Jeremy Corbyn blocked from running as a UK Labour candidate ahead of next election

London: Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing British Labour MP who led the party to two election losses in the past decade, has been banned by his colleagues from standing as a candidate at the next election.

The move, put forward by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and approved by the party’s national executive, 22 to 12, on Tuesday, now risks plunging the opposition back into the vicious factional disputes which became a hallmark of his five years in charge.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been blocked from contesting the next election as a party candidate.Credit:Getty

Corbyn, who served as leader from 2015 to 2020, has sat as an independent MP for Islington North since October 2020 after he was suspended from Labour following his reaction to a UK equalities watchdog probe into antisemitism within the party. It identified “serious failings in leadership” under Corbyn and “an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints”.

Corbyn was sacked from the parliamentary Labour Party for later saying the scale of the party’s antisemitism problem had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons” during the inquiry.

First elected to UK parliament 40 years ago, the 73-year-old accused Starmer of breaking his commitment to Labour members and denigrating the “democratic foundations of our party”.

Keir Starmer is sidelining Corbyn from the Labour Party.Credit:Bloomberg

He said he had “no intention of stopping” when it came to fighting for his constituents, adding: “I will not be intimidated into silence.” Corbyn, still popular among the party’s hard-left faction, is now widely expected to contest the next election as an independent.

In a statement, he said the decision was a “shameful attack on party democracy, party members and natural justice”.

“When I was leader of the Labour Party, I was determined to build a member-led movement that gave hope to a new generation. Today’s disgraceful move shows contempt for the millions of people who voted for our party, and will demotivate those who still believe in the importance of a transformative Labour government.”

If Corbyn were to stand as an independent, he would likely be thrown out of the Labour Party, while other members who support him could also be suspended or sacked for backing him.

Starmer announced last month that he was determined that Corbyn would not be a Labour candidate, confirming months of speculation. The motion he put forward stated that allowing Corbyn to stand would “significantly diminish” Labour’s chances of “winning the next general election”.

“It is not in the best interests of the Labour Party for it to endorse Mr Corbyn as a Labour Party candidate at the next general election,” the text of the motion said.

Corbyn led Labour to defeat in the 2017 and 2019 general elections, forcing the ruling Conservatives into a minority government but then suffering a loss of 59 seats, the second-highest loss by any opposition for a century, against Boris Johnson.

Starmer was a key member of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet from 2016, serving as Brexit spokesman.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission launched an inquiry into Labour’s internal culture under Corbyn in May 2019, after receiving complaints about antisemitism within the party. It found Labour had breached the Equality Act by failing to provide adequate training for staff dealing with allegations and of “political interference” from Corbyn’s office in the handling of those complaints.

Labour was ordered to draw up a plan to improve its complaints process, which it did in December 2020.

Corbyn’s Islington North branch said in a statement it rejected “undue interference” from the party’s leadership in who it chooses as an MP, saying the executive committee’s vote “undermines our goal of defeating the Conservatives and working with our communities for social justice”.

The group said in a statement: “We believe in the democratic right of all constituency parties to choose their prospective parliamentary candidate.”

The Corbyn-aligned Momentum faction accused Starmer of acting like an “authoritarian” in a statement following the decision, condemning the move as a “venal and duplicitous act” and “a dark day for democracy”.

But Shabana Mahmood, a Labour MP and the party’s national campaign coordinator, called the move a “clear demonstration” of the current leadership making changes “to make sure that we can win the trust of the British people again”.

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