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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s top policy adviser suspended

Andrew Fisher, Corbyn’s policy advisor, had his party membership suspended on Friday as part of an increasingly public battle for control of the party between backbench Labour MPs and the party leader.

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Fisher was suspended for a series of tweets Fisher sent before taking the job.

Mr Corbyn insists he has “full confidence” in Andrew Fisher even though he faces possible disciplinary action by the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).

Party leader Andrew Little in his opening speech last night said he would be looking to have just a handful of key areas of focus.

The rules state that any member who “joins and/or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour group or other unit of the party, or supports any candidate who stands against an official Labour candidate… shall automatically be ineligible to be or remain a party member”.

‘I obviously do not and did not support Class War in any way, let alone in an election, ‘ he said.

Mr Corbyn said Labour’s candidate was local and understood local people while the Tory government was imposing “massive cuts” on local authorities, the police and on tax credits.

Mr Fisher, who has deleted his Twitter account, also reportedly posted messages attacking former leader Ed Miliband’s front bench and celebrating ex-shadow chancellor Ed Balls losing his seat at the general election.

“And that is, from their perspective, the right thing to have done, but that does not take away from the fact you have got a Labour Party that has a cultural civil war going on between two different wings of it”.

Mr Fisher said it was “fitting that the architect of Labour’s miserable austerity-lite economic policies should lose #Balls”.

David Cameron taunted Mr Corbyn over Mr Fisher’s left-wing reputation at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons this week, branding the former union official a “Trotskyist”.

Mr McMahon won 232 votes in the selection for the by-election caused by the death of veteran left-winger Michael Meacher, crushing the bid of left-winger Chris Williamson, former MP for Derby North, who was backed by Mr Corbyn. “I’m happy to stand forward for the Labour Party and I’m happy to show Ukip the door”.

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“These rules must apply equally to all members whether they deliver leaflets, are elected representatives or are staff in the leader’s office”, they said in a joint statement.

The leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party Nigel Farage