Fixer from ‘rough’ background with a brutal hard-Left message
MENTION of Alex Halligan’s name brought a sigh of resignation from moderate Labour MPs aware of the Leftwing activist’s track record.
Not only is he credited with securing Rebecca Long Bailey’s entry into the Commons in 2015, he is also hailed for playing a key role in the election of Jeremy Corbyn later that year.
Mr Halligan, understood to be in his 30s, is well known as a Momentum and Unite organiser in the North West of England.
But he sprang to greater notoriety in 2017 when he was pictured at the Durham Miners’ Gala wearing a badge with the words ‘Good night Trotskyite’ and a picture of a man threatening another with an ice pick.
The reference to the brutal killing of Leon Trotsky – a murder carried out at the orders of Stalin – was inescapable. ‘Trotskyite’ is a term of abuse deployed by the most vehement supporters of Stalin who defended his violent methods against enemies such as Trotsky.
But according to one social media report last night, a source close to Mr Halligan protested that despite the badge, ‘he’s not a Stalinist – he’s a mainstream socialist’. Mr Halligan has also been implicated in allegations of bullying on Momentum Facebook groups. But at the time, he said he was ‘shocked and appalled by the allegations made’ and denied involvement.
Mr Halligan, who has been working in Ms Long Bailey’s constituency office, has been described as a close ally of Karie Murphy, Jeremy Corbyn’s former chief of staff – but any close contact with the key Labour figure was played down by other sources last night.
He acted as director of operations for Mr Corbyn’s leadership campaign in 2015, helping to organise rallies and constituency party nominations.
Having previously worked on Unite’s drive to increase the number of working-class and Left-wing MPs, he knew how to win votes in constituency parties.
He once worked for the TUC’s Salford Unemployed Centre and in 2012 said: ‘I come from a rough sort of working-class background.’