Keir Starmer has written a motion to block his former “friend” and predecessor Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour MP at the next election. He will officially put forward the motion at the National Executive Committee meeting tomorrow, seconded by Shabana Mahmood MP. Starmer claims it is “not in the Labour Party’s interests, and its political interests at the next general election”, to allow the man he campaigned twice to make Prime Minister to stand for Labour…

Read the full motion below:

UPDATE: Corbyn responds

“Today, Keir Starmer has broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the democratic foundations of our Party. I have been elected as the Labour MP for Islington North on 10 consecutive occasions since 1983. I am proud to represent a community that supports vulnerable people, joins workers on the picket line and fights for transformative change.

This latest move represents a leadership increasingly unwilling to offer solutions that meet the scale of the crises facing us all. As the government plunges millions into poverty and demonises refugees, Keir Starmer has focused his opposition on those demanding a more progressive and humane alternative.

I joined the Labour Party when I was 16 years old because, like millions of others, I believed in a redistribution of wealth and power. Our message is clear: we are not going anywhere. Neither is our determination to stand up for a better world.”

Read Starmer’s motion in full below:

This meeting of the NEC notes:
1. the Labour Partys purpose is to organise and maintain in Parliament and in the country a political Labour Party;
2. the NEC’s primary purpose, pursuant to Chapter 1, Clause VIII.2 of the Labour Party Rule Book, to provide a strategic direction for the Labour Party as a whole to secure the Labour Partys objectives, and the NEC’s key function to win elections and maintain the support of voters, pursuant to Chapter 1, Clause VIII.2.B of the Labour Party Rule Book;
3. the NEC’s responsibility to act in the best interests of the Labour Party as a whole to further, as best as it can, the Labour Party’s best political interests and its political position in the country;
4. that the Labour Party has not secured a Parliamentary majority in the House of Commons since 2005;
5. that, in the 2019 general election, led by Rt Hon. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party returned 202 MPs to Parliament, being the lowest number of Labour Party MPs returned since the 1935 general election; and
6. Mr Corbyn is currently a member of the Labour Party and an Independent MP for Islington North; and
7. that the Labour Party’s standing with the electorate in the country, and its electoral prospects in seats it is required to win in order to secure a Parliamentary majority and/or win the next general election, are both significantly diminished should Mr Corbyn be endorsed by the Labour Party as one of its candidates for the next general election.
This meeting of the NEC considers and agrees that:
8. in order to effect the NEC’s primary purpose to maximise the Labour Party’s prospects of winning the next general election, and to avoid any detrimental impact on the Labour Party’s standing with the electorate in the country as a whole;
9. 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; and

10. it is not in the best interests of the Labour Party for it to endorse Mr Corbyn as a Labour Party candidate at the next general election. Accordingly, this meeting resolves that: 11. Mr Corbyn will not be endorsed by the NEC as a candidate on behalf of the Labour Party at the next general election; 12.the General Secretary write to Mr Corbyn immediately after this meeting to advise him of the above; and
13. Mr Corbyn remains a member of the Labour Party and, save as set out above, his rights to attend Labour Party meetings and voting rights afforded under the Labour Party Rule Book remain unchanged.
Proposer: Keir Starmer Seconded: Shabana Mahmood