Stand up to the Left

This time last year was arguably the nadir of Jeremy Corbyn’s fortunes. The Labour Party languished in the opinion polls, his personal rating was at historically low levels and his own MPS wanted him out but could not get rid of him. The general election in June changed everything. Even though Labour lost its third national contest in a row, expectations were so low for Mr Corbyn that Labour’s increased vote and additional seats transformed his fortunes.

But more than that, the election re-energised the hard Left, many of whose supporters had fled the party during the Blair years. The Momentum group, which provides Mr Corbyn with organisational muscle, is now the most powerful body in the Labour movement. Its chairman, Jon Lansman, and two other Momentum candidates are expected shortly to be elected to the party’s ruling National Executive Committee.

Slowly but surely, the hard Left’s grip on the party – which successive leaders broke after Tony Benn’s unsuccessful bid for the deputy leadership in 1981 – is being reasserted. Mr Lansman is a veteran of Left-wing efforts to force the mandatory re-election of Labour candidates to ensure they toe the ideological line. According to a report in The Observer newspaper, Momentum is now asking Labour parliamentary contenders to sign a contract that commits them to “revitalise the Labour party by building on the values, energy and enthusiasm of the Jeremy for Leader campaign”.

One MP was quoted as calling this procedure Stalinist; and it certainly is an alien intrusion into mainstream British politics that has worrying implications for our democracy. Moderate Labour MPS opposed to Mr Corbyn and Momentum have been cowed since the election; they need to make a stand soon, or it will be too late for them.