A mural of Jeremy Corbyn on the North Nineteen pub in Sussex Way, Archway, created by Sam Collins

JEREMY Corbyn said this week that he will never stop fighting for his constituents as he was officially blocked from standing for Labour again.

Some have seen his comments as a signal he is prepared to stand as an independent candidate in Islington North at the next general election.

He has represented the area in parliament for more than 40 years but on Tuesday Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) voted to bar him.

It approved a motion proposed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer himself, which said the party’s electoral prospects would be “significantly diminished” if Mr Corbyn was the candidate again.

This effectively took the decision out of the hands of the Islington North Constituency Labour Party, and local organisers immediately described it as an attack on democracy within the party.

“We reject the NEC’s undue interference in Islington North, which undermines our goal of defeating the Conservatives and working with our communities for social justice,” a statement released on Tuesday evening said.

Mr Starmer removed the whip from Mr Corbyn after his response to the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s investigation into complaints of anti-Semitism and how they were handled by the party. It found that it had breached the Equality Act.

Mr Corbyn said in response that “one anti-Semite is one too many” and that he supported the report’s recommendations for change, but added that “the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents both inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media”.

He has since been accused of playing down the scale of the problem in the party, but his supporters say he has never underestimated the threat of racism and has campaigned against it his entire life.

In response to the NEC’s vote this week, Mr Corbyn – who worked closely with Mr Starmer during the period that he led the party – said: “I will not be intimidated into silence. I have spent my entire life fighting for a fairer society on behalf of the people of Islington North, and I have no intention of stopping now.”

Jeremy Corbyn

When asked by the Tribune if he intended to run as an independent, Mr Corbyn said: “Any further decision about my future will be guided by the people who have supported me for 40 years: the people of Islington North.”

He added: “This isn’t about me. It’s about the politics of redistribution that so many of us defend. I have campaigned my entire life for the principles of equality, sustainability and peace. I have no plans to stop fighting for a fairer world.”

Mr Corbyn told the Tribune he felt the local party had been treated with “utter contempt by Labour leadership,” who he accuses of launching “an attack on their democratic rights”.

He added: “Local party members – not party leaders – should be allowed to choose who their parliamentary candidate is.”

Islington North has long been a safe Labour seat and Mr Corbyn has always been returned with wide majorities.

He is still regularly invited to community events across his constituency where he is often stopped for selfies by residents.

Phil Graham, a councillor for Bunhill, said: “It’s a disgraceful decision and the motion itself was disgraceful. It should be up to members of Islington North to decide who should represent them, as they’ve done for the last 40 years.

“The party is shooting down a fantastic local MP who everybody appreciates … If this is allowed to stand, then democracy in the labour party has gone out the window.”

He added: “The Left has been under threat since Keir Starmer started. It just feels like it’s the Keir Starmer show or there’s no show at all. He’d like to call me a Marxist or a Leninist, but he’s almost behaving like Stalin.”

Before his motion, Mr Starmer had already publicly said Mr Corbyn would not be allowed to stand and openly said that anybody who did not like it was free to leave.

Cllr Graham said: “It [the party] should be a broad church, and everyone should be able to have their voice heard.

He said it was “really positive” that the CLP had made a statement rejecting the NEC decision, and added: “I wouldn’t expect anything different from Islington North – they’re strong lads and ladies over there.”

He said: “I will stay as long as Jeremy stays or until I’m kicked out. I still believe in fighting from within and trying to bring it back to its socialist roots from within.”

Sir Keir Starmer proposed the NEC motion

Mr Corbyn responded to the outpouring of solidarity by telling the Tribune: “I have been immensely grateful for the support they [local Labour councillors] have shown me – and I will continue to work alongside anybody who shares our community’s values of care, inclusion and solidarity.”

Mr Starmer was accused of being “like some kind of Putin of the Labour Party” by Momentum founder Jon Lansman earlier in the week.

Former Islington Council leader Dame Margaret Hodge, now the Labour MP for Barking, called Mr Lansman’s comments “half laughable,” and said: “It’s totally inappropriate and ridiculous to compare a dictator fighting a war to someone who has zero tolerance against racism in the form of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and who is fighting for what is right.”

She has been one of the Mr Corbyn’s loudest critics in recent times as he faced claims that anti-Semitism was rife and that the party was slow to respond and understand how Jewish members felt.

Mike Katz, the chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said this week was a “new dawn” for the party, without Mr Corbyn.

Mr Starmer later commissioned Martin Forde KC to oversee an independent inquiry into racism, sexism and bullying in the party.

His report said that anti-Semitism had become a “factional weapon” by both wings of the party.

David Rosenberg, a Jewish retired teacher who has lived in Islington for 27 years, called the allegations of anti-Semitism against Mr Corbyn “a witch hunt”.

“The justification in the motion, it’s interesting because it never mentions any of the anti-Semitism stuff, and I know why it doesn’t – because it’s libellous,” he said. “Corbyn is not an anti-Semite and he has not allowed anti-Semitism in the party. If you have a right-wing faction in control of the NEC now, it can decide what’s disadvantageous to Labour without any reference to the local parties or constituencies. Jewish members locally and Jewish constituents have been supporters of Jeremy.”

Mr Rosenberg left the Labour Party last year.

Andy Bain, chair of Islington Trades Union Council (TUC), said: “When and where Jeremy chooses to make his future political career, the TUC would be supportive of that.

“We’re disgusted by the actions of Starmer intervening in local democracy to stop Jeremy standing.”

Julia Bard, a member of Islington Friends of Jeremy Corbyn, said: “The Labour Party leader has trampled on the democratic rights of party members and insulted the tens of thousands of Islington North residents who have elected and re-elected Jeremy Corbyn over nearly 40 years.”

Many London MPs have swung behind the decision including David Lammy and Wes Streeting. Islington South MP Emily Thornberry could not be reached.