“You have a huge responsibility to the community that has elected you and the party that has selected you and put you there so the idea, as happened with the SDP in the 1980s, that you could walk away into the arms of wealthy donors and set up some other organisation is a complete and utter anathema to me”.
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It’s that backlog that is behind numerous highest-profile and most controversial examples like Ronnie Draper, the general secretary of the Bfawu, the bakers’ union.
An angry Mr Corbyn insisted he voted to Remain in June’s referendum, accusing Smith of failing to act like a “grown-up”.
Meanwhile, thousands of other members and registered supporters are reported to have been denied a vote without being given an explanation or opportunity to challenge the decision or process.
In a statement released today Draper said, “I believe this flies in the face of natural justice”.
Meantime, Mr Draper said all he had been told was that the disciplinary action was related to an “unidentified tweet” he had posted and he believed the move was arbitrary and politically motivated. “I intend to challenge my suspension robustly and am now taking legal advice”.
The shadow chancellor had claimed that Labour “officials” were trying to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s chances in the ongoing leadership election by targeting his supporters for expulsion.
Corbyn promised greater investment if Labour wins the next general election in 2020. “We want a fair and open election”.
Adding to the recriminations is a high court battle over whether 130,000 full members who joined Labour in the past six months are eligible to vote. After the NEC ruled they were not, a group of members won a high court challenge against the decision, only for this to be overturned on appeal.
The shadow chancellor asked why action had not been taken against Labour peer Lord Sainsbury, who has given the Liberal Democrats more than £2m during the European Union referendum campaign or donor Michael Foster over an article referring to “Jeremy Corbyn and his Nazi stormtroopers”.
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On Tuesday 23rd August, I received an email from the Labour Party informing me that I have been suspended from membership. It is not known whether Sainsbury, who is on a leave of absence from the Lords, is still a Labour member.
