Jeremy Corbyn accused of hypocrisy in Alastair Campbell expulsion
Jeremy Corbyn attends the launch of his party's European election campaign. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images - Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Critics have uncovered instances in which Jeremy Corbyn and his allies have supported other parties, raising accusations of hypocrisy around Alastair Campbell's expulsion from Labour.
Alastair Campbell speaks to the media outside his home in north London after he was expelled from the Labour Party for admitting he voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
The former Labour communications chief was expelled for publicly stating that he voted Liberal Democrat in the EU elections, in order to send a pro-Remain message to Labour.
READ: Alastair Campbell expelled from Labour Party after voting Lib Dem
The Labour Party has pointed to its policy by stating that anyone "who joins and/or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour group or other unit of the party" will "automatically be ineligible to be or remain a party member".
But in 2014, Labour aide Andrew Fisher was only suspended when he wrote, in a tweet that has since been deleted, that people should vote for the Class War candidate rather than Labour's Emily Benn.
"FFS...If you live in Croydon South, vote with dignity, vote [Class war Candidate]" quoted Benn in a tweet following the Campbell furore.
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Just six months after Fisher's suspension Corbyn was praising him as "a fantastic person and a fantastic policy advisor," according to Politics Home.
Corbyn's own affiliations with far-left parties has also come into the picture, with Twitter account @CorbynTimes sharing a 1997 flyer for a Communist Party of Britain advertising Corbyn as a speaker.
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Additionally, the account shared an article of Corbyn saying "Why I support the Morning Star", a paper founded by the British Communist Party.
Other Labour-turned-Lib Dem voters have turned to Twitter with the hashtag #expelmetoo.
"Would the @UKLabour Party like to expel me too, then? And every other lifelong Labour Party member who voted Lib Dem last Thursday?" tweeted Mary Burgess.
"Alastair Campell @campbellclaret does not deserve this treatment any more than the rest of us. We have been badly let down."
Critical comparisons have also been made to the Labour Party's handling of antisemitism accusations within its membership.
Owen Smith, Labour MP for Pontypridd, tweeted: "So we can't expel anti-semites or people who openly advocate violence or voting for fringe hard-left rivals, but we can expel [Alastair Campbell] because he voted Lib Dem - like 1000s of other Labour members and voters last week? What a joke."
Jess Phillips pointed out that a holocaust denier in her constituency has only been suspended.
Campbell himself added that Corbyn had almost been kicked out for his persistent rebellion in the New Labour era, but he and Tony Blair had decided "there is always a place for it in democratic politics".
READ: We nearly kicked Jeremy Corbyn out of Labour over his disloyalty
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