The former Labor leader was told last year he had to apologize for his claims that the extent of anti-Semitism in the party was “dramatically overstated”. Keir Starmer has refused to restore the whip to his predecessor, effectively excluding him from the parliamentary party unless he does so. However, the Guardian understands that even if Corbyn apologizes “unequivocally, clearly and unreservedly”, the leadership would be reluctant to let him return. A senior Labor official said: “Jeremy Corbyn will never come back. It would be toxic to our chances of winning back some of the seats we need to win again.” It means that if Corbyn wants to remain an MP, he will have to stand as an independent in his seat of Islington North. Allies of the former Labor leader have signaled he will run for the seat regardless of whether the whip is restored. One said locals in his north London seat respected him for his work in the constituency. Another ally said Corbyn appeared to be the only one who had not “fully realised” that he would not be restoring the whip. Reflecting on Starmer’s recent purge of left-wing candidates from the selection battles, one insider said Corbyn had no chance as Starmer used the whip as his “personal game”. Corbyn won the seat with 63.4% of the vote in 2019, an overwhelming majority of 26,188. Sources close to Corbyn’s camp believe he has a strong base of support. Labor leaders are said to be looking for a strong candidate in the constituency, which Corbyn has held since 1983. “The local party is likely to be difficult and the campaign will be very tough if Jeremy is an independent,” a source said. . “But we believe we will win. We would have many volunteers and there would be no shortage of money for a campaign.” If Corbyn decides to stand at the next election as an independent, it would create a potentially existential dilemma for Momentum, the left-wing grassroots group that emerged from Corbyn’s leadership campaign, which has become a lobby group for the Labor left and its most vocal critic of Starmer’s leadership. Senior Labor sources have made it clear that if Momentum campaigned for Corbyn, it would be banned as an organization from Labor – similar to how militants or other left-wing groups who challenged Labor MPs were dealt with. Neil Lawson, the director of cross-party campaign group Compass, has written to Labor general secretary David Evans criticizing Labour’s “heavy-handed approach” to the election. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “Dramatically narrowing the range of candidates eligible for selection on increasingly spurious grounds will not help Labor win office or transform the country,” he said. In the latest series of contentious election battles, Labor dissolved the Kensington select committee over alleged leaks and because the regional party was to launch a “serious inquiry” into anti-Semitism. The party chose three candidates: Mete Coban, Joe Powell and Afsana Lachaux, a former aide to Gordon Brown. Leftist candidate Qasim Ali was excluded from the list. One source slammed the move as “another blatant stitch-up” with the central party “disenfranchising the democratically constituted local body” to thwart the left. Former constituency MP Emma Dent Coad was dropped from her longlist. He claimed it was “clear” the party was suffering “factional abuse” and was no longer “fit for purpose”. Lawson added: “In one case a former Tory MP who defected to the Labor Party [Christian Wakeford] it has rippled throughout the activation process without any local democratic decision-making. The motivation for this is… one side wants to get all the power and influence and stifle dissent.” Breaking down the battle between Labor factions, he said: “The zero-sum game between the right and the left … is now reaching dangerous levels and a price will be paid by the country.” One insider hit out at Labour’s decision to choose Wakeford to stand in Bury South, arguing the MP had made a bold decision to cross the floor. Another said Wakeford would like the chance to face local members.
