LABOUR MAYOR CLAIMS ‘SWORD OF DAMOCLES’ IS HANGING OVER MPS AS RIFT OVER PURGE OF CANDIDATES GROWS
A Labour politician who has been blocked from running as Mayor of the North East has said candidates feel the “sword of Damocles” is hanging over them and makes the party look undemocratic to voters.
Jamie Driscoll is currently North of Tyne mayor but has been excluded from the longlist to run the new expanded authority that will replace his role.
The move is the latest example of a left-leaning candidate being blocked from running under the oversight of Sir Keir Starmer, and it has prompted a backlash against the Labour leadership.
Speaking to i, Mr Driscoll put pressure on Sir Keir to reconsider the decision and “let the people of the North East choose”, with allies of him arguing that the move made the party look undemocratic and opaque.
“It is no secret that I support the policies that Keir Starmer got elected on, but obviously as he has changed his position I haven’t changed mine. My loyalty is to people in the North East,” Mr Driscoll said.
“Voters are going to look at the Labour Party and think this is really antidemocratic – if the members do not want to vote for me I don’t mind that but why aren’t they being given the choice?
“This looks like people from the central office dictating what people in the North East can vote for. Why do people in a panel in London think their judgement is better than our members? I think that is actually a bit of an indictment if you do not trust your party members to choose.”
Mr Driscoll said he had not spoken with Sir Kier since he was blocked from standing as a candidate.
He said, however, “a lot” of Labour MPs – some senior ones – have reached out to share their support. “They are saying ‘I can’t believe they have done this, they are out of control’ and I had one person saying they I wake up on the basis thinking they are going to get an email [telling them they have been deselected].”
“There are a lot of people who think the sword of Damocles is hanging above them. This is not the way you reassure the public that we are a democratic organisation.”
Labour sources said that the decision was taken because Mr Driscoll did not meet the standards required to win the mayoral contest – with one shadow Cabinet member suggesting he was not likely to win.
But Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and his counterpart in the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram claimed the move does not seem “democratic, transparent and fair”.
And Unite, the party’s biggest union donor, has also warned of “serious consequences” over the “major mistake” of barring Mr Driscoll’s candidacy.
A senior Labour source linked the decision to Mr Driscoll sharing a panel with film-maker Ken Loach, who was expelled from the party amid efforts to root out antisemitism from the party.
But this was dismissed by Mr Driscoll, who said that he was being excluded from the party before he shared a stage with Mr Loach at the event.
Figures on the left of the party have blamed “factionalism” under Sir Keir’s leadership.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The North East Mayoralty is a unique opportunity for the people of the North East to take more control over the way our region is governed, with powers over housing, education, skills, transport and so much more.
“The Labour Party holds its candidates to a very high standard. During this process, some applicants did not meet the threshold required to proceed to the longlist stage. We do not comment on individual applications.
“Local members now have a fantastic longlist of candidates from which they will choose the Labour Party’s candidate to be the very first North East Mayor.”
2023-06-05T21:02:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd