Veteran filmmaker Ken Loach has said he has been expelled from the British Labour Party in a “purge” of critics of the leadership.
Loach, 85, a life long socialist, said he had been ejected after he refused to “disown” other critics from the Labour left who had already been removed.
The move comes after the party last month expelled four associated groups on the grounds that they were “not compatible” with Labour values.
Loach is best known to an Irish audience thanks to the Cillian Murphy-starring The Wind That Shakes The Barley, which covered Ireland’s War of Independence against Britain.
He later looked at Ireland following the Civil War with Jimmy’s Hall in 2014.
'Labour HQ finally decided I'm not fit to be a member of their party, as I will not disown those already expelled. Well...' KL
— Ken Loach & Sixteen Films (@KenLoachSixteen) August 14, 2021
A supporter of former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Loach has long expressed his political viewss through films such as Kes, I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You.
Among the groups recently excluded from the party were those which had been critical of current leader Keir Starmer’s efforts to tackle anti-Semitism within the party’s ranks.
In a defiant series of tweets, Loach insisted that the “clique” around the Labour leader would never ultimately prevail.
“Labour HQ finally decided I’m not fit to be a member of their party, as I will not disown those already expelled,” he said.
“Well, I am proud to stand with the good friends and comrades victimised by the purge.
“There is indeed a witch hunt.
“Starmer and his clique will never lead a party of the people.
“We are many, they are few. Solidarity.”
Reporting by PA
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