Jeremy Corbyn has been backed by local party members to run as a candidate in his north London constituency at the next general election.
The former party leader was blocked from standing as a Labour MP by Sir Keir Starmer earlier this year.
But on Wednesday night party delegates in Islington North passed a motion expressing that it was their “democratic right” to select the candidate they wanted to fight the next election.
The motion, which thanked the veteran MP for “his commitment and service to the people”, passed with 60 votes and one abstention.
Following the vote Mr Corbyn said: “I love my job and I want to carry on doing it.”
He told the Standard: “Today I’m focused on doing what I’ve done for the past 40 years. Campaigning to end poverty, homelessness and inequality on behalf of the people of Islington North.”
A Labour party source said the vote held “no weight at all”.
Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) in March approved a motion from Sir Keir Starmer to prevent Labour endorsing Mr Corbyn as an MP candidate.
It stated that allowing him to stand would “significantly diminish” Labour’s chances of “winning the next general election”.
He criticised the Labour leader, claiming Sir Keir had “launched an assault on the rights of his own Labour members, breaking his pledge to build a united and democratic party”.
Mr Corbyn has since hinted that he may stand as an independent candidate in the constituency he has represented since 1983 and there are rumours he could be considering running to be Mayor of London.
He led Labour to defeat in the 2017 and 2019 general elections, but has remained a popular figure on the left of the party.
Sir Keir suspended him as a Labour MP in 2020 after he said the scale of antisemitism within Labour had been “dramatically overstated” by political rivals.
It was in response to a highly critical report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission into the party’s handling of complaints under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
The NEC readmitted him to the Labour Party as a member in November 2020 – but he remains blocked from representing the party in Parliament and sits as an independent MP.
In a statement on Thursday, Corbyn said: “As the government lurches from crisis to crisis, we should be offering a more hopeful alternative rooted in social, economic, racial and climate justice.
“We need a political strategy that inspires people to believe in a fairer, kinder and greener world.
“I have spent the past 40 years campaigning alongside my community for a mass redistribution of wealth, ownership and power. That is what I’ll continue to do.”
It is unclear if the national Labour Party will take any disciplinary action against the Islington Labour branch for going against the national party and continuing to support the former leader despite his suspension.
Joe Scott
May 24, 2023 at 9:54 pm
Will they EVER learn…