Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee is to debate a motion later this month calling on the leadership to restore the whip to Jeremy Corbyn.
Committee members Ian Murray and Nadia Jama have tabled a motion branding the on-going exclusion of Corbyn from Labour’s Parliamentary Party as “deeply divisive”.
And they warn that Labour could be punished at the next election by the voters of Islington North, who have elected the controversial politician for four decades.
While the NEC has no power to force Labour Chief Whip Alan Campbell to admit Corbyn back into the parliamentary party, the debate provides a fresh rallying point for the left and a new headache for leader Keir Starmer - who claimed at conference last year that Labour had “closed the door” on the antisemitism row which has engulfed the party for years.
Corbyn was suspended in October, 2020, after claiming that antisemitism within Labour had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons” despite the damning findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission exposing the scale of the crisis.
He was readmitted to the party within two weeks by the NEC but the leadership has held out against demands to let him back into the parliamentary fold.
The motion was tabled after claims from Corbyn allies that he was considering quitting Labour and setting up his own party, having given up hope of being let back in.
According to the story, the new party could take the name of the Peace and Justice Project, which was set up last year as a “political hub for socialists, community activists and trade unionists”.
The motion said withholding the whip effectively disbarred Corbyn from re-selection as MP for Islington North, the constituency he has represented since 1983.
This, it claimed, would be “extremely disrespectful” to voters in the constituency who had “overwhelmingly” elected him as their MP for four decades.
It also cautions of an “added danger” that voters would seek to “punish” the leadership risking the seat and creating a “huge media storm in the process”.
It is also understood the Forde Report will also be on the agenda at the January 25th meeting.
The report is the result of an inquiry led by Martin Forde QC into the so-called ‘Labour leaks’ report: an internal document leaked online in 2020 that detailed Labour’s handling of antisemitism complaints.
It was written by party staff during the EHRC probe into Labour antisemitism but was not sent to the EHRC.
It denied that antisemitism cases were treated differently by the party than others and described toxic in-fighting at Labour’s headquarters.
Since the explosive report was leaked the party has been subject to legal action by people named in it.
The Forde Report was commissioned by Sir Keir Starmer but its publication has been on hold for almost a year until the Information Commissioner’s Office concludes its own report into the same leaks.
