Sebastian Payne

Harriet Harman: we are not purging Corbyn supporters

The summit on the integrity of the Labour leadership contest is over and interim leader Harriet Harman described it as a ‘routine’ and ‘useful’ meeting. Although she is ‘confident that there won’t be questions over the integrity of the result and there aren’t any bases for legal challenges’, some of the numbers released on the number of infiltrators are pretty high.

3,000 ‘cheats’, as Harman described them, have been excluded from voting so far but the final number could be substantially higher. Harman has suggested the selectorate would be ‘fewer than 600,000. It will be over half a million’ — meaning there are tens of thousands of rogues still to be weeded out. Around 60,000 people are expected to be excluded once the process is complete. Either way, this means the party has a lot of checking still to do.

Following the meeting, Harman spoke to BBC News and assured Corbyn supporters that the infiltration operation is not designed to purge his supporters from the party:

‘If they don’t support the Labour Party’s aims and values, they don’t get a vote.

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