Purge of the Labour moderates begins ... and it’s broadcast live on Iranian TV!
SENIOR Labour figures last night condemned a purge of party moderates after rank- and- file members passed no confidence votes in two centre-Left MPs.
Joan Ryan and Gavin Shuker were subjected to the votes by members of their local constituency associations – which pave the way for them to be de-selected.
In an extraordinary twist, footage from inside the vote on Mrs Ryan, chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel group, was broadcast by a banned Iranian TV station. The Press TV footage was carried on the station’s Twitter feed and referred to her as a ‘pro-Israel MP’.
Mrs Ryan, who has been a critic of Jeremy Corbyn, yesterday lashed out at ‘ Trots, Stalinists, Communists and assorted hard-Left’ after losing the vote.
Meanwhile, Mr Shuker, another Labour MP who has condemned Mr Corbyn’s leadership, also lost a vote of no confidence among local party members.
The pair are the latest targets in what is seen as an attempt to purge the Labour party of MPs critical of the leader and his handling of the anti-Semitism crisis.
Mrs Ryan, a former minister under Tony Blair and MP for Enfield North, has been a leading critic of Mr Corbyn.
She tweeted that she had faced a ‘wellorganised, secret and long-planned divisive campaign led by party-within-a-party Momentum’. Mr Shuker, the MP for Luton South, said: ‘I’ve not changed, but the Labour Party has.’
Though the no confidence votes carry no official weight, the development has worried moderate Labour colleagues.
MPs warned that the votes were part of a Corbynista attempt to target moderate MPs.
Former party leadership contender Chuka Umunna said there was a ‘ clear and present danger’ that moderates will be purged from the party.
He asked Mr Corbyn to ‘call off the dogs’ and prevent his supporters from systematically targeting centre-Left MPs.
Fellow Labour MP Chris Leslie tweeted: ‘They are being attacked by the intolerant hard-Left for having the guts to stand up to anti-Semitism and standing firm for what they believe in.’
Former minister and Labour MP Caroline Flint tweeted: ‘So the Labour Party member who filmed this sees Joan Ryan as more of a threat to UK Labour values than the Iranian state which opposes a free Press, trade unions, gay and women’s rights? Not forgetting the incarceration of aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.’
Last month, veteran Frank Field resigned the party whip. He had previously lost a vote of no confidence in his constituency, blaming the anti-Semitism row and allegations of bullying.
Mr Corbyn said last night: ‘Every party has a right to question what its MP does. Every party has a right to challenge them on what they do and how they represent the area.’
Labour sources attempted to play down the controversy of the footage broadcast by Press TV in defiance of party rules.
The channel has been banned in Britain for its part in filming the detention and torture of a journalist. Its videos showed crowds cheering as Mrs Ryan narrowly lost the vote of no confidence by 94 votes to 92. Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said it was ‘impossible to fathom’ how it live-tweeted the vote.
But Roshan Salih, who described himself as a journalist for Press TV on Twitter, said ‘no announcement was made that filming was prohibited’. He said: ‘Footage we got was openly filmed and no one tried to stop filming, so we just did our jobs.’
A spokesman for London Labour Party said: ‘Filming of local meetings is not permitted, and Enfield North will be reminded of this fact.’
‘Clear and present danger’