Militant Hatton inspired by Corbyn to rejoin Labour
THE hard-Left former deputy leader of Liverpool City Council claims he has rejoined Labour 33 years after being kicked out for belonging to Militant.
Derek Hatton was booted out of the party by then leader Neil Kinnock after a bitter war with Margaret Thatcher’s government. The ex-politician set an illegal budget and sent redundancy notices out by taxi to thousands of council workers.
His return will be seen as further proof of Labour’s swing to the Left under Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Hatton was refused entry to the party in 2015 but said he
had now reapplied and been accepted as a member.
Labour Party sources say no decision has been made on his membership but indicated there are no rules to prevent him rejoining. Mr Hatton, 70,
said he had no plans to run for public office and was inspired by Mr Corbyn’s leadership to reapply for membership.
Writing in the Liverpool Echo, he said: ‘What I have seen over the past year or two, particularly with Jeremy Corbyn and people around him is a move along the lines that I would have wanted to see in the 80s.’
He added ‘there is a prime minister in waiting who stands on every picket line, who is talking about nationalising the means of production’.
But there has been a negative reaction to his return, with Liverpool Labour councillor Clare McIntyre describing the period he was in power as ‘awful’.