LABOUR TORN APART BY RACIST HATE
Ex-Blair spin chief thrown out for voting Lib Dem ... on day race probe is announced
ALASTAIR Campbell was dramatically expelled from the Labour Party yesterday – 36 hours after he admitting voting Liberal Democrat in the European elections.
Tony Blair’s former spin doctor was told by email he had been thrown out for supporting a rival party.
He had only revealed late on Sunday night that he voted Lib Dem ‘to try to persuade Labour to do the right thing’ on a second referendum. Labour insisted yesterday that supporting another party was ‘incompatible with membership’ – despite Mr Campbell making clear that he’ll ‘always be Labour’.
Last night critics pointed to the speed with which Labour had expelled Mr Campbell compared to the length of time it has taken to act against members accused of anti-Semitism and other serious allegations.
The expulsion came on the day the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a formal inquiry into the party over antiSemitism. Labour MP Jess Phillips said Mr Campbell was ‘ expelled quicker than a man who threatened to kill me and quicker than a man in my local party who denied the Holocaust’, adding: ‘Both are only still suspended.’
Dame Margaret Hodge said: ‘So it takes five days [from voting] for Labour to expel Alastair Campbell but almost three years to expel prolific anti-Semite Jackie Walker. This is why the EHRC are investigating.’
Miriam Mirwitch, national leader of Young Labour, suggested the Campbell story was being used to distract attention away from the EHRC anti- Semitism probe that was announced into the party yesterday.
She said: ‘ The Alastair Campbell story is a dead cat distracting from the EHRC investigation. It matters that our approach to discipline is so inconsistent.’ Mr Campbell said there appeared to be a difference in the swift way his situation had been dealt with compared to ‘ the way anti-Semitism cases have been handled’.
He said he would be appealing against the decision, pointing out that many of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s senior aides had voted for other parties in the past.
Meanwhile, it emerged last night that former Labour home secretary Charles Clarke had also voted Lib Dem in a ‘one-off decision’ and ex- defence secretary Bob Ainsworth had been expelled for voting Green last week. Former MP Fiona Mactaggart dared Labour to expel her after she revealed on Twitter she had not voted for the party. Mr Campbell announced on Twitter that he had been expelled.
He tweeted: ‘ Sad and disappointed to receive email expelling me from Labour – particularly on a day the leadership finally seems to be moving to the right place on Brexit, not least thanks to tactical voting by party members, including MPs, councillors and peers who back a People’s Vote. I have been advised by lawyers with expertise in this field I have grounds for appeal against expulsion and shall do so. I am and always will be Labour. I voted Lib Dem, without advance publicity, to try to persuade Labour to do right thing for country/ party. It is hard not to point out difference in the way antiSemitism cases have been handled. ‘Plenty of precedent of members voting for other parties/ causes. Some are now senior party staff. Approach also contrasts with our era when Tony Blair was being pressed by whips to withdraw whip for Jeremy Corbyn and others for persistently voting against Labour in Parliament, and he said no.’
Speaking outside his home in north London, Mr Campbell said: ‘I’m not going to leave the party just because some random email comes in telling me that I’ve been expelled. So I will definitely appeal against it and we will see where that goes.’
He claimed people in ‘senior positions’ in Mr Corbyn’s office had recommended voting against Labour. Mr Campbell declined to say who he would vote for in a snap general election. He said: ‘I want to vote Labour at the general election but that will depend on the policy that the Labour Party puts forward between now and then in relation to Brexit.’
Mr Clarke said Labour ‘ should immediately withdraw its expulsion of Alastair’ and pledged to back the party at the next general election. A Labour spokesman said its rules were that people who vote for other parties are automatically expelled, but those accused of anti-Semitism have to go through a separate disciplinary process.