Jamie Driscoll has slammed Labour bosses and accused them of not trusting the party’s members, after he was blocked from standing to be the first North East mayor because he shared a stage with filmmaker Ken Loach.
The serving North of Tyne mayor has urged Sir Keir Starmer to overturn a ruling that has barred him from Labour’s candidate selection contest for next May's planned election, which will see a new mayor elected to cover a larger combined authority stretching across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and Durham. Labour sources have confirmed that the left-wing mayor’s exclusion was down to his appearance with the I, Daniel Blake director, who was expelled from Labour in 2021 amid efforts to tackle antisemitism experienced in the party during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, at Newcastle’s Live Theatre in March.
A party source said it was “impossible” for Mr Driscoll to be put on the mayoral candidate list because of that event, which the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) called “hugely upsetting” at the time, and his subsequent refusal to apologise. But the former Newcastle councillor has defended his actions and questioned why the party has now blocked his election campaign but did not take any action against him in March.
The Unite union has also called the decision of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) a “major mistake”. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) in Jesmond on Sunday, Mr Driscoll said he had not been the subject of any antisemitism complaints and that the party should “just let members have a vote” on who will be their mayoral candidate – though he did not rule out standing in the 2024 poll as an independent.
Asked if he regretted or would apologise for the Ken Loach event, he said: “The JLM haven’t been in touch… no one has been in touch, no one from the Labour Party has been in touch. Nobody complained. There were Jewish members there and nobody seems to think there was anything wrong, except when it came to the selection.”
Mr Driscoll said he was “not a spokesperson for Ken Loach” and that the theatre discussion was about the acclaimed director’s North East-set films. He had earlier spoken on Sky News, where he called Labour’s decision “anti-democratic” and said that his North of Tyne Combined Authority had adopted the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism and that he had been on training with the JLM.
Questioning why no sanction was issued to him after the Ken Loach event was held, the mayor told the LDRS: “They wait until a selection. They don’t even tell me knowing that I had launched my campaign, then at the last second it’s ‘you can’t be a candidate’.
“I am the sitting mayor now, I am going to be mayor until May next year no matter what happens with the selection and whether they reverse this decision or not. Why is it okay for me to be mayor now, but not okay for me to be mayor in the future? That does not stand up to any kind of logical scrutiny.”
Mr Driscoll, who has been described as the last Corbynista in power, claimed that party officials were “coming for me anyway” and that he had previously been refused access to data and the opportunity to speak to members.
Having been chosen by party members to stand in the 2019 North of Tyne poll and then winning that election, Mr Driscoll said he was “convinced” that he would have prevailed in this summer’s selection contest – in which the other candidates are Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness, ex-MEP Paul Brannen, and Newcastle councillor Nicu Ion.
He added: “The basic principle of our justice is that you are judged by your peers, so why are we not letting members make this judgement? The only thing you can say is that they don’t trust the judgement of the members and that, I think, is an increasing trend in the Labour Party.”
The mayor said: “This is going to damage the Labour Party, kicking out someone with a good track record who members and the public have already voted on. They really should just let members have a vote. That is all I am asking for, just to have the same chance as anyone else.”
Mr Driscoll has vowed that he will "absolutely” see out his term as North of Tyne mayor, which ends next May, and would not leave the party even though he would like a “much bolder” policy platform on issues such as privatised utility companies. Asked if that meant he would not stand as an independent in the mayoral election, he said: “I want to stand as the Labour candidate, so I am absolutely going to pursue that. We will see what happens. Either way, I am going to run my term out.”
As the LDRS broke news of Mr Driscoll’s exclusion on Friday, Labour said that “some applicants did not meet the threshold required to proceed to the longlist stage” but gave no further explanation .
But a party source said on Sunday that “Jamie caused great hurt and upset" by appearing with Mr Loach. They added: "He then refused to apologise and has repeatedly done so again in the media today. Those decisions have consequences - namely, that it was impossible for him to go forward as a Labour candidate.”
They added: "He was judged by his peers, a panel of democratically elected NEC members, who unanimously judged him inappropriate to be a candidate."
The decision has sparked outrage on Labour’s left and was described by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham as a “major mistake”. She added: “What is emerging from Labour is a pattern of behaviour to literally take out any MP or mayor who backs key manifesto demands on the re-nationalisation of energy, action on rampant profiteering and investment in UK steel.”
Mr Driscoll also received messages of support from several prominent Conservatives, including Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, ex-Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, and former Levelling Up secretary Simon Clarke. Ken Loach called the treatment of the mayor “dishonest” and said the reason given for his barring was the “lamest excuse I’ve ever heard”.
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