61.8 percent of the vote, after a massive voter purge.
Labour Purge Numbers by Eoin
Labour Purge #s by Eoin
This is a fairly remarkable set of numbers. Even if we take them to be on the high side, a concerted effort appears to have been made to deny people votes, and almost always, from the anecdotes of those purged, they were Corbyn supporters. What is amazing is that even with so many people denied a vote, Corbyn crushed Smith.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) is the body which has the power to execute the purges.
I will suggest, strongly, that with a new roster on the NEC, Corbyn’s allies should re-instate virtually all the purged members, and that they should then purge those who were behind the purges.
There have been calls from neo-liberal Labourite leaders, like Kinnock, for ex-members of Labour’s Shadow Cabinet who participated in the abortive coup to ask to be reinstated and for Corbyn to let them back. Beyond a small number, I do hope Corbyn does not. These are not honest actors who can be trusted to stay loyal to Corbyn, and having lost two elections in a row, even despite the massive purge, they have little mandate.
We will now see if there is a split–many Tories and Labour MPs feel there should be a neo-liberal party dedicated to remaining in the EU.
This is a good day and a good result. Let us see what an actual left-wing Labour party is able to do going forward. For the first time in years, one of the two major parties in a Westminister democracy is actually left-wing, not “center-left” Blairist and neo-liberal.
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