Corbyn loses Labour whip for three months
Former Labour leader unrepentant after being told return of the whip depends on apology
Jeremy Corbyn will be suspended as a Labour MP for three months as the party last night faced calls to place him back under investigation if he refused to retract the remarks about an investigation into ant-semitism in the party that prompted his sanctioning three weeks ago. The ex-leader was informed of the decision by chief whip Nick Brown. Mr Corbyn has instructed lawyers to write to Labour demanding information about the process and the handling of his disciplinary action.
JEREMY CORBYN has been told he will be suspended as a Labour MP for three months as the party last night faced calls to place him back under investigation if he refused to retract the remarks that first prompted his sanctioning three weeks ago.
The f ormer Labour l eader was i nformed of the decision by Nick Brown, the chief whip, as he initiated his bid to overturn Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to withhold the parliamentary whip from him. Labour sources confirmed he was told the length of the suspension could be reviewed depending on his actions – suggesting it could be shortened or extended depending on whether he issued an apology.
But Mr Corbyn appeared unrepentant yesterday as he instructed lawyers to write to the party demanding information about the process and the handling of his disciplinary action.
Insiders said the letter called on Sir Keir to set out the basis for withholding the whip from Mr Corbyn amid claims – disputed by Labour – that the move is in breach of the party’s rules.
Sir Keir also came under attack from 14 members of Labour’s ruling body last night, who in a letter accused him of “direct political interference” in the party’s disciplinary processes.
They went on to demand that David Evans, the party’s general secretary,
“admonish” Sir Keir for “interfering” in the process and insisted that Mr Corbyn be reinstated immediately.
Separately, Mr Evans came under pressure to review Mr Corbyn’s case after he failed to delete a statement on Facebook in which he claimed that antiSemitism in Labour had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”.
The Daily Telegraph has been told Mr Corbyn was instructed to remove the statement by the five-person panel of the party’s ruling national executive committee that on Tuesday reinstated his party membership. As of 9pm last night, he had still failed to do so. Dame Margaret Hodge, parliamentary chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said: “If there’s any credibility in the current processes, then nobody is above them. That i ncludes Mr Corbyn.” Ruth Smeeth, a former Jewish Labour MP, said: “If Jeremy Corbyn is breaching the rules, the Labour Party needs to act.”
Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, yesterday said Mr Corbyn should not be allowed to return unless he issued a “full apology”. “It’s got to be clear there are no ifs, no buts, no qualifications about his opposition to anti
Semitism,” he told Sky News. “Keir Starmer will, I think, insist on that.”
Meanwhile, a senior source said Unite, Labour’s biggest union donor, could slash its donations further than the 10 per cent already decided unless Mr Corbyn is reinstated. “It’s a strong card. You’re not going to get fair weather friends and industry coming up with the £12 million we find,” they added. The source also said Unite could encourage members not to canvass in May’s local elections, adding: “It’s going to be difficult for us to say to our officers and volunteers to go and knock doors.”