davidjay wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:55 pm Today has been a perfect example of Corbyn's political incompetence. Starmer clearly wanted rid of him; one apology, one statement of regret and it would have been much harder. Either he wasn't even astute enough to see it or he thought it beneath him.Also the perfect illustration of his stubbornness and vanity.
Jeremy Corbyn has resolved to run against Labour as an independent candidate at the next general election, The Times has learnt, as the former leader warns that he is “not going anywhere”.
Friends of the MP for Islington North said that he will confirm his intention to run as an independent as early as this week if Labour’s ruling national executive committee approves his successor’s plan to bar him from standing for election under the party’s banner.
Corbyn’s decision follows months of speculation over his intentions in the event that Sir Keir Starmer moved to formally block him from standing as a Labour candidate. It sets up an ugly electoral battle that some shadow cabinet ministers fear Corbyn win, four decades after he first took the seat.
Sources said he was determined not to be seen to capitulate to Starmer, who will ask Labour’s ruling body to bar Corbyn’s candidacy on the grounds that it will “significantly diminish” the party’s chances of winning the next election.
“It’s become personal. There will be an announcement by the end of the week,” said one source, while another Corbyn ally said: “The debate is over. He will stand.”
In a statement Corbyn did not address his future but nonetheless struck a defiant note. Corbyn’s office declined to comment on the prospect of an independent run but sources familiar with his thinking did not deny that an announcement of an independent candidacy would come this week.
Corbyn said: “I joined the Labour Party when I was 16 years old because, like millions of others, I believed in a redistribution of wealth and power. Our message is clear: we are not going anywhere. Neither is our determination to stand up for a better world.
“Today, Keir Starmer has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our party,” the statement added.
“I have been elected as the Labour MP for Islington North on ten consecutive occasions since 1983. I am proud to represent a community that supports vulnerable people, joins workers on the picket line and fights for transformative change.
“This latest move represents a leadership increasingly unwilling to offer solutions that meet the scale of the crises facing us all. As the government plunges millions into poverty and demonises refugees, Keir Starmer has focused his opposition on those demanding a more progressive and humane alternative.”
Starmer’s team will relish the prospect of an election battle with Corbyn but must now find a candidate to run against him in a constituency where he has a loyal following. Several Islington councillors whose wards are in Corbyn’s constituency are understood to have rebuffed invitations to stand against him.
“He could win,” a senior party source said. “It depends on what his local party and councillors do. None of them will want to be the candidate.”
- By Spoonman
- By Yug
- By zuriblue