Diane Abbott accuses Sir Keir Starmer of ‘culling’ Labour left wingers after ‘appalling’ deselection decision

Published

4 months ago

May 30, 2024

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Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of trying to purge general election candidates from the left of the Labour Party.

Questions remain about whether veteran Corbyn ally Diane Abbott will be barred from standing again, while Labour suspended one candidate and declined to endorse another.

Labour’s general election campaign has been overshadowed by the internal chaos over the selection of candidates, which includes the selection of influential figures on the Labour right.

Ms Abbott called it a “cull of left wingers”.

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Leader Sir Keir said no decision had yet been taken about whether Ms Abbott, the UK’s first black female MP, would be allowed to defend her Hackney North seat of 37 years.

She claimed she had been barred from standing after having the whip restored to her this week following a year-long suspension as she was investigated over a letter she wrote in The Guardian suggesting Jewish people do not face racism.

Ms Abbott vowed to stand in Hackney North “by any means possible”.

Meanwhile, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who was MP for Brighton Kemptown, said he had been suspended by Labour over a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” against him and said he is not being allowed to stand for the party.

He said it was a “false allegation” from eight years ago “that I dispute totally and I believe it was designed to disrupt this election”.

More:
Diane Abbott: Trailblazing MP to thorn in Labour’s side

Faiza Shaheen was deselected as the Labour candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green after standing in the seat, held by veteran Tory Iain Duncan Smith, at the last election for Labour.

She said she was in a “state of shock” at “being treated this badly” after receiving an email saying her candidacy had been blocked.

Dr Shaheen was blocked for liking a tweet that allegedly downplayed antisemitism accusations. She said another post involved her describing her experiences of Islamophobia.

A lawyer for Dr Shaheen described the Labour Party process to be selected as “abhorrent, unprofessional and unfair”.

They said a member of the panel interviewing her to be a candidate did not engage and no consideration was given to her being a new mother, with just 5.5 hours notice given before she had to appear in front of the panel and said she could not hear questions properly as her four-month-old baby was crying.

The lawyer added that several of the social media messages raised as misconduct are “several years old”, including from before she became a Labour member.

“The Labour party had ample time to raise questions over this, including during the selection process,” the lawyer said.

She told BBC’s Newsnight: “On top of Gaza, on top of Diane Abbott and now this to me, when there’s such clear double standards of how other people have been treated when stuff has happened… what message are you sending my community? What message are you sending the black community?”

Ms Abbott accused Labour of carrying out a “cull of left wingers” as she branded the decision to block Dr Shaheen “appalling”.

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Asked if he is blocking left-wing candidates from standing, Sir Keir said: “No. I’ve said repeatedly over the last two years… that I want the highest quality candidates – that’s been the position for a very long time.”

Shadow cabinet minister Darren Jones denied there was a “purge” of the left, saying there were many colleagues who “would define themselves as being on the left”, who have been endorsed as Labour candidates.

Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC), which is handling the selection of about 20 final Labour candidates this week, said the final decision on whether Ms Abbott can defend her seat lies with Sir Keir.

On Mr Russell-Moyle’s suspension, a Labour Party spokesman said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

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While those on the left have accused Labour of purging them, candidates on the Labour right have been given the green flag to stand.

Starmer ally and activist Luke Akehurst, who is a member of the NEC, is the candidate for North Durham and Josh Simons, director of the Starmerite thinktank Labour Together, will fight for the Makerfield seat.

Earlier this year, Mr Simons apologised after suggesting people-smuggling gangs could be put on a barge and “shipped to the north of Scotland”, saying: “Who cares?”

Former adviser to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, Heather Iqbal, was selected in Dewsbury and Batley, and journalist Paul Waugh will fight for Rochdale.

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

7 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.