Sir Keir Starmer will not restore Labour whip to Jeremy Corbyn
Sir Keir Starmer is refusing to allow Jeremy Corbyn to sit as a Labour MP, despite being readmitted to the party yesterday, saying the former Labour leader had “undermined” efforts to restore trust with the Jewish community.
Corbyn was reinstated to the party by its ruling NEC yesterday, after being suspended weeks ago, however Starmer said today that the discplinary process “does not have the confidence of the Jewish community”.
Corbyn was suspended for saying Labour’s antisemitism problem was exaggerated for political purposes.
He made these comments in response to a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that found the party had illegally handled a series of antisemitism complaints and that his office had wrongly interfered in cases.
He was readmitted to the party yesterday by a five-member panel of the NEC’s disciplinary committee, after his hearing was fast-tracked.
Starmer tweeted this morning that he would not be allowing Corbyn to return as a Labour MP, but that he would keep this under review.
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“Since I was elected Labour leader, I have made it my mission to root out antisemitism from the Labour Party. I know that I will judged on my actions, not my words,” he said.
“The disciplinary process does not have the confidence of the Jewish community. That became clear once again yesterday.
“It is the task of my leadership to fix what I have inherited. That is what I am resolute in doing and I have asked for an independent process to be established as soon as possible. I’m the Leader of the Labour Party, but I’m also the Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
“Jeremy Corbyn’s actions in response to the EHRC report undermined and set back our work in restoring trust and confidence in the Labour Party’s ability to tackle antisemitism.
“In those circumstances, I have taken the decision not to restore the whip to Jeremy Corbyn. I will keep this situation under review.”
Founder of far-left Labour pressure group Momentum, and Corbyn ally, Jon Lansman said Starmer’s actions had breached the party’s disciplinary process.
“The decision not to restore the whip to Corbyn just announced has driven a coach and horses through the party’s disciplinary process, making it subservient to the parliamentary party and embedding ‘political interference’,” he said.
“The EHRC condemned exactly this kind of political interference in the process as indirectly discriminatory, potentially unlawful, lacking in transparency and consistency and undermining of public confidence in the process.”