Katy Balls Katy Balls

The left begins to eat itself

As the Parliamentary Labour Party manages to — uncharacteristically — stay out of the headlines for in-fighting, over on the left of Labour trouble is brewing. A bout of civil war has broken out in Momentum, the grassroots group set up to support Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

The issue? A disagreement over just how democratic the organisation ought to be. The group’s head Jon Lansman — a former Bennite and the brains behind Momentum — has been accused of behaving in an ‘autocratic’ manner after he gave his support to a plan to allow every Momentum member to vote on motions on the future of the party, rather than be decided through a delegate system as at present. This has ruffled feathers in the organisation as the meeting of the steering committee — where it was also decided that the meeting of the national committee should be postponed until December — was arranged last-minute, meaning some were unable to attend and have a say.

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