Jeremy Corbyn 'WILL stand as an independent at election'

Jeremy Corbyn ‘WILL stand as an independent at the next election’ sparking major party row after being shut out of Labour by Keir Starmer

  • Mr Corbyn has sat as an independent MP since losing the whip in October 2020 
  • Said allegations of anti-Semitism during his time in charge were exaggerated 
  • Starmer argues party’s election hopes ‘not well served’ by Mr Corbyn running

Jeremy Corbyn has decided to run against Labour at the next election, setting up a major party row, if he is frozen out by Sir Keir Starmer today.

The hard-left former party leader faces being officially barred from standing for Labour in Islington North in a vote by its ruling NEC today that was instigated by his successor.

Mr Corbyn has sat as an independent MP since losing the whip in October 2020, when he said that allegations of anti-Semitism during his time in charge had been exaggerated by his political opponents. 

Allies expect him to announce he will run anyway by the end of this week, in a move which would mean his automatic expulsion as a member. One told the Times: ‘It has become personal.’

His Parliamentary allies continue to push for him to be allowed to run, with MP Beth Winter making the extraordinary demand he be cleared ‘in the interests of General Election success’.

Under Mr Corbyn’s leadership at the 2019 election, Labour suffered its worst result since the 1930s, handing Boris Johnson an 80-seat majority. 

The hard-left former party leader faces being officially barred from standing for Labour in Islington North in a vote by its ruling NEC today that was instigated by his successor.


Mr Corbyn has sat as an independent MP since losing the whip in October 2020, when he said that allegations of anti-Semitism during his time in charge had been exaggerated by his political opponents.

His Parliamentary allies continue to push for him to be allowed to run, with MP Beth Winter making the extraordinary demand he be cleared ‘in the interests of General Election success’.

Mr Corbyn remained tight-lipped on his future plans but insisted he and his allies were ‘not going anywhere’

Ed Miliband, himself a former party leader, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I’m not privy to exactly what goes on in the National Executive, but I don’t think there is any mystery about the background to today’s discussion at the National Executive Committee.

‘It’s about one thing, which is about Jeremy Corbyn’s reaction to the EHRC report on antisemitism and his refusal to apologise for that reaction. That is the background of this. I don’t think there’s any mystery about that.

‘Keir Starmer said some weeks ago that he didn’t believe Jeremy Corbyn should be a candidate at the election and that is obviously a decision the National Executive will have to make.’

The motion is expected to be backed by the NEC in opposition to the veteran MP who has represented the London constituency of Islington North since 1983.

It argues ‘the Labour Party’s interests, and its political interests at the next general election, are not well served by Mr Corbyn running as a Labour Party candidate’. 

He ruled out Mr Corbyn standing again for Labour last month, as he insisted the party has undergone a transformation since he took over.

Sir Keir confirmed the move after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) lifted Labour out of two years of special measures over its failings on antisemitism under Mr Corbyn.

Mr Corbyn is sitting in the Commons as an independent after he was suspended over his response to the damning EHRC report in 2020 which found that Labour had broken equalities law.

He accused Sir Keir of ‘undermining the party’s internal democracy’ ahead of the vote. 

Members of Labour’s left-wing expressed their fury at Sir Keir’s action and branded him ‘duplicitous’, as they highlighted how the Labour leader has previously described Mr Corbyn as a ‘friend’. 

Ms Winter, the MP for Cynon Valley in Wales, said: ‘I believe Jeremy Corbyn being allowed to stand would broaden Labour’s appeal. NEC members should uphold the right of CLP members to conduct a selection process including Jeremy.

‘In the interests of General Election success, I urge NEC members to withdraw the motion.’

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