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Corbyn accuses Labour leadership of ‘denigrating party’s democratic foundations’

Sir Keir confirms plans to permanently block the former Labour leader from the parliamentary party

JEREMY CORBYN accused the Labour leadership of “denigrating the party’s democratic foundations” today after Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he is taking forward plans to permanently block his predecessor from the parliamentary party.

The ex-shadow Brexit secretary will propose a motion at a meeting of Labour’s national executive committee on Tuesday which stresses the Islington North MP “will not be endorsed as a Labour Party candidate at the next general election” — due next year.

The motion, expected to pass with the support of right-wingers, comes after Sir Keir, who withdrew the party whip from Mr Corbyn in 2020, claimed last month that Labour is “now unrecognisable from the one that lost in 2019.”

But in a statement today, Mr Corbyn — elected Labour MP for the north London seat on 10 consecutive occasions since 1983 — accused central office of undermining the party’s internal democracy by denying local members their right to reselect him once again. 

“Keir Starmer has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our party,” he said.

“I am proud to represent a community that supports vulnerable people, joins workers on the picket line and fights for transformative change.

“This latest move represents a leadership increasingly unwilling to offer solutions that meet the scale of the crises facing us all.

“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.”

The ex-leader also rallied Labour’s left, hit by thousands of expulsions under Sir Keir, saying: “We are not going anywhere. Neither is our determination to stand up for a better world.”

Mr Corbyn, who led Labour between 2015 and 2020, is currently sitting as an independent MP after he was suspended from the parliamentary party over his response to an Equality and Human Rights Commission report which found that Labour had broken equalities law.

A spokesperson for grassroots group Momentum “utterly condemned” today’s motion as a “venal and duplicitous act which further divides the party and insults the millions of people inspired by Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.”

It is based on a “pathetic rationale which fails to cover up the patently factional motivation,” the group added.

“Keir is doing this because he knows Jeremy would wipe the floor in any selection contest.”

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