LAST UPDATE | 30 May
WITH A GENERAL election campaign underway in the UK, the Tories are not the only party whose members and leadership are at odds.
While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has felt the need to tell Conservative MPs that campaigning is not optional, after one member flew off to Greece on holiday this week, Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott has accused her party leader Keir Starmer of an “appalling” cull of left-wing members as she faces continued uncertainty about her own political future.
However, Starmer has insisted he is not trying to block left-wingers from standing for the UK Labour party.
Voters will go to the polls across the UK on 4 July this year.
Appalling. Whose clever idea has it been to have a cull of left wingers? https://t.co/bDNrmACfRN
— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) May 29, 2024
Abbott said she wanted to fight to retain her seat “as long as it is possible” but she criticised decisions made by Labour to exclude candidates from the left of the party, whose influence Starmer has sought to marginalise since taking over as leader.
Starmer insisted no decision has yet been taken about whether Abbott – who in 1987 became the first black woman elected to the UK Parliament – would be allowed to defend her seat in London.
He said today he wants the “highest quality” candidates to stand and added: “The situation in relation to Diane Abbott is that no decision has been taken to bar her and you have to remember that she was a trailblazer as an MP, she overcame incredible challenges to achieve what she achieved in her political career.
“But I’ve always had the aspiration that we will have the best quality candidates as we go into this election.”
A number of candidates have complained about their treatment by the party’s leadership.
Starmer is being accused by Labour politicians of removing some left-wing candidates from contention and then “parachuting” new candidates into contest seats at short notice ahead of the election.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who was MP for Brighton Kemptown, said he has been suspended by Labour over what he called a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” against him, and that he cannot stand under the Labour banner at the election.
Another candidate, Faiza Shaheen said she was in a “state of shock” after being blocked by the party from running for Labour.
In response, Abbott said: “Appalling. Whose clever idea has it been to have a cull of left wingers?”
Shaheen got into hot water after attention was drawn to a post she liked on social media about criticising Israel, which critics said fed into antisemitic tropes. She told the BBC that she recognised what was wrong with the post and said she didn’t remember liking it.
She has complained of double standards in the Labour party when it comes to dealing with Islamophobia.
Shaheen told BBC’s Newsnight: “On top of Gaza, on top of Diane Abbott and now this to me, when there’s such clear double standards of how other people have been treated when stuff has happened … what message are you sending my community? What message are you sending the black community?”
The Labour Muslim Network said the treatment of Shaheen was “unacceptable”.
Shadow cabinet minister Darren Jones denied there had been a “purge” of the left, telling Times Radio: “I don’t think that’s true. I mean, there are many colleagues of mine in the Parliamentary Labour Party who would define themselves as being on the left who are endorsed Labour Party candidates standing in their constituency.”
A member of Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) said ultimately it would be a decision for Starmer whether Abbott was allowed to defend her seat.
Abbot had the Labour whip suspended in April 2023 pending an investigation after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people experience prejudice but not racism.
The whip was restored on Tuesday but Abbott said she was “dismayed” by reports that she could be barred as a candidate.
Another Labour candidate, Mish Rahman, told Times Radio: “Keir Starmer hides behind technicalities. He’s been hiding behind the independent process technicality for a while when actually, as we’ve now discovered, the independent process ended in December.
“Now he’s hiding behind the NEC.”
Rahman said the NEC “will rubber stamp” a list of candidates during the General Election process, but claimed “it will be the leadership’s decision” whether to include Abbott on the list, because the leadership “holds a majority on the NEC”.
He added: “So when Keir Starmer says, ‘oh, the NEC will decide’, at the end of the day, it’s more lawyer talk. It’s him and his action which will actually decide whether Diane Abbott is a Labour MP or not.”
Labour’s General Election campaign has been overshadowed by the internal chaos over selections.
Russell-Moyle said he was “gutted” after receiving an “administrative suspension letter” and being told he could not stand as a Labour candidate.
In a statement sent to the PA news agency, he said: “Someone (who remains anonymous to me) has made what I believe to be a vexatious and politically motivated complaint about my behaviour eight years ago. This is a false allegation that I dispute totally and I believe it was designed to disrupt this election.
“There isn’t enough time to defend myself as these processes within the party take too long, so the party have told me that I will not be eligible to be a candidate at the next election.”
A Labour spokesperson said the party “takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken”.
With reporting from Press Association
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