In what looks very much like the final act of a major political purge, senior figures within the UK Labour have said that their former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, will never be allowed to run for the party again.
Jeremy Corbyn, a politician largely seen as the darling of the hard political left in Britain, will likely never be allowed to stand in an election for the country’s Labour Party again, senior figures from inside the organisation have reportedly said.
Corbyn had been the leader of the party up until 2020, when he was ousted from his position following an extremely poor showing in the 2019 general election.
Things only went from bad to worse for the old-school socialist when he was suspended from the party for decrying media reporting into alleged antisemitism in Labour as “dramatically overstated for political reasons”, with the party’s new Neoliberal ascendency under Sir Keir Starmer demanding that he apologise for the claim.
However, according to a report by The Guardian, even if Corbyn now apologizes “unequivocally, unambiguously and without reservation” for his comments — as the party leadership originally demanded — senior party figures now believe that it is highly unlikely he would ever be allowed to run for office on behalf of the group again.
“Jeremy Corbyn is never getting back in,” one unnamed senior figure from within Labour reportedly told the publication. “He would be toxic to our chances of winning back some of the seats we need to win back.”
Such a claim was reportedly echoed by key Corbyn supporters, who have said that the former Leader himself appears to be the only person who has not “fully realised” he will never be resuspended.
Suggestions that Corbyn is now gone for good from Labour appear to reflect continued efforts by Neoliberals within the party to implement a purge against a far-left.
Since his ousting before the COVID pandemic, key far-left supporters of Corbyn have been routinely marginalised, while ascendent senior figures in the party have pushed for a more centrist and pro-British image of Labour to emerge.
Sir Keir himself has routinely backed the use of the UK’s union flag — something largely looked down upon by leftists within the party — with the new leader openly supporting Labour becoming a more “patriotic and proud” organisation.
However, such a purge will likely not be without consequences, with it being unclear how Sir Keir plans to unseat Corbyn should he decide to run again in the next election as an independent.
While party activists have told The Guardian that they are confident they would win the seat, Corbyn has huge backing within his own London constituency, with supporters saying that he is well respected for his local politics.
To make matters worse for Labour, rumours are now circulating that — if turfed from the party — the former Labour leader may even run to become London mayor in 2024, a move that could see him split the vote of Labour incumbent, Sadiq Khan.
“Jeremy would win and plenty of people around him are urging him to do it,” one key supporter of the ousted politician reportedly told The Mail.