JEREMY CORBYN told Sir Keir Starmer today that you can’t run from your past, reminding the Labour leader that he had fully signed up to the party’s radical 2019 manifesto.
Speaking after he had formally handed in his nomination papers to stand as an independent candidate in the Islington North seat he has represented for Labour since 1983, Mr Corbyn said of Sir Keir:“I don’t think there is any need for him to diss the past or diss his involvement in it.
“When we came up to the 2019 election, the manifesto and policies and strategies were agreed unanimously by both the shadow cabinet and the national executive.”
Mr Corbyn also offered highly conditional backing to a putative Starmer government.
“It depends on what a Keir Starmer government is doing,” the former leader replied when asked.
“If he was ending the two-child benefit cap, I would support him. If he was taking Royal Mail into public ownership I would support him,” he said, identifying two things Labour is not planning to do.
A crowd of supporters burst into the once-ubiquitous chant of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” when he emerged from Islington Town Hall, having lodged his nomination papers.
Asked if he felt guilty standing against his former party, Mr Corbyn replied: “No. I did everything I could to remain a Labour candidate, but the option was closed by the party and I was not even allowed to put my name forward.”
Anger is sweeping the local Labour Party after Mr Corbyn was barred and private healthcare boss Praful Nargund imposed as candidate instead.
Two local councillors have already quit the party and others are planning to campaign for him on the quiet, courting expulsion if discovered.
Canvassers report strong support for Mr Corbyn, although confusion remains about his party affiliation, with some identifying him as Labour, unsurprisingly.
One local campaigner said that in a constituency where all classes mostly vote Labour “the gentrified streets will probably go for Labour but on the big estates the working-class voters will stay loyal to Jeremy.”
The independent candidate said he was not aligning with the Workers Party, led by George Galloway, which is standing hundreds of candidates but backing Mr Corbyn in Islington North.
“I admire George’s work on Gaza and Palestine and his lifetime determination on that. But there are issues on social policy and social justice where he and I have a different view. He probably thinks I am a bit woke.”
Galloway does indeed hold more conservative social views than Mr Corbyn, but he offered to serve under the latter’s leadership in a broad alliance of the left following his victory in the Rochdale by-election.
Mr Corbyn’s campaign is focused heavily on his local record and on appealing to Labour voters, there being few others in Islington.
“I’ve got thousands of friends in the Labour Party and many are strongly supporting my campaign.
“I hope those who have always supported Labour will understand that I am here to represent the people of Islington North with the same principles I’ve stood by my entire life: equality, democracy and peace. These principles are needed now, more than ever.”
