Momentum chief pulls out of Labour race

Pro-corbyn group founder withdraws bid to become general secretary, leaving door open for union figure

JON LANSMAN, the founder of Momentum, has dropped out of the race to become Labour’s next general secretary amid claims his decision to run has caused a split at the heart of the party.

In a surprise statement yesterday, Mr Lansman, who runs the pro-jeremy Corbyn supporters group, announced his decision to step aside.

It follows weeks of speculation about his reasons for running, bitter infighting over the control that unions have over Mr Corbyn’s office and anti-semitic comments directed towards him.

Mr Lansman, who is Jewish, had been targeted for abuse relating to his religion after his decision to stand.

Announcing his decision to stand aside on Twitter yesterday, he said: “When I declared my interest in becoming Labour’s general secretary my aims were to open up the contest, instigate a debate about how the Labour Party can develop and encourage those of our 570,000 members who believe they have the skills and experience to apply. With my aims fulfilled I have decided to step back from the race to focus on my role on the National Executive Committee, working to replace the top-down model with modern, open and transparent, pluralist participative democracy.”

However, sources have told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Lansman realised he could not prevail in his attempt to take over from Iain Mcnicol and decided to step aside before he lost out to Jennie Formby, the Unite candidate who is understood to have the backing of both Mr Corbyn and John Mcdonnell.

It follows a tweet at the weekend from a regional Momentum group, which revealed it would not back Mr Lansman, despite him leading the activist movement. Another source said Mr Lansman was seeking to line up a female Momentum candidate to take on Ms Formby but was unable to find anyone to stand.

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