Jeremy Corbyn won't run with UK's Labour, leader Starmer says
Labour suspended Corbyn in 2020 after a report found that the party mishandled antisemitism complaints in a way that broke the law.
By LAHAV HARKOVUpdated: DECEMBER 5, 2022 20:44Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn acknowledges his audience prior to giving his keynote speech at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Britain, September 27, 2017.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will not run as a member of the party after his remarks on antisemitism, current Labour leader Keir Starmer said on Monday.
“I don’t see the circumstance in which he will stand at the next election as a Labour MP,” Starmer said in an interview with the BBC.
Asked if Corbyn could run against a Labour candidate as an independent in the Islington district he has represented since 1983, Starmer said: “I can only speak for the Labour Party; I can’t speak for Jeremy on this.”
Soon after, Corbyn tweeted that Labour “members should choose their candidates, devise policy, and decide what their movement stands for.”
A transfer of power away from Westminster to local communities is long overdue. The same principles of devolution and democracy should apply to our parties: members should choose their candidates, devise policy, and decide what their movement stands for.
Jeremy Corbyn, Keir Starmer and Laura Pidcock at a campaign meeting in Harlow on November 5, 2019. (credit: HANNAH MCKAY/ REUTERS)
UK Labour, Jeremy Corbyn and antisemitism
Labour suspended Corbyn in 2020 after a UK Equality and Human Rights Commission report found that the party mishandled antisemitism complaints in a way that broke the law.
The EHRC said its report, released after years of complaints that Corbyn and his acolytes were antisemitic, “points to a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.”
His suspension came on the heels of those remarks.
Labour readmitted Corbyn as a member a month later, but has not allowed him to take the party whip, meaning he remains an independent member of Parliament. The party informed Corbyn he can only retake the whip if he apologizes for his comments about the EHRC report and supports Labour’s efforts to comply with it.
