Last night Derek Hatton claimed that he has successfully rejoined the Labour Party 29 years after they expelled him. Hatton — who joined Labour with the Trotskyist group Militant — boasted about his membership on Newsnight while defending Jeremy Corbyn. ‘In my pocket I’ve got a Labour Party card,’ he said, after tweeting a picture of his card earlier this year:
https://twitter.com/DegsyHatton/status/603809448004562944
While he may have the card, Mr S is sorry to report that he doesn’t have a vote. The Labour Party are adamant that he is not a member. Bizarrely they say cards are sent out automatically before the membership is approved:
.@BBCNewsnight No – he applied to join earlier in the year and his application was rejected. Card is sent out automatically.
— Labour Press (@labourpress) July 27, 2015
The fact that this means Hatton will not be allowed to vote should bring a glimmer of hope to Corbyn’s leadership rivals following concerns that the hard left are attempting to infiltrate the party ahead of the leadership vote.
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