Starmer bars Corbyn from standing as Labour candidate at next election
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The former leader was reportedly suspended over allegations of “anti-Semitism".
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Jeremy Corbyn (AFP)
UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has barred his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, from running for the party in the next general election under the claim of ending "antisemitic crises that have plagued it in recent years," Bloomberg reported.
“Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour at the next general election,” Starmer said.
Starmer was commenting after the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Britain's equality regulator, claimed that Labour had made the necessary modifications to remedy Equality Act violations during Corbyn's tenure.
In 2020, the Commission warned the party that if it did not reform its culture after being found guilty of "antisemitism", it would face legal action. Corbyn, a Labour Party MP since 1983, was suspended in October 2020 after criticizing the initial EHRC report.
Starmer is attempting to move his party away from its divisive recent past and firmly position it as a government-in-waiting after 13 years of Conservative control in Britain by shutting out the experienced former leader from defending his north London seat for Labour. This comes although Corbyn's left-wing ideas drew hundreds of thousands of new members to the party.
“Today is an important moment in the history of the Labour Party,” Starmer said. “It has taken many, many months of hard work and humility to get here. It has meant rebuilding trust, not just with the Jewish community, but with all those who were rightly appalled by the culture of the party under the previous leadership,” he added.
The allegations against Corbyn came in stark contrast with his statements over the past years. In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen, Corbyn affirmed that he spent his “life opposing racism in any form whatsoever,” noting that “there is racism within our society. It has to be opposed. Being anti-black, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic.. any form of racism has to be opposed. And I will always be the one opposing it."
"I want to be proud of living in a culturally diverse, mutli-ethnic, multi-racial society."
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 30, 2022
Will the #UK accept a non-white Prime Minister?@jeremycorbyn @MoussaSrour pic.twitter.com/YOeAd1kwPJ
"I believe that the way I was dealt with in the Labour Party, and the allegations made against me were shameful, and I regained my right to membership unanimously, and I am proud to be a socialist and to be a person who believes in global solidarity, through peace and justice projects." He further asserted that "all the work that I do will always contribute to justice, peace and global understanding."
