- Sputnik International, 1920
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Get Woke, Go Broke: Labour Lays Off 90 Staff as Leaders Purge Left-Wingers

© AP Photo / Kirsty WigglesworthJeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, right, and John McDonnell Shadow Chancellor on stage during the Labour Party Conference at the Brighton Centre , Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, right, and John McDonnell Shadow Chancellor on stage during the Labour Party Conference at the Brighton Centre , Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. - Sputnik International, 1920, 21.07.2021
Subscribe
The Labour Party’s finances were reportedly in a good state when former leader Jeremy Corbyn stood down, but since then 100,000 members have left — soon to be followed by 1,000 more from four left-wing groups proscribed by the National Executive Committee.
The Labour Party has announced 90 redundancies and only has enough funds to pay salaries for a month — while hiring new staff to help purge left-wing members.
Inside sources told website LabourList that it was “all kicking off” on the staff WhatsApp group after Party General Secretary David Evans announced the cuts, saying there was “no Q&A” at the meeting and “no mention of staff welfare”.
The sources said the financial crisis was due to Labour haemorrhaging more than 100,000 members since Sir Keir Starmer assumed the leadership in April 2020 — and spend large sums dealing with anti-Semitism allegations against the party.
To add insult to injury, left-wing website The Skwawkbox spotted party adverts for 30 to 50 "temporary investigation officers" on six-month contracts to probe complaints against members.
Evans reacted angrily on Tuesday to leaks of the news to the Guardian.
“I am angry that this has happened because of the impact it will have on party staff,” the senior official wrote to staff. “Whoever has done this should be ashamed and they have let our party staff down”.
Starmer's critics were quick to point out that he inherited a bumper bank balance from his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn — who he swiftly suspended from the party.
Euro 2020 - Final - Italy v England - Sputnik International, 1920, 16.07.2021
World
‘Death Spiral’: Ex-Labour Voters Don’t Even Know Who Keir Starmer Is
A meeting of the Labour National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday evening took the widely mooted decision to proscribe four left-wing organisations within the party, potentially meaning the expulsion of some 1,000 activist members.
One of those groups is the long-established Socialist Appeal, the remnants of the Militant Tendency that was banned from the party in the 1980s by leader Neil Kinnock. The faction is closely associated with Corbyn’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, and organised the Hands Off Venezuela campaign in support of the South American country’s socialist government.
The others are Labour Against the Witch-Hunt, which opposed the expulsions of members accused of anti-Semitism, the Labour in Exile Network which welcomes expelled members — including former London mayor Ken Livingstone — and Resist.
"We welcome this decision and the strong political signal it sends – membership of these groups is incompatible with Labour’s values and its drive to tackle antisemitism in our party," a spokesperson for the Jewish Labour Movement, a constant critic of Corbyn's leadership, said on Tuesday.
Dozens of members of those groups protested outside the Labour head office in Westminster on Tuesday against the decision being taken at a virtual online meeting.
"We're here supporting those fighting Kier Starmer's purge of people in the Labour Party, including my brother," Piers Corbyn told a reporter.
Asked if anti-Semitism was an issue in Labour under his brother's leadership, Corbyn said: "It was entirely fictitious."
"My brother's not anti-Semitic. I'm not anti-Semitic. No Corbyn has ever been," he added.
Starmer has faced criticism for failing to substantially oppose Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government on policy or legislation — as well as disastrous results in the May 6 elections, when it lost the once-safe Parliamentary seat of Hartlepool and control of several councils.
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала