Starmer kills Corbyn’s chances of standing for Labour again

Oh, Jeremy Corbyn. The onetime Labour leader is this morning contemplating the end of his political career after his successor declared he would not be standing as a Labour candidate at the next election. At a press conference to welcome the Equalities Commission’s decision to take the party out of special measures for anti-Semitism, Sir Keir Starmer told reporters that:

Let me be very clear about that. Jeremy Corbyn will not stand for Labour the next general election as the Labour party candidate. We are not going back and that is why Jeremy Corbyn will not stop as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

Corbyn of course is still a card-carrying member but had the Labour whip removed back in October 2020 after claiming that anti-Semitism in the party had been overstated for political reasons. Sir Keir’s move today has a dual purpose: it distances himself from his predecessor and opens the door to proscribing Momentum, the ‘party within a party’ established to support Corbyn during his leadership.