Trots and Marxists... everyone’s welcome

COMMUNISTS, Trotskyites and members of the Militant Tendency are ‘welcome’ to join the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday, as he fuelled fears of a purge of moderates.

The Labour leader said hard-Left extremists who were kicked out of the party in the 1990s would be welcomed back with open arms.

And he added that he was ‘not concerned in the slightest’ if the thousands of people joining Labour included members of ‘revolutionary organisations’.

Hardliners are pushing for the introduction of mandatory reselection processes for Labour MPs as a means of rooting out Blairite sympathisers.

Mr Corbyn insists he does not want to conduct a purge, but has warned that boundary changes mean all Labour MPs are likely to have to face reselection.

Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher warned that any such move would be ‘totally destructive’ and risked plunging the party back into the bitter internal feuding of the 1980s.

‘If you get into things like mandatory reselection you are heading down the Wacky Races road,’ he said. ‘We’ve played this game before and it doesn’t end well. It’s time to stop our punishment beatings.’

Former Labour minister Frank Field, who has survived three deselection attempts by militants over the years, warned that Labour’s moderates would not give up without a fight. ‘They can’t get all of us,’ he said. ‘We are not going away.’ Labour has spent decades trying to rid itself of hardLeft infiltrators, starting with the battle between Neil Kinnock and Militant in the 1980s.

But extremists are now being encouraged to join the so-called ‘Corbyn Army’ as he seeks to raise membership to 500,000.

Several far-Left organisations, including the Trotskyite Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, are now disbanding – apparently to enable members to join Labour, which does not allow its members to belong to other political parties.

Questioned about whether Trotskyists thrown out during Lord Kinnock’s reforms would now be allowed back into Labour, Mr Corbyn told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘Anyone is welcome to join the Labour Party providing they support the principles of the party and be content with that.’

The Islington North MP added: ‘Neil is one of my constituents. We get along fine.’

Asked whether he was concerned that some new members were defecting from ‘ revolutionary organisations’, he said: ‘They’re big numbers … I’ve met many of them. Many are young people who’ve been disengaged from party politics, but very engaged with environmental politics and many other issues.

‘Many are older people returning who felt disillusioned with Labour after the Iraq War. I’m not concerned in the slightest.

‘A big, open, democratic party – surely that’s something to be proud of and pleased about?’

Setting out plans to involve members and local parties in the policy process, Mr Corbyn said: ‘There’s a whole lot of talent out there. I’m not sure that the political classes … fully appreciate the disillusionment of so many people with traditional politics and their love and desire to be involved … That’s what I want to unlock.’

Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson yesterday warned that moderate MPs hoping to get rid of Mr Corbyn should not bank on the idea.

‘I think it would be a mistake if MPs think that they should aim for that because I think it would undermine his leadership and destabilise the party,’ Mr Watson said.

He added: ‘If MPs feel very strongly about that, they could put an MP up but … I think that if they did put an MP up against Jeremy Corbyn he would win hands down.’

Despite his policy differences with the leader on issues such as Trident, Mr Watson insisted Mr Corbyn had his full support.

‘Totally destructive’