As polling day approaches and parties hastily select candidates amid the resignation of MPs, Starmer is on a mission to purge left-wing leftovers from the Corbyn era. The internal chaos at LOTO has overshadowed the start of Labour’s campaign, with questions as to whether Diane Abbott will be banned from standing at the election. Sparking outrage across the board…
Meanwhile, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the former MP for Brighton Kemptown, said Labour has suspended him over a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint,” preventing him from running as well. A third, Faiza Shaheen, has also had Labour’s support withdrawn over antisemitism accusations, and won’t be Labour’s candidate for Chingford & Woodford Green. Coordinated…
The simultaneous announcements of the selections of Starmer allies added a Stalinesque touch to the purge:
So much for Starmer’s pledge to not interfere with candidate selection and have a more “democratic” process. Gone are the days of Starmer’s promise to to unite the Labour Party and also “retain the radicalism of the last four years“. When he won the leadership contest, Starmer pledged: “We are not going to trash the last Labour government…nor are we going to trash the last four years [under Jeremy Corbyn].” Now it’s clear he’s ditched that commitment – Starmer is pretty serious about governing without Corbyn’s chums on the backbenches…
Rosie Duffield has reported fellow Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle to the party’s chief whip after he told her he planned to attend a bin worker strike picket line in her Canterbury constituency. According to LabourList, Duffield “rais[ed] concerns” about Russell-Moyle’s visit after he contacted her about his plans in advance, as per parliamentary convention. While Duffield isn’t commenting on the exact nature of her complaint, the pair have history…
Earlier this year, Russell-Moyle shouted and jeered at Duffield during a Commons debate on gender identity, and later apologised for going overboard in “an emotional debate”. Last Sunday he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, where he claimed that Duffield had “supported people who have abused [him]“, and insisted things had gotten “too heated” – as though he wasn’t the one to explode in the Commons in the first place. Clearly there’s still no love lost between them…
Tory MP Paul Bristow just made a point of order in the Commons rightly condemning the behaviour of Lloyd Russell-Moyle on the green benches last week. While Russell-Moyle has already apologised for failing to control his “passion” during his screed at Miriam Cates last week, his decision to then sit directly next to her on the Tory benches has also sparked outrage. Surely just a coincidence…
I’m so glad this creepy weird behaviour has been called out today. Not content with screaming abuse at my friend Miriam Cates after her speech on Wednesday, @lloyd_rm plonked himself onto the Conservative benches to intimidate her pic.twitter.com/cI7kFCRhI1
— Laura Farris MP (@Laura__Farris) January 20, 2023
Deputy Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton also responded, although hedged her bets a bit by claiming “it is very difficult for me to know what was in the honourable gentleman’s [Russell-Moyle’s] mind” when he sat a yard away from the woman he’d just screamed at. Doesn’t seem that difficult to Guido…
This morning, Lloyd tweeted:
It is not uncommon at the end of a debate for people to sit at different seats while waiting to enter the chamber or the lobbies.
I had no concept that this was making any member feel awkward and would never do anything to deliberately intimidate anyone in or out of the chamber.
Guido will let observers decide whether Russell-Moyle’s seating decision was a mere coincidence…
While the parliamentary authorities continue gathering evidence against professional nuisance Steve Bray, Marco Longhi has lost his patience and suggested a new solution for making Whitehall a No-Bray Zone: locking him up in the Tower of London…
Speaking in the Chamber yesterday afternoon alongside Bray’s arch nemesis Lee Anderson, Longhi said:
“I will not dignify his existence by tarnishing Hansard with his name, but there is a noisy man outside who dresses up as a clown and harasses and chases Members of Parliament and our staff from his little camp on the crossing island on Parliament Street. He is someone else who serves no public benefit whatsoever… This person needs to have his loudspeaker system confiscated and to be moved on. Personally, I would like to see him locked up in the Tower with a loudspeaker playing “Land of Hope and Glory” on repeat at maximum volume. The Met really should deal with him.”
Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle intervened to offer swapping offices with Longhi so that “there will be no problem and we will not need to shut down free speech either”. For once, Guido’s almost inclined to agree with Russell-Moyle – putting up with Bray’s squawking is a sign we’re a tolerant democracy. Besides, there are other effective ways of dealing with him…
