Labour’s hard-Left to target Boris and Rudd

LABOUR’S hard- Left Momentum group has launched a so-called ‘decapitation strategy’ aimed at unseating senior Tories including Boris Johnson and Amber Rudd at the next election.

The grassroots organisation, which Tory MPs accuse of orchestrating abuse during the last election, yesterday said it was putting its supporters on a permanent war footing for a fresh campaign.

The group operates independently from the Labour Party but has the support of senior figures, including Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott. Yesterday it served notice it will target senior Tories in marginal seats, with Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson, Home Secretary Miss Rudd and former leader Iain Duncan Smith all likely to face campaigns to unseat them.

It mirrors the Lib Dems’ 2005 ‘decapitation strategy’ which tried – unsuccessfully – to paralyse the Tories by taking out senior figures including then leader Michael Howard and Theresa May.

Momentum now plans to launch a series of training camps for Labour activists to target 160 seats.

Activists will be taught a range of campaigning techniques, including how to make viral videos similar to Momentum’s parody of middle-class people sitting around discussing the Labour leader’s policies – which was condemned by Tory MPs as an attempt to fuel class war.

The group said the training programme, which will start with sessions in London, Manchester and Birmingham, was part of its ‘permanent election campaign’.

Beth Foster-Ogg, Momentum’s training coordinator, said: ‘We want to skill up the hundreds of thousands of new Labour Party members so they can be better, more effective campaigners when the next election comes, and so they can campaign in their communities outside of election time.’