Far-Left purge of Labour moderates
Councillors deselected by Corbyn supporters
Hard-left Jeremy Corbyn supporters have been accused of carrying out an ‘aggressive purge’ of labour moderates.
a number of councillors have been deselected by Momentum activists, the pressure group set up to support the labour leader.
Others labour members of Haringey Council in london have been pressured into not standing again for their seats due to what one councillor called ‘narrow factionalism’.
Moderates in other parts of the country have also faced pressure to stand aside in favour of those who back Mr Corbyn. It follows reports Momentum is asking candidates to swear loyalty to Mr Corbyn in a 13-point contract if they want its backing – described by some labour MPs as ‘Stalinist’.
Many in the party fear Corbynites are seeking to strengthen
‘Written off as Blairites’
their stranglehold on labour by driving out long-serving councillors and, eventually, MPs. tensions in Haringey have become so high, centrists have called for the london-wide regional party to take over the selection process.
Under new rules, councillors who previously faced an open contest to stand again for their seat now only do so if they lose a vote for automatic reselection.
tim Gallagher, a Haringey councillor who resigned after he was not reselected, said he and his colleagues had been written off as ‘zombie Blairites’. and he said the local party had become ‘inflamed with division, distrust, and what at times feels like real hatred’.
He added: ‘Nothing excuses the aggressive purge of all councillors not deemed to fit a flat-pack ideological mould.’ Others on the council who were not reselected include alan Strickland, who said ‘narrow factionalism’ dominated the process, and lorna reith, labour chief whip in Haringey. Samantha Jury-dada’s deselection in Southwark, south london, also sparked anger – with labour members complaining a ‘young lGBt woman of colour was deselected in favour of a white man who doesn’t live in the ward’.
Moderates have also been targeted by Momentum in leeds and Manchester, including the council leader and lord mayor. Matt Pound, of centrist pressure group labour first, said there had been ‘an orchestrated purge of hardworking labour councillors’.
‘Instances of deselections on purely factional grounds occurring around the country are totally counterproductive and should be called out and resisted by local members,’ he said. the dispute in Haringey centres on a local development scheme, backed by many party councillors, but which faced opposition from the left.
a Momentum source said it was ‘unsurprising there is a desire in Haringey to get some new faces on to the council’. a spokesman said: ‘We should trust local members to be the best judge of who should represent their community.’