There are rumours Starmer is about to remove the whip from Corbyn
A reporter for the Jewish Telegraph has said that Keir Starmer is allegedly planning to remove the whip from Jeremy Corbyn. That is, the former Labour leader will be booted out of the parliamentary party and become an independent MP.
Starmer: about to kick Corbyn out?
Adam Cailler tweeted that ‘a few sources’ had told him that is was “very possible” and “highly likely” that Starmer will remove the whip from Corbyn:
According to a few Labour sources this morning, it's "very possible" and "highly likely" that Jeremy Corbyn will have the whip removed very soon, as a result of some of the recommendations in the EHRC report.#LabourAntisemitism
— Adam Cailler (@acailler) July 22, 2020
Read on...
As Cailler said, it is apparently due to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) report into antisemitism within the Labour Party under Corbyn’s tenure. As PoliticsHome reported, the EHRC has given Starmer a draft copy of its report. As The Canary previously reported, the EHRC announced it would launch an investigation into Labour over antisemitism in May 2019. ITV News reported:
Its remit is to determine whether unlawful acts have been committed by the party or its employees, and whether Labour responded to complaints in a “lawful, efficient and effective manner”.
The contents of the report are unknown. But LabourList speculated that it was unlikely that it would name individuals. Instead, the report will:
likely consider the institution as a whole. It is not considered beyond the bounds of possibility that individuals will be censured, though, either due to original actions or frustrating the investigation.
Pre-emptive movement?
But already there appears to be movement from the Labour leadership in relation to the fallout from the report. The Guardian wrote on 22 July that the party has:
apologised ‘unreservedly’ and paid out a six-figure sum to seven former employees and a veteran BBC journalist, admitting it defamed them in the aftermath of a Panorama investigation into its handling of antisemitism.
The Panorama documentary in July 2019 caused a storm at the time, with media outlets supportive to Corbyn criticising the whistleblowers. This was further compounded by a leaked internal report which was meant to go to the EHRC as evidence.
“Sexist and racist commentary”
As The Canary reported, the leaked document suggests sustained and open hostility to Corbyn’s leadership and Corbyn-supporting MPs and members. It indicates that internal “factionalism” may have played a “critical” role in the investigation of antisemitism allegations under Corbyn’s leadership. The summary states:
This report reveals a litany of mistakes, deficiencies, and missed opportunities to reform, develop and adapt a clearly failing disciplinary system.
Some pro-Corbyn MPs said the leaked report showed:
Casual snobbery. Sexist and racist commentary. Clandestine plotting. Contempt for democracy. A sense of privilege and entitlement.
This is not the Bullingdon Club, it is what runs through the messages revealed in the leaked document
Given the content of the leaked report, juxtaposed with the party’s payout to the Panorama whistleblowers, it’s becoming clear which direction of travel Starmer is taking. But so far, Labour has remained tight-lipped on the EHRC report.
“Prepare for war”
A spokesperson told PoliticsHome:
The draft report has been shared with the Labour Party as part of a process afforded to us prior to the report’s publication. It is sent in confidence by the EHRC, so until that process is completed, it would be inappropriate to comment on any of the contents of the draft report – and we will not do so.
At the time of publication, some commentators were saying that Starmer wouldn’t remove the whip. And of course, a journalist quoting “sources” is not always reliable evidence. There’s the potential for Cailler to be mischief-making. But as The Canary‘s editor-at-large Kerry-Anne Mendoza tweeted:
Prepare for war. https://t.co/xSPcUY9i8r
— Kerry-Anne Mendoza (@TheMendozaWoman) July 22, 2020
The fallout from Corbyn’s loss of the whip could be huge. And it would cement Starmer’s ‘new broom’ approach to the Labour Party. How many members would leave, however, remains to be seen. And for those who stay, it could become a tumultuous period in Labour’s history.
Featured image via YouTube – The Telegraph / YouTube – i-D
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Bring it on, we need a new movement, tens of thousands from the start would be part of this. I still don’t quite believe they are going to be as stupid as to kick JC out. They would be sealing their fate for a generation of any chance of a Labour government
I totally agree. A mass movement of the entire left wing into a new party is the only answer. It would succeed if there was solidarity. It would also expose the source of the money behind a leader who clearly isn’t concerned about losing millions in membership fees. Why stay to fight a losing battle? Corbynism wasn’t a fad. I was a member for 40yrs before I left following the RLB incident. Enough is enough. Why pay to support treachery & lies when you can get them for free from the Tories?
But wouldn’t kicking the old fool out leave him available to lead your new movement.
Wow. And they had the nerve, the audacity, to lie that Corbynism is Stalinism.
If this happens, the Labour Party no longer exists. But will that matter now? – the traditional working class voter that Corbyn tried so hard to keep on board had largely been bought off by Thatcher in the 80s. Johnson’s Mendocracy finished the job, and Starmer seems to think that if he makes the Party acceptable to the Daily Mail et al (that is, a Tory clone) he might get a turn in Number 10.
It’s all very depressing.
Yes…although you might want to think about the bit about Thatcher buying off the w.classes. That generation are mainly dead by now and it was my generation in the early 80’s whose futures were crushed by her. It was New Labour Policies and the attitude of affluent m.class Labour supporters that saw them off…by ‘regenerating’ their communities, continuing the sell off of workers rights, and by perpetuating the myth that they no longer existed. MC supporters who made it trendy to be left wing finished off the job by spending all their time campaigning for minority causes whilst ignoring the plight of the working poor, displacing them from their homes and schools, pricing them out of all the stuff that used to make their lives liveable, such as affordable homes, footie, Cornish holidays, Glasto, etc. then, finally, calling them ignorant and stupid for voting Leave. This last sin was the unforgivable one. I spent the first 20 yrs of my working life in factories and on building sites. Now I’m educated to Masters level and yet the wisdom I learned from w.class people is of far more value than the ‘knowledge’ I learned in universities. Many of the most intelligent people I have known in my life weren’t university educated, including my father, and some of the most ignorant were. Born into the w.class in the 60s and proud of it…if I was 15 years younger, I would hate the left too. As it is, I feel so bad at the moment that I would vote for Thatcher (the anti-christ) out of spite against this new lot who are the devil wearing an angel’s face.
The reason Labour lost the support of the w.classes is very simple. It is about values. Brought up with working class values, the worse sin is hypocrisy. You sort out your differences with a good, honest face to face shouting match, not with a knife in the back. You judge people by their actions not by what they say or how they say it. Boris, Thatcher, Corbyn…they all understand this…they don’t do the politics of semantics which breeds deep distrust in w.class people. They also wear their mistakes (Boris does it with a half-grin which says “OK, I screwed up…but this is life and people do.”) The first time I saw him do this, I knew we were in trouble. Watch TV interviews with Thatcher and you’ll see her do the same. Working class people understand that mistakes are OK as long as you are prepared to wear them. This is why the Labour Party made a huge mistake in undermining the only leader who had a hope in hell of beating Boris.
The Labour Party, through sheer arrogance and complacency, has signed its own death warrant this week. This is why I believe the time is right for a new Socialist Party – but it needs to be a mass exodus…not a few spoilt Liberals throwing their toys out of the pram. And, for the first time in its history, 50% of its officials need to be drawn from the working classes and educated in the university of life. Because although I can convince my educated friends of anything whilst spouting off my post-post-modern polemic, it doesn’t wash down my local. Like my Boris-loving, Capitalist, Banker brother says “What I like about going back to my home town is that all those people you went to school with, they know you’re a W*!ker so there’s no point in pretending to be anything else.” A rare moment of familial harmony. Interesting that he was 18 in 76 but I got there exactly a year before Thatcher’s 1981 massacre of the manufacturing industry. He’s not dead (thank goodness-yes, it is possible to love a Tory) but I rest my case about the influence of Thatcher on the voting habits of the contemporary working class.
Hi, there can be no doubt that Labour lost the GE because of a sustained, malicious, vitriolic, hateful, personal campaign against Jeremy Corbyn by the MSM, Broadcast news, the security services, the BoD, the Israeli Government and the CIA. It persuaded people they didn’t want him as Leader. The sheeples never analyse anything. No more no less. Also, I am one of the people who wholeheartedly believe the GE was rigged.
Everything about Keir Starmer, from his time as DPP, to positioning himself next to Corbyn to cement Labour’s Brexit suicide policy, screamed classic Blairite triangulation.
The man has zero principles, and even less charisma. In other words he’s the best dull-grey man the liberal establishment could come up with to head off any working class challenge to yet another round of managerial politics.
However, they forgot about the extra few hundred thousand members that joined because of Corbyn. And times change. Boris may be fickle, but so is the public.
Meanwhile everything the left stood for is being proved right or soon will be and Labour won’t win support any time soon with a leader who stands for nothing but potentially reversing Brexit.
Before the wheels come off the Boris cart, which will be carried into 2024, now is the ideal time to split and take the members with us. The Labour machine is completely corrupt and cannot be reformed for the foreseeable future.
We need a People’s Party.
When everyone knows the major parties are incompetent or mendacious, Britain will back a party based purely on the 99% principle.
Whether Corbyn leads the way will be up for debate. But I’ve had enough of the lies, the triangulation, the equivocation. Time to get rid of the baggage and manage our country for the benefit of all.
Ever since Starmer became leader, i feared the worst. It is already a living nightmare.
To be honest, this needs to happen. Cameron was bought down by UKIP because despite their small size and single policy nature, they represented enough of a threat to force his hand into calling a referendum. If a sufficiently large number of people jumped ship and set up a truly left wing party, it would hopefully present enough of a threat to Labour to force them to make concessions rather than face losing because of a split vote.
Time for a new party. Time for Labour to learn it can’t take it traditional voters for granted, a mistake it made in 2019 when Starmer forced a 2nd referendum.
The PLP do not deserve such a man.
Either its a BS lie or its a couple of spineless shills aggravating action against a man already kicked from power. The key questions are why and to what effect?
The former could be to sell papers/fill column inches/throw sh1t and see if it sticks. The latter could be to push progressives out of the party/to genuflect to Murdoch/to pre-empt the ECHR report (even if it turns out he’s in the clear)/retaliation for costing the centrists £200k+/Starmer clearing house of internal opposition.
Personally, I can’t wait for them to do it only for them to see the avalanche of resignations that would ensue. This is less shooting yourself in the foot and more shooting yourself in the face because you’re too arrogant to listen to people yelling “you’re holding the gun the wrong way round”.
Stoogie Starmer hasn’t got a clue about politics at all has he? Like someone said here, his sole aim is to appease the Tory Press, the BoD and seemingly cause serious splits within the Party. Whatever anyone says about the Blair/Brown Government, at least they both had deeply held socialist values and they served Britain well. We enjoyed a long period of sustained vibrancy in the economy and other social areas. Starmer? Hasn’t got a Labour value at his core, not one. He’s sole interest is to get into power, that’s it, he has said as much.
What an idiot to pay out damages to a slamdunk case which Labour would have won easily. Especially to John Ware. Well, Ware is suing Corbyn now. I hope JC will go the full ten yards with this because that Panorma programme was a pack of lies. Now is the time for all the Labour Party members who joined because of JC to leave the Party and soon. Starmer’s shadow cabinet is just a bunch of Tories in disguise. It shows how politically inept he is having now started a massive civil war within the Party. He stood on a unity ticket – if this is how he sees unity by getting rid of all the left then they need to rename the Party as something else, i.e. Starmer’s Stoogies.
People blogging on here are right. We need the Unions to breakaway from Labour and start yes, The People’s Party and very soon too. We need a proper opposition not an idiot who has no understanding of either politics or socialism and who is playing to the MSM and the MoD.
Come on Len McLuskey, Howard Beckett and other union leaders, breakaway and start a new party with Corbyn at the helm.
Not sure I agree that Brown or Blair held “deeply held socialist values”. Not even sure that the LPGB ever had “deeply held socialist values”. Within the Bourgois system the LP functions as a pressure release valve. New Labour was an attempt at a Final Solution for the ‘Socialist Issue’ within the rank and file who might develope an understanding of socialism. The new ‘progressive’ identity that is being promoted in the wake of Corbyn’s retreat is a continuation of that process. I do not perceive any ideological base within the Trade Union heirarchy, they are as much part of the Establishment as Labour in Parliament. Forget the personalities Corbyn’s greatest contribution to the discussion has been the Establishment reaction other than that he, BLiar and all the rest are no longer relevant. Those new members who were politically aware and joined the LP do not represent enough votes to elect a government nor it seems do they have enough influence in their communities to deflect the day to day ‘fluffing’ off Bozo and his ex-army cabinet’s photocall erections. All the fluffing in the world wil not improve Sirkeir’s performance – his expression betray’s an inner insecurity that people know his erect posture is mainy fluff.
It’s time for Jeremy to lead an exodus.
There is a promised land out there. Formed when during the last purge. It’s called The Socialist Party (formerly Militant).
With enough new blood joining; if they welcome them; SP could at the very least become the new Opposition’s opposition.
Something with the potential of becoming bigger than The Liberals and The SNP (who will be gone before 24 anyway) would be likely to bring the non-affiliated unions into it’s ranks. Who knows, even more besides.
The problem with a split, even if a new party fielded candidates in every constituency and had hundreds of thousands of campaigners is FPTP. The chance of gaining seats would be minimal. With proportional representation splitting would be no problem, as people would know they could vote for whatever party they liked and their votes would count, their vote wouldn’t be wasted. As it is, I don’t see FPTP being replaced in my lifetime as we don’t live in a democracy and Westminster was created as a cabal of gangsters to divvy up the population as servants to the landed and mercantile wealthy rather than have a turf war, and not to administer the needs of the population. Only the original Labour insurgency offered anything like that, and, having tasted power has gradually put on the garb of their “betters” – you can’t rub shoulders with tories for too long before you also start to stink.
In the immortal words of ‘Maximus Peake ‘
If your not inside the tent voting Labour then your a Tory’
How about we stay and clean out the stables
Which is total claptrap by the way
I think may be JohnnyTurk that is what you speak.
Starmers looking good on all fronts. As for the boring rumours…
Labour is hysterical. It has lost touch with reality. Starmer has said nothing of note since becoming leader other than he wishes to apologise to “the Jewish community” (as if such a homogeneous body exists) and bring back into the fold those Jews who have left. He has done nothing of note but sack R L-B and refuse to defend a defamation case. This is a man in panic. Someone should give him Finkelstein’s books for his birthday. Corbyn was Labour’s last chance to be a Party of radical change, though his policies were essentially social democratic. The events of the past four years have proven Labour has no stomach for a thoroughgoing transformation of our social and economic arrangements. We need a new Party of the left, unequivocal in its opposition to capitalism and committed to universal equal rights. Yes, the electoral system is against us, but it was against Labour in 1900. It will be a long, tough fight but a left Party which can win twenty seats can make a real difference. Stay and fight is a good idea, but there’s a caveat: Starmer is intent on getting rid of us. If he withdraws the whip from Corbyn he withdraws it from us all; he says all of us who supported Corbyn are no longer welcome. This is an odd definition of unity, but it is typical of the Right. Those working to ensure Labour never again has a left-of-centre leader will not relent. If a few of us are allowed to remain in the Party, we will be sidelined, humiliated. Starmer is leaving us no alternative. If we can harness the enthusiasm which greeted Corbyn, if we can gather a few hundred thousand members, and it looks like we can given the quick and hearty response to the fund-raising to defend him, we can create a space in which the arguments continually silenced will gain a voice. Crucially, we need major unions to recognise Labour is no longer a Party worth backing, a Party which can’t be trusted with their members’ money. Starmer is intent, like Blair, on making Labour a Party safe for wobbly Tories, a Party which refuses to challenge capitalism, a Party which celebrates rather than deplores huge disparities of wealth, a Party which fails to recognise that wealth buys power and mocks democracy. Let him lead such a foolish and confused Party. There is a better one waiting to be born.
Stay calm, no panic, fight your ground, when Israel starts another war/gobbles up the West bank, the Israel fan club will be desperate for air, then would be the time to remove the oxygen, not when/if Corbyn gets booted out
That’s what they hope that you leave, their ‘friends in the media will starve you of a fair hearing, they know that the leavers will wither and die the new movement will get quarantined
In fact a premature split in Labour would be a suicidal mistake
Who thinks these things up?
The Tories are struggling to find ways to make Starmer look bad. An easy task under the previous leader. The Tories are already nostalgic for Corbyn as the gift that kept on giving and giving.
Sir Kier must now endure a two pronged attack from both the powerful and savvy Tories and the fanatical toxic Israel fixated far left.
An unholy alliance of right and left both displaying similar and disturbing characteristics and both with an obsessive desire to see Starmer fail.
We live in strange times.
Ah Johnny Turk I see you are quoting from Andrew Rawnsley’s pack of bullshit in the Guardian yesterday. Stoogie Starmer deserves to be attacked from more than two prongs. The Tories don’t need to work to make Stoogie look bad he’s doing it himself. The left are acting with dignity they don’t need to say or do anything other than regroup behind the scenes the Right are acting like power mad fanatical fascists let’s call them the ‘rabid right’. I don’t see the left as actively campaigning for Starmer to fail – he’ll do that on his own, in fact, he’s already doing that. I don’t know anyone on the left who is a “Israel fixated far left” I do know people who are serious critics of Israel’s massacre, torture and lack of a proper justice system for Palestinians. Two different things. It’s Starmer and the right who are fixated on Israel – not the left.
One thing I can say for certain though, is that the ECHR report will be exactly like the Panorma programme, it will not be impartial, in keeping with establishment interests, it will support the anti-semitism issue and, just like the Panorama programme, it will be based on lies, inaccuracies, a lack of impartiality and a total lack of evidence. The head of the ECHR is Jewish as is it’s deputy. Additionally, the ECHR is now part of the Government – it has been taken under Government control. that’s an indication of something. Let’s put it this way – the ECHR, just before the start of the GE campaign, made a public declaration they were instigating a formal investigation into anti-semitism in the Labour party, thus ensuring that Labour went into a General Election with this over their heads. That’s interference with elections if you ask me. Now the very same ECHR having received a very serious complaint by the Muslim Council of Britain against the Tory Party with a mountain of documentary evidence, has allowed the Conservative Party to conduct it’s own investigation thereby ensuring that they went into a General Election without this hanging over their heads. Go figure.
Who is interfering with elections? Not the Russians that’s for sure.