Councillor Phil Graham has been suspended for supporting Jeremy Corbyn

LABOUR members who have campaigned and canvassed for the party in Islington for decades are fragmented over the decision to impose a new candidate in Islington North.

Some who spoke to the Tribune this week – often under condition of anonymity – said they would either refuse to join the doorstep campaign, take their efforts elsewhere or even help Jeremy Corbyn’s independent campaign.

CLP officers had already criticised how the selection had been handled, but added after the decision to simply name Praful Nargund as the candidate: “This the final stage in an egregiously undemocratic selection process,” the statement read, “Once again, the national Labour party has shown contempt for hard working and dedicated members who campaigned relentlessly to re-elect the London Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.”

Mr Corbyn was expelled from the party on Friday after announcing in the pages of the Islington Tribune that he would be standing as an independent – and effectively against the party he had first joined as a teenager.

The disciplinary fallout then continued when Bunhill councillor Phil Graham was suspended from the party after he openly backed Jeremy Corbyn on social media.

Mr Graham has previously been critical of Labour’s decision to bar Mr Corbyn from running as the Labour candidate.

In response to his suspension, he told the Tribune: “All I’ve done is stick to my principles. That’s all I can do. Supporting someone against Jeremy is against my principles.”
Mr Graham further criticised the direction of the Labour party as they challenge for power on July 4.

“They’re still trying to get the support of Tory gammon voters,” he said,

“They need former Tory voters to get into power. But they shouldn’t be bringing themselves down to the lowest common denominator. The party has sunk to a really really bad level.”

When asked how long he expected to be suspended for, Mr Graham said: “How long is a piece of string? This is the Labour party we’re talking about. You can be suspended forever.”

But he said that as an Independent sitting on the council benches, he would continue to campaign for the issues that people voted for.

Other members are not waiting to be forced out, and insiders say that more than 20 have already resigned their membership in protest.

Jeremy Corbyn, pictured winning in Islington North in 2019

Eamonn O’Tierney, who has been a member of the Labour party in Islington since 1990, said the Jeremy Corbyn situation had been “divisive”.

He said: “When the election was called I couldn’t campaign for a Labour party led by Starmer. He doesn’t have any principles, he doesn’t have any imagination.”

Mr O’Tierney ex­plained that he subsequently left the party. “I’ve known Jeremy for a long time,” he said. “Now I’m no longer in the party I am free to campaign for him.”

He stated that the decision to impose a candidate on the membership was “just evidence that the leadership doesn’t have any principles,” adding: “It’s been captured by one faction.”

Having left the party that has been a part of his life for more than 30 years, Mr O’Tierney said that he “felt a bit bereft”. “I put a lot of effort into the Labour party,” he said. “It’s been a big part of my life.”

Councillor Matt Nathan, who represents Clerkenwell Ward, quit the Labour party a year ago and now sits on the Town Hall benches as an independent.

He said there was a “chilling of democracy” within the Labour party, and added: “My position is that a local party should be able to choose its candidates. Fundamentally, this is about how democracy works in this country and the Labour party hasn’t allowed that to run its course.”

Whilst some have been outspoken about their decision to support Mr Corbyn in his campaign, others say they will discreetly campaign for Mr Corbyn whilst remaining members of the Labour party, and wait to see whether they face suspension or not.

One local ward officer – who did not wish to be named – told the Tribune that they planned to quietly campaign for Mr Corbyn, without leaving the Labour party.

“I won’t be able to turn out a single member of my ward to support Praful because they are so angry about being ignored, even if they’re not big Corbyn supporters,” they told the Tribune.

They added: “People who were ward officials would normally be asked to assist him, but nobody has. They haven’t even bothered to ask us. Many people wouldn’t assist him because they don’t like the processes. It’s poor politics and it isn’t democratic.”

Asked whether they were concerned about being suspended from the party, the ward officer said: “I’m expecting to be suspended. But if the Labour Party no longer supports the things I believe in, then I haven’t left it, it has left me.”

Pete Gilman, who has campaigned for the Labour Party in every election since 1964, similarly said that he would openly support Mr Corbyn’s bid to continue as MP for Islington North and wait to face the consequences.

“I’ve delivered thousands of leaflets, I’ve knocked on thousands of doors, and stuffed many many envelopes,” he said.

“But the way they have treated Jeremy Corbyn is disgusting. Keir Starmer said anyone who supports Jeremy Corbyn will be expelled, I have to face that [but] I’m staying in the Labour Party until they expel me.”

Meanwhile, many Labour councillors will simply keep quiet as the election continues to unfold in Islington North.

Mr Graham said that although it was expected that anyone who openly campaigned for Mr Corbyn would be suspended, councillors understood that “nobody will be disciplined for not campaigning [for the Labour candidate] in the North”.