On both the right and left of the Labour party, one article of faith has always seemed to be set in stone: the idea that you can pursue progressive dreams using no end of skulduggery and nastiness, and never worry about the contradictions. Whether they have been Blairites, Brownites, disciples of Jeremy Corbyn or servants of Keir Starmer, a certain kind of Labour high-up has always thrived on a loathing and mistrust of their internal enemies, and a drive to seize control of the party machine. What this entails is always the same: manic apparatchiks – men, usually – stalking around party offices, desperately trying to fix the selections of parliamentary candidates, and dispensing off-the-record briefings about whichever figures are deemed ready for liquidation.
But on this score, as Boris Johnson causes yet more Tory chaos and Labour’s chances of leading the next government solidify, the current leader and his team seem to be in a league of their own. First came the withdrawal of the Labour whip from Corbyn. Just over a week ago, Jamie Driscoll, the elected mayor of the North of Tyne area, was kept out of the running to lead the new north-east region, with no official notification of why, or any right of appeal (the reason given to the media is his appearance at an arts event alongside the film director Ken Loach, expelled from the party because of his membership of the proscribed organisation Labour Against the Witchhunt, which claimed that allegations of Labour antisemitism were “politically motivated”).
