Diane Abbott accuses Sir Keir Starmer of ‘culling’ Labour left wingers after ‘appalling’ deselection decision
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”.
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Abbott ‘not barred’ from standing for Labour
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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Faiza Shaheen with Jeremy Corbyn in 2019. Pic: PA
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.
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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.
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The return on Donald Trump to the G7 was always going to be unpredictable. That it is happening against the backdrop of an escalating conflict in the Middle East makes it even more so.
Expectations had already been low, with the Canadian hosts cautioning against the normal joint communique at the end of the summit, mindful that this group of leaders would struggle to find consensus.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney carefully laid down an agenda that was uncontroversial in a bid to avoid any blow-ups between President Trump and allies, who of late have been divided like never before – be it over tariffs and trade, Russia and Ukraine, or, more recently Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
But discussions around critical minerals and global supply chains will undoubtedly drop down the agenda as leaders convene at a precarious moment. Keir Starmer, on his way over to Canada for a bi-lateral meeting in Ottawa with PM Carney before travelling onto the G7 summit in Kananaskis, underscored the gravity of the situation as he again spoke of de-escalation, while also confirmed that the UK was deploying more British fighter jets to the region amid threats from Tehran that it will attack UK bases if London helps defend Israel against airstrikes.
Canadian PM Mark Carney is greeted by President Donald Trump at the White House in May. Pic: AP
Really this is a G7 agenda scrambled as world leaders scramble to de-escalate the worst fighting between Tel Aviv and Tehran in decades. President Trump has for months been urging Israel not to strike Iran as he worked towards a diplomatic deal to halt uranium enrichment. Further talks had been due on Sunday – but are now not expected to go ahead.
All eyes will be on Trump in the coming days, to see if the US – Israel’s closest ally – will call on Israel to rein in its assault. The US has so far not participated in any joint attacks with Tel Aviv, but is moving warships and other military assets to the Middle East.
Sir Keir, who has managed to strike the first trade deal with Trump, will want to leverage his “good relationship” with the US leader at the G7 to press for de-escalation in the Middle East, while he also hopes to use the summit to further discuss the further the interests of Ukraine with Trump and raise again the prospects of Russian sanctions.
“We’ve got President Zelenskyy coming so that provides a good opportunity for us to discuss again as a group,” the PM told me on the flight over to Canada. “My long-standing view is, we need to get Russia to the table for an unconditional ceasefire. That’s not been really straightforward. But we do need to be clear about what we need to get to the table and that if that doesn’t happen, sanctions will undoubtedly be part of the discussion at the G7.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (R) is greeted by Mark Carney as he arrives in Ottawa ahead of the G7
But that the leaders are not planning for a joint communique – a document outlining what the leaders have agreed – tells you a lot. When they last gathered with Trump in Canada for the G7 back in 2018, the US president rather spectacularly fell out with Justin Trudeau when the former Canadian president threatened to retaliate against US tariffs and refused to sign the G7 agreement.
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Since then, Trump has spoken of his desire to turn Canada into the 51st state of the US, a suggestion that helped catapult the Liberal Party beyond their Conservative rivals and back into power in the recent Canadian elections, as Mark Carney stood on a ticket of confronting Trump’s aggression.
With so much disagreement between the US and allies, it is hard to see where progress might be made over the next couple of days. But what these leaders will agree on is the need to take down the temperature in the Middle East and for all the unpredictability around these relationships, what is certain is a sense of urgency around Iran and Israel that could find these increasingly disparate allies on common ground.
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