A retraction and apology to John Harris

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

In his latest column, Paul Richards referred to the Trotskyite group Militant, and claimed that the Guardian journalist John Harris, amongst others, “orbited around them, and never really recovered from the early taste of fanciful left-wingery”.

In fact, as he has explained in print, in 1986, aged 16, Harris helped to found one of the few branches of the Labour Party’s youth section not controlled by Militant, was a staunch and active opponent of their activities and ideology, and was driven out of his branch as part of an organised process of Militant infiltration. He went on to give evidence as part of proceedings to expel their members from the Labour Party.

We are happy to set the record straight, have amended the original post accordingly, and apologise to John Harris for the error.