the next election. There’s a separate process around party membership.

‘There are obviously different standards for people who stand to be Members of Parliament and rightly so.

‘We should have proper standards in place for someone who’s going to become an MP and that’s what the issue has been.

‘Because Keir’s made really clear, we had an awful stain of anti-Semitism in our party. He’s turned that round.’

Asked if Mr Corbyn should be allowed to stay in the Labour Party, she said: ‘Membership of the party, that’s just a matter for normal processes so it’s a different set of standards. It’s not a matter for me.’

Diane Abbott, who was shadow home secretary during Jeremy Corbyn’s spell as Labour leader, defied current party boss Sir Keir Starmer

Last night Ms Abbott, who was shadow home secretary during Mr Corbyn’s spell as Labour leader, claimed he had ‘no intention’ of standing as an independent at the next election despite him being rejected as an official Labour candidate.

She stressed it should be up to local Labour members in the left-winger’s Islington North constituency whether they want him as their parliamentary candidate.

‘Jeremy is a member of the Labour Party, and therefore it should be a matter for local party members to decide whether they want him to be their candidate or not,’ Ms Abbott told the News Agents podcast.

The Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington also revealed that Mr Corbyn was a Brexiteer ‘in his heart of hearts’ as she suggested that was the only point of contention between him and Sir Keir when they worked together while he was leader.

Sir Keir served as Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary for three-and-a-half years under Mr Corbyn’s leadership and campaigned for him to become prime minister at the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

But, after replacing Mr Corbyn as Labour leader, Sir Keir stripped his predecessor of the Labour whip in 2020.

It followed Mr Corbyn’s response to a highly critical report of Labour’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations during his leadership.

‘They had a perfectly good relationship as far I knew, a perfectly friendly relationship,’ Ms Abbott said of Mr Corbyn and Sir Keir’s relationship prior to that.

‘The only thing that they differed on was that Jeremy, in his heart of hearts is a Brexiter and Keir Starmer at that point, was passionately pro-European.’

But Ms Abbott added that Mr Corbyn – to whom she was once romantically linked – ‘would have voted Remain’ at the 2016 EU referendum ‘because that was the policy of the party’.

Asked if Mr Corbyn would stand as an independent in his Islington North seat after being blocked from standing as a Labour candidate by Sir Keir, she added: ‘No, no.

‘Jeremy has been a member of the Labour Party from before either of you were alive… He has no intention of standing as an independent.’

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