Lawson has said the party has been "captured by a clique who see only true believers or sworn enemies"
The director of Compass, Neal Lawson, has claimed the Labour Party is expelling him. Compass is a progressive, cross-party campaign group.
Lawson made the claims in an article for the Guardian. In his article, Lawson wrote: “Last Friday an email from the Labour party – of which I’ve been a member for 44 years – broke my political heart. They wrote coldly to tell me that back in May 2021, I’d committed a crime: retweeting a Lib Dem MP’s call for some voters to back Green candidates in local elections, accompanied by my suggestion that such cross-party cooperation represented “grownup progressive politics”. My punishment? Expulsion.”
Elsewhere in the piece, Lawson writes a damning critique of Labour, accusing the party of having been “captured by a clique who see only true believers or sworn enemies”, who are “behaving like playground bullies”.
Lawson is known as a vocal campaigner for reform to Britain’s electoral system.
Left Foot Forward has contacted the Labour Party for comment but have not yet had a response. However, according to the Guardian, a Labour spokesperson has said it is ‘entirely false’ that Lawson has been suspended. They added: “He was served with a notice of allegation seven days ago, putting claims to him that he expressed support for Green party candidates in 2021. He has 14 days to respond. He is yet to do so.”
Lawson’s claims have sparked outrage from groups within the Labour Party. A spokesperson for left wing faction Momentum condemned the expulsion. They said: “This is yet another shameful attack on democracy and pluralism from Starmer’s Labour machine.
“Neil Lawson is a highly respected campaigner for electoral reform and a more cooperative politics. Yet because he has criticised Starmer’s leadership on issues like proportional representation and an anti-democratic party culture, he has now been purged from the party.
“It is clear that for this authoritarian Starmer leadership, no progressive voice is acceptable.”
This article was amended at 15:10 on 30 June 2023 to reflect the statement from a Labour spokesperson
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Evelyn Simak – Creative Commons
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