“Mistake” to prevent Corbyn from standing for Labour, McDonnell says

John McDonnell has said it is a “mistake” for Keir Starmer to prevent Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate after the Labour leader confirmed that his predecessor would not be allowed to stand for Labour at the next election.

In an interview with the BBC’s World At One programme earlier today, the former Shadow Chancellor and Corbyn ally said: “I think it’s a mistake for Keir to try and bar Jeremy Corbyn from standing. But it’s not just about Jeremy, it’s much more fundamental than that.”

The Labour backbencher said: “It’s something more fundamental than whether it is Jeremy Corbyn or me or anyone else is allowed to stand. The issue for us is that we were created as a coalition of a whole range of different political views, a broad church, as we describe it.

“And the norms of our party, the normative values of our parties, is to have that sort of mutual respect for those different views and hold together.

“That includes ensuring that we have democratic procedures where the rights of our party members is to enable them to select the candidates of their choosing, and to undermine that flies in the face of everything that we stand for.”

Starmer gave a speech on Wednesday following the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) announcement that it has concluded its monitoring of the Labour Party, which began following the equality regulator’s investigation into allegations of antisemitism within the party.

When asked following the speech whether Corbyn would stand for Labour at the next election, Starmer said: “Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour at the next general election as a Labour Party candidate.

“What I said about the party changing I meant, and we are not going back, and that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stand as a Labour candidate.”

In a statement released on Wednesday evening, Corbyn said: “Keir Starmer’s statement about my future is a flagrant attack on the democratic rights of Islington North Labour Party members. It is up to them – not party leaders – to decide who their candidate should be.

“Any attempt to block my candidacy is a denial of due process and should be opposed by anybody who believes in the value of democracy.

“At a time when the government is overseeing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, this is a divisive distraction from our overriding goal: to defeat the Conservative Party at the next general election.”

The former party leader had the whip suspended in October 2020 following his response to the publication of the EHRC’s report on allegations of antisemitism within Labour.

Reacting to the report, which found Labour was responsible for “unlawful acts”, the MP for Islington North claimed that “the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents”.

Corbyn was reinstated as a Labour member in November 2020, but Starmer subsequently decided not to restore the Labour whip, meaning the former leader sits as an independent MP.

McDonnell said today he thinks Starmer has “completely misunderstood Jeremy’s position”, adding: “None of us should downplay the position with regard to antisemitism. As all of us have said, ‘one anti-semite in our party is too many’. We’ve all got to tackle it, and I welcome that.”

He told listeners: “What Keir promised when he was standing for the leader of the party, he said he would oppose and end the imposition of candidates by the national executive committee, and he would say that party members would be able to select their candidates for every election.”

“What Keir said, particularly around this issue about democracy in the party, is that he would uphold it, that party members would be able to select their candidates, and I’m urging him to stick to that promise, otherwise it will open up a vulnerability that the Tories will use,” the Labour MP argued.

Guidance issued by Labour last year for selecting parliamentary candidates ahead of the next general election takes longlisting powers away from local members in favour of putting the leadership in the driving seat.

Under previous guidance, longlists were drawn up by selection committees made up of the local party secretary and treasurer, an NEC representative, two affiliated organisation reps and others elected by the local party.

A rule change seeking to return longlisting powers to Constituency Labour Party (CLP) selection committees was defeated at last year’s party conference, with delegates voting against the proposal by 56.95% to 43.05%.