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Labour has shot itself in the foot over Corbyn
DIANE ABBOTT MP argues that there is no good reason to block Jeremy Corbyn as a Labour candidate
POLITICAL CHALK AND CHEESE: Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer

NO good reason has been offered for the blocking of Jeremy Corbyn as a Labour candidate at the next election. There was certainly no good reason advanced in the motion that went to the NEC.

Instead, the flimsiest pretext was offered in the text of the motion itself, which I criticised at the time as being without logic or precedent. The stated reason for blocking him was that “the Labour Party’s interests, and its political interests at the next general election, are not well served by Mr Corbyn running as a Labour Party candidate.”

The rationale for this judgement was threadbare, simply arguing that Labour’s very bad result in the 2019 general election, which no-one disputes, was sufficient to claim that Corbyn being a candidate that the next election would “diminish” Labour’s electoral prospects nationally and that this was sufficient grounds to block him.

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