Keir Starmer’s resolution to block Jeremy Corbyn from standing as the Labour candidate for Islington North constituency at the next general election is an attack on Party democracy and on the rights of local Labour Parties.
The right of Party members to choose their own candidates is fundamental to the democracy of the Labour Party. In 2020 Starmer said ‘local Party members should select their candidates for every election’. His about-face at the National Executive Committee in March 2023 represents an attack on the rights of all Party members and affiliates.
It is a shameful disregard of natural justice and of the wishes of the electorate of Islington North who have shown their support for their MP at successive elections over the past 40 years. The implications, however, go beyond one person and one CLP.
It should go without saying that the Party’s processes and procedures must be fair and transparent. The means by which Starmer banned Corbyn from standing as a candidate was neither.
The wording of his NEC resolution was based on the view that Corbyn is an electoral liability. If Labour leaders were to be banned from re-standing as Labour parliamentary candidates on the basis of a bad election result, then Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock, Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband and many other past leaders would have suffered a similar fate.
In reality, elections are won or lost for a number of reasons. In 2019, Brexit played a significant role in Labour’s defeat. Starmer, Shadow Brexit Secretary at the time, will undoubtedly be aware of this.
This procedure adopted for preventing Corbyn from standing takes power away from the party membership collectively to decide what they believe to be in the best interests of the Labour Party. It transfers that power to a small group of individuals to impose their subjective, and often contested, view of what Labour’s best interests are.
On the basis of such a procedure, the NEC is able to remove whomever the Party leadership may decide should go and for whatever reason. This process encourages factionalism and fosters a climate of suspicion and fear in the Party.
Opposition to removing Islington North CLP’s right to reselect Jeremy Corbyn extends beyond supporters of Corbyn. Labour CND stands with the many local Parties, individual members, and affiliates who believe this decision is wrong and profoundly dangerous.
STATEMENTS & COMMENTS
Islington North CLP Officers
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs
John McDonnell MP