The Sunday Times has reported that Jeremy Corbyn will stand as an independent candidate at the next general election. The details are foggy, but activists are rumoured to have approached printers about leaflets. At the very least, it seems Corbyn is testing the waters.
If the former Labour leader does try to hold his seat as an independent, it will not be an easy task. In all of the party’s history, excluding full-blown party splits in the 1930s and 1980s, there are just four ex-Labour MPs who won their seats as independents against Labour candidates. Three were elected in the early 1970s — just as Corbyn was cutting his teeth as a young Labour activist. They offer valuable lessons for his potential independent candidacy.
In 1970, the Merthyr Tydfil Labour Party overwhelmingly voted to deselect its “cantankerous” MP of 35 years, S.O. Davies, on the grounds that he was too old. The octogenarian MP retorted, “I am physically fit,” and defiantly stood as an independent. Voters remained loyal to Davies, but the local Labour Party may have had a point. Just 20 months after his re-election, Davies was dead.
Before the February 1974 election, Blyth Labour MP Eddie Milne was narrowly deselected by his local party after calling for an investigation into corrupt practices by party councillors in the area. Milne, who said he had “perfected the work of helping constituents to a fine art” and had risen through the trade union movement, held the seat.
From these two rare successes, Corbyn can take heart. Like Davies, Corbyn has represented the same constituency for decades. Like Milne, he has a reputation for being a diligent constituency MP. We do not know yet whom Labour will select in Islington North, but they would be wise to choose someone who is a better fit than Milne’s challenger, a posh QC called Ivor Richards.
But Corbyn’s independent candidacy is not just a product of eccentric local party disputes. It is part of a battle for the soul of the Labour Party. Is Keir Starmer’s party a broad enough church to tolerate figures like Corbyn or Diane Abbott? Arguably, Starmer is the least pluralist leader in Labour’s history, willing to impose a rigid ideological discipline not even Hugh Gaitskell, Neil Kinnock or Tony Blair would have conceived.
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SubscribeWho exactly would miss him if he didn’t get re-elected?
All those not-very-active “grass roots” activists who joined Labour on Len McCluskey’s £3.00 easy subscription plan and voted Corbyn in as leader of the party – perhaps?
I suspect they have mostly left the Party by now.
The antisemites.
Well, yes. That is a fair point.
He’s always been an Independent. Within the Labour Party he never knowingly followed the party line; his voting history is testament to that!
If he stands and wins then that is democracy.
But if I look through a very cloudy crystal ball he could be a Member of Parliament while the Conservative Party implodes through uselessness and the Labour Party schisms into several factional parties. And that would be democracy too.
Democracy indeed, but that will confirm our suspicions about Islington – a breeding ground of fashionable Woke prejudice.
Its tough for independents to win but its certainly possible and his totemic status for Labour’s left wing gives him a foundation above and beyond his strong reputation as a constituency MP. His long-term, unequivocal support for the Palestinian cause also plays extremely well with Labour’s support at this time.
Before the uptick in hostilities in the middle east I would have put his chance at around 30-70. Now I’d have him at about 60-40.
Of course he will try to retain his seat-who else is going to bung him £93k + expenses + pension for doing….err….
Wouldn’t agree with him on many things but having worked with him on an issue where he was very supportive, I hope he retains the seat & wish him well.
It’s terrifying how these rejects can keep coming back to haunt us, Corbyn, Trump, and so many others.