Jeremy Corbyn has called for his 'absurd and disgraceful' suspension from the Labour Party to be reversed, allowing him to represent the party at the next general election. The former Labour leader, who was expelled from the parliamentary party over comments about an anti-Semitism investigation, made the plea during a podcast interview on Friday.
The 73-year-old independent MP for Islington North, a seat he has held for 40 years, said he has been told he can only return if he apologises for downplaying racism, which he refuses to do. 'It's disgraceful. It is absurd and disgraceful. I've been a Labour MP since 1983,' he told Global Radio's The News Agents podcast.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has effectively ruled out Corbyn standing as a Labour candidate at the next election, expected in 2024 or early 2025. In December, Starmer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I don't see the circumstances in which he will stand at the next election as a Labour MP.'
Corbyn was suspended and had the whip removed in 2020 after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found Labour responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination relating to anti-Semitism. His party membership was reinstated weeks later, but he remains an independent MP after refusing to apologise for claiming the scale of anti-Semitism had been 'dramatically overstated for political reasons'.
This week, Corbyn joined serving Labour backbenchers at rallies supporting co-ordinated public sector strikes, despite Starmer's warning that MPs should not be on picket lines 'if they want to be in government'. He appeared alongside RMT general secretary Mick Lynch and allies John McDonnell, Sam Tarry and Rebecca Long-Bailey.
