Corbynite MP banned from standing in general election
Lloyd Russell-Moyle told party activists in his Brighton Kemptown constituency that he had been blocked after a ‘vexatious’ complaint about his conduct
Labour has suspended a leading Corbynite MP and banned them from standing in the general election in a move that will further diminish the left’s influence under a Starmer government.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a former shadow minister who has served as MP for Brighton Kemptown since 2017, told party activists in his constituency that he had been blocked as a candidate after a “vexatious” complaint about his conduct.
In a WhatsApp message seen by The Times, Russell-Moyle — an outspoken left-winger — said he had been suspended “out of the blue” by Labour HQ on Tuesday.
He has been told by party officials that the disciplinary process will not conclude before the close of nominations and that he will not be allowed to stand in the general election.
His suspension comes a day after The Times revealed that Labour had resolved to block Diane Abbott, the veteran leftwinger who was the first black woman elected to parliament, as a general election candidate if she did not agree to step down.
It is another blow to an already enfeebled Labour left, which now faces losing another relatively safe seat to a candidate favoured by Sir Keir Starmer’s advisers.
In his message to his local party, Russell-Moyle said his suspension had “come out of the blue”, and wrote: “There isn’t enough time to defend myself as these processes within the party take too long, so the party have told me that I will not be eligible to be a candidate at the next election.”
Dismissing the complaint against him as a deliberate act of sabotage, he added: “This is a false allegation that I dispute totally and I believe it was designed to disrupt this election.”
He said that he was “gutted” by the decision but nonetheless stressed that he hoped to contribute to public life under a Labour government.
Russell-Moyle, 37, was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn who quickly found himself at odds with the Labour leadership after his appointment to Starmer’s frontbench in 2020.
He resigned as a shadow minister that July after accusing the Harry Potter author JK Rowling of using her experience of domestic abuse to justify a “divide and rule” campaign of discrimination against trans people. He later apologised and withdrew his remarks.
Having won a majority of 8,061 in his Brighton seat in 2019, his suspension opens up yet another vacancy that Labour’s national executive committee — tightly controlled by allies of Starmer — will be able to fill in the coming days.
Labour is also poised to suspend a parliamentary candidate dubbed the “Chingford Corbynite” after she liked a series of tweets dismissing antisemitism accusations from the “hysterical” Israel lobby and claiming the party was “institutionally Islamophobic”.
Faiza Shaheen, an academic, is running for the second time against the former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith in the hyper-marginal seat of Chingford and Woodford Green in northeast London.
She has publicly stated that she would not have joined the party were it not for Jeremy Corbyn and once declared: “I literally dedicated my whole life to the left movement during the Corbyn years.”
Last week, Shaheen, 41, was reported to have liked a Twitter post claiming those who were mildly critical of Israel were “assailed” by “professional organisations” who inflict “non-stop harassment” and “accuse you of antisemitism”.
The Jewish Labour Movement said it had received complaints from residents concerned by the “tone” of her remarks. At the time, the party declined to comment.
However, those close to Sir Keir Starmer are preparing to drop her candidacy after being made aware of other posts she liked or shared that variously expressed support for the Green Party, claimed Labour was “institutionally Islamophobic” and accused Israel of genocide.
A final decision is expected to be made by the party’s National Executive Committee, which is dominated by supporters of the leader, when it meets next week.
Until this morning, the leadership was relatively relaxed about replacing her and was of the view that Shaheen herself expected to be suspended. But the decision has been complicated by the backlash to a story in The Times revealing that
Starmer’s allies are planning to suspend Diane Abbott, the Hackney North MP.
Sue Gray, the leader’s chief aide, is said to have expressed concerns about the political fallout of suspending another candidate on grounds likely to prompt accusations of factionalism.
A Labour spokesman said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
It is understood the party views the allegation against Russell-Moyle as sufficiently serious as to have warranted his immediate suspension.
