Jeremy Corbyn has “no intention of standing as an independent,” his close ally Diane Abbott has claimed after Sir Keir Starmer ruled him out of being a Labour candidate at the next General Election.
The former Shadow Home Secretary also explained political differences between the two men as being partly down to Islington North MP Mr Corbyn being “in his heart of hearts a Brexiter”.
Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Ms Abbott was speaking just hours after Sir Keir killed off any chance of Mr Corbyn standing as a Labour MP at the next election, expected in 2024.
Asked whether he may stand as an independent in the north London seat, she told The News Agents podcast: “No, no. Jeremy has been a member of the Labour Party from before either of you were alive… He has no intention of standing as an independent.”
Speaking after a major speech on Labour’s future, Sir Keir for the first time unequivocally barred his predecessor from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election as he invited his critics to quit the party.
On an "important day" for Labour, Sir Keir welcomed the equalities watchdog's decision to lift the party out of two years of special measures over its past failings on tackling allegations of antisemitism.
He used a speech on Wednesday to invite his opponents on the Labour left to leave the party which he said is now "unrecognisable" from its form under Mr Corbyn.
"Let me be very clear, Jeremy Corbyn will not stand at the next general election as a Labour Party candidate," Sir Keir said in east London.
"What I said about the party changing I meant and we are not going back."
Mr Corbyn will speak to Labour members in his Islington North constituency before deciding his next steps, according to sources.
But his allies expect Sir Keir to have the powers to prevent any challenge for the candidacy against the leadership's wishes.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had been monitoring Labour since ruling in 2020 that it was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination under Mr Corbyn.
But on Wednesday the watchdog judged that, under Sir Keir, Labour has improved its complaints and training procedures to protect current and future party members.
Mr Corbyn was suspended from the parliamentary party over his response to EHRC's damning report in 2020 and now sits as an independent MP.
The former leader rejected the moves against him as “political” and stressed that he was “always determined to eliminate all forms of racism”.
Sir Keir has long indicated that Mr Corbyn will not stand again for Labour but this is the first time he confirmed the barring of the veteran who led the party to two election defeats.
If Mr Corbyn decides to run as an independent candidate for the constituency he has represented for 40 years, Labour would come up against his personal popularity in Islington North as well as a potentially distracting row with the left-winger.
Sir Keir reiterated his vow that anyone who plays down antisemitism will be treated with "zero patience or tolerance" and acknowledged it is not "the end of the road" for tackling the issue.
"I understand that some people won't like the changes we've made but I say this with all candour, the Labour Party is unrecognisable from 2019 and it will never go back," he said.
"It will never again be a party captured by narrow interest, it will never again lose sight of its purpose or its morals. And it will never again be brought to its knees by racism or bigotry.
"If you don't like that, if you don't like the changes we've made, I say the door is open and you can leave."
Appearing on the News Agents podcast, Ms Abbott argued that Islington North Labour party, rather than the leadership, should decide if Mr Corbyn can stand there as a Labour MP.
She stressed: “I would remind you of what Keir Starmer said, the day he was elected as leader, and what he said was ‘I want to pay tribute to Jeremy Corbyn, who led our party through some really difficult times, who energised our movement, and who’s a friend as well as a colleague’. And he went on to say, ‘and to all of our members, supporters and affiliates, I say this, whether you voted for me or not, I will represent you, I will listen to you and I will bring our party together’.
“And in that spirit, I think that Keir will let due process take its course. And as you know, Jeremy is a member of the Labour Party, and therefore it should be a matter for local party members to decide whether they want him to be their candidate or not.”
She was also asked about the relationship between Sir Keir and Mr Corbyn.
“Well, they had a perfectly good relationship as far I knew, a perfectly friendly relationship. The only thing that they differed on was that Jeremy, in his heart of hearts is a Brexiter and Keir Starmer at that point, was passionately pro-European,” she responded.
Pressed on this issue, she added: “Yes, I’ve known Jeremy a long time. Remember in the 80s, when he was sort of starting out in the party,
“Tony Benn, who was a huge hero to all of us, and a hero to the Labour Party grassroots, he was anti EU. He saw it as a conspiracy of business people and so on. So, that was the common view on the left in the 80s. And I think it’s the view that Jeremy still held.
“But Jeremy has always been about uniting the party, he knew most party members were pro-European. But himself, I would say, deep down he was a Brexiter.”
Asked how Mr Corbyn would have voted in the 2016 EU referendum, she said: “He would have voted Remain. Because that that was the policy of the party.”
