Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will stand as an independent candidate in Islington North after being suspended by the party.
Corbyn was barred from Labour by Starmer in 2020, after saying the scale of antisemitism in the party had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons.”
Corbyn oversaw Labour’s antisemitism crises which culminated in the party being reported to the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2019. The EHRC found Labour responsible for three breaches of the Equality Act.
During his first speech as leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer apologised for the party’s antisemitism.
Labour formally blocked Corbyn from running for Labour at the next election in March 2023, a decision that the party’s National Executive Committee reached in under 90 minutes.
The party will be mounting a candidate to replace Corbyn at the July 4 election and has whittled down its search to two candidates.
Sem Moema, a member of the London Assembly, and Praful Nargund, an Islington councillor, have been shortlisted.
Labour members in Islington North will vote for their candidate, with the postal ballot opening this Friday. Next Wednesday, an online hustings will see both candidates deliver speeches, and the winner should be declared on June 1.
The contest between Corbyn and Labour will be fiercely contested, with the war in Gaza a hot issue for the independent MP who has held his London seat since 1983.
But Labour is set to win, with the Electoral Calculus predicting it has a 100% chance of election success in the constituency.
Meanwhile, it is unclear if Corbyn’s political ally, Diane Abbott, will be allowed to stand on a Labour ticket in nearby Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
Abbott had the whip suspended in April 2023 pending an investigation into a letter she wrote in the Observer suggesting that Jews are not subjected to the same racism as other minorities.
The letter stated that Jewish, Irish and traveller communities have experienced “prejudice”, but added: “This is similar to racism and the two words are often used as if they are interchangeable.”
After a mass outcry, the former shadow home secretary withdrew her comments and apologised “for any anguish caused”.
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