Ousted Labour activist claims Corbyn support
A LABOUR activist expelled from the party for verbally clashing with an MP has claimed Jeremy Corbyn did not believe he had done anything wrong.
Marc Wadsworth said he had received “behind-the-scenes” support from the Labour leader’s office on the first day of his disciplinary hearing.
His expulsion followed a hearing by Labour’s disciplinary body which found his behaviour had been “grossly detrimental to the party”.
But the veteran activist claimed that Mr Corbyn had told mutual friends that “he doesn’t see that I did anything wrong”.
Mr Corbyn’s office disputed the claim and insisted no member of staff had offered him support. It is understood that Mr Wadsworth did not claim support from Mr Corbyn during his disciplinary hearing.
Mr Wadsworth had accused Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth of “working hand in hand” with The
Daily Telegraph during a tirade at the launch of the Chakrabarti report on anti-Semitism in 2016.
Mr Wadsworth hit out at the process used against him and claimed he had been made a scapegoat. He said: “The first letter I got, cancelling my membership summarily, was based on an alleged verbal attack on a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party which was uncomradely, brought the party into disrepute and embarrassed the leader.
“Well, the leader has told mutual friends he wasn’t embarrassed because he doesn’t see that I did anything wrong.”
Asked if Mr Corbyn’s office had been supporting his case, Mr Wadsworth said: “When they called me on the first day of the hearing, they said to me that they had been working behind the scenes, that what I said wasn’t anti-Semitic.”
Asked who from Mr Corbyn’s team had been in touch with him, Mr Wadsworth said: “I’m not going to get into names.”