Hard Left purge on Labour MPs
A PURGE of Labour MPs by hard-Left activists was gathering pace last night after two moderate backbenchers lost noconfidence votes in their local parties.
Joan Ryan, a former minister and chairwoman of Labour friends of Israel, lost by two votes in the poll in Enfield North. She blamed “Trots, Stalinists, communists and assorted hard-Left” for the push to oust her. Gavin Shuker, another critic of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, also lost a vote of no-confidence in his Luton South constituency party.
Both MPs vowed to carry on as the votes held late on Thursday evening were symbolic and do not formally trigger deselection proceedings.
Senior Labour MP Chuka Umunna is today expected to urge Mr Corbyn to “call off the dogs” and end the purges.
In a speech to the Labour moderate group Progress, he will say: “My message to our leadership: it is within your power to stop this, so call off the dogs and get on with what my constituency demands we do – fight this Tory Brexit. That is where all our efforts should be.”
Labour moderates were also outraged that Press TV, an Iranian state television channel banned in the UK, broadcast live footage from the Labour meeting in Enfield.
Backbencher Owen Smith, who challenged Mr Corbyn’s leadership in 2016, said: “Iranian State TV is now live-streaming Labour Party meetings, as part of their propaganda campaign against Israel.”