Starmer has rigged the deputy leadership contest so no one to the left of Thatcher can win

Following Angela Rayner’s resignation, a deputy leadership election is going ahead within Labour. But the timeframe the National Executive Committee (NEC) has allocated, along with rule changes Starmer spearheaded previously, mean the process is essentially a stich up to ensure no one remotely left wing can even be selected to stand for the role.

Rule change affecting the deputy leadership election

At the 2021 Labour party conference, Starmer succeeded in passing a rule change that doubled the percentage of MP nominations that a deputy leadership hopeful must get in order to run. That percentage is now 20% or a whopping 80 MPs, making it very difficult for left Labour MPs to secure a chance to run. This is four times the number of Constituency Labour Party (CLP) nominations a deputy leadership hopeful may additionally receive, which stands at 5%. In fact, a deputy leadership hopeful doesn’t need any nominations from members if they gain such nominations from at least three Labour affiliates, including at least two unions.

Timeframe

On top of the Labour leader moving the goal posts to malign the left, the Starmerite-dominated NEC decided that the timeframe by which deputy leadership hopefuls can obtain MP nominations would be from Tuesday 9 September to Thursday 11 September. This can only be explained as a way to prevent anyone to the left of Thatcher from becoming deputy party leader. Starmer and the NEC know that the Labour membership is much more left than the parliamentary Labour party (PLP), so they want to prevent members from even having a chance to vote for a progressive candidate.

“Fix” the deputy leadership election

Speaking about the deputy leadership election process, Richard Burgon said:

I’ve been warning about attempts to fix the Deputy Leadership election – and what I’ve heard is now being proposed is the mother of all stitch-ups. Just a couple of days to secure MPs’ nominations! This is a desperate move to keep Labour members’ voices out of this race and to dodge serious discussion on what’s gone wrong over the last year – from the positions on disability benefits cuts, on winter fuel payments, on Gaza and more. This outrageous timetable shows a leadership that’s unwilling to listen and to learn the lessons needed if we’re to rebuild support and stop Nigel Farage.

And former shadow chancellor John McDonnell chimed:

Nominations close on Thursday. So no time for party members to meet in CLPs to discuss who their MP should nominate. Pretty clear leadership wants to bounce their own candidate through

Other than the right, which candidates are running?

So far, left leaning backbenchers Paula Barker and Bell Ribeiro-Addy have announced they intend to run. Both are members of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East and both voted against Starmer’s whip for the Scottish National Party (SNP) ceasefire motion in November 2023.

In a Guardian piece announcing her intention to run, Ribeiro-Addy wrote:

Our members and voters are disgusted by what they see nightly on their TV screens of the carnage in Gaza. They are also angry about what they see as the British government’s complicity in genocide, especially the refusal to stop all arms sales to Israel and the RAF flights over Gaza. They also see a willingness to meet Donald Trump’s demands for higher military spending at the cost of public services. People expect compassion and principle: welfare before warfare, to protect rather than cut vital support, and to stand firmly against racism and division.

Unfortunately, the current programme, marked by relentless cuts to welfare, military escalation and refusal to tax the wealthy, is not offering that. After 15 years of failed austerity, we know it does not work. Our country cannot be rebuilt on the same failed foundations.

But even Ribeiro-Addy notes that it’s unlikely she will get enough MP nominations to run. This can only be described as a con job from Starmer.

Featured image via the Canary