Dina Mahmoud (London)
About one month away from the legislative elections scheduled for the fourth of next July, the political arena in Britain appears full of political fluctuations, which include both major parties. The ruling “conservatives” and the opposition “workers,” amid opinion polls, still suggest that the “labor” opposition will achieve a major victory in the vote.
While internal crises continue within the ranks of the “Conservatives”, on the part of rebel movements against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s leadership of the party; Some of them are seeking to remove Sunak from his leadership position, despite the limited time remaining until the vote is held. The winds of disagreement have begun to blow among the “labor” circles as well, with accusations being directed against the leader of the opposition party, “Keir Starmer,” of launching what was described as a “cleansing campaign” against the movements that adopt trends. I lean to the left.
In statements published by the British magazine “The Week” on its website, informed political sources in London stressed that the working team of the leader of the “Labour” Party has worked throughout the past year on selecting a list of candidates who are seen to have a high chance of rebelling against the party’s leadership. Or their exposure to problems when participating in the electoral process is low.
Starmer’s critics say that he seeks to choose those close to him to compete for seats that are guaranteed to be won by Labor in the upcoming elections, and to prevent figures of a more left-wing nature from running for seats that they previously held, or at least competed for.
Among the figures whose name has been circulated in this regard is veteran leader Diane Abbott, who has a close relationship with former party leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose party membership was suspended in 2020, and who announced late last month that he would run in the electoral competition as an independent candidate.
Abbott, the first black woman to be elected to Parliament in Britain, previously held several positions in the “Labour” shadow government, including Minister of the Interior in a shadow government led by Corbyn, between 2016 and 2020. The prominent labor leader also sought to run for the Labor Party in the London mayoral elections in the middle of the last decade, but her efforts in this regard were not crowned with success.
Starmer denied that he had prevented Abbott, who has held her parliamentary seat since 1987, making her the longest-serving black MP in the British House of Commons, from running in the upcoming elections.
But reports are still continuing regarding the intention of Starmer, who is seeking to return his party to power after 14 years of sitting in the opposition ranks, to prevent other “Labour” politicians from running, including Faiza Shaheen, who was scheduled to be nominated in the next ballot before the election. Announces that it has received notification of the cancellation of this selection, as well as the current representative, Lloyd Russell Moyle. However, British political analysts said that these steps threaten to anger the traditional pro-Labor base, which is more sympathetic to the party’s former leftist leaders and their allies, stressing that Starmer did not expect the uproar that resulted from his recent moves, and the repercussions that would have on the party’s popularity. A few weeks before the elections.
Analysts considered that Starmer might have created “unjustified enemies” for himself, even among his own supporters, if he appeared to be waging a brutal war against a “leftist” movement that had previously found a place within the Labor Party under its previous leaders. Among them are Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The consequences of this may weaken Starmer and his supporters, and may even reduce the party’s potential electoral margin of victory.
#political #crisis #facing #Labour #weeks #British #elections
