Starmer 'acts like Putin' as Corbyn blocked by Labour

The founder of the left-wing pressure group Momentum has been condemned for comparing Keir Starmer to Russia leader Vladimir Putin for blocking Jeremy Corbyn from standing for Labour.

- ADAM FORREST

Sir Keir's move to block the ex-leader from running was backed by the National Executive Committee (NEC) yesterday, where the leader's motion passed by 22 votes to 12.

Mr Corbyn strongly suggested he would run against Labour as an independent - saying he had "no intention of stopping" representing Islington North, adding: "I will not be intimidated into silence."

Momentum founder Jon Lansman said Sir Keir was behaving like a "Putin of the Labour Party" for stopping the former leader from standing as a Labour candidate in his Islington North constituency.

"We've got to recognise that the radical policies that we had under Jeremy Corbyn... were not the problem," he told Times Radio. "The party still supports them. I think we should be campaigning still for radical policy."

Mr Lansman authoritarian added: "We're a democratic party. This is not an party. Keir Starmer unfortunately is behaving as if he was some kind of Putin of the Labour Party. That is not the way we do politics."

But Dame Margaret Hodge said his comments were "half laughable" as she backed Sir Keir's move to block Mr Corbyn at yesterday's five-hour meeting of the party's NEC.

"It's totally inappropriate and ridiculous to compare a dictator fighting a war to someone who has zero tolerance against racism in the form of antisemitism in the Labour Party, and who is fighting for what is right," said the veteran Labour MP and campaigner.