EXCL Labour activists urge party chiefs to reinstate campaigner expelled after Ruth Smeeth clash
4 min read
Labour activists have urged party bosses to reinstate a campaigner who was expelled following a clash with MP Ruth Smeeth at the launch of a report into anti-Semitism.
Marc Wadsworth was initially suspended from the party in 2016 after accusing Ms Smeeth, who is Jewish, of working "hand in hand" with a journalist to undermine Jeremy Corbyn at the launch of the Chakrabarti report.
The veteran campaigner was ousted from the party last month after a disciplinary hearing found he had breached a rule which says members must not act in a way which is "grossly detrimental to the party".
But more than 20 Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) have now backed motions calling on party bosses to reinstate Mr Wadsworth, with the campaigner’s local Croydon North branch among those joining the calls for an overhaul of Labour’s disciplinary rules.
Motions in support of the ex-member have also been passed at CLPs including Bath, Brent Central, Hastings and Rye, Stoke Newington, Hove, Croydon Central and Newark in recent weeks.
Mr Wadsworth - who has denied knowing that Ms Smeeth was Jewish when he made the remarks that led to his expulsion - said the support had been "overwhelming" and predicted that more parties would join calls for a rethink.
"I’ve been told of motions in the pipeline in Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Chester, Enfield Southgate, Croydon Central, Streatham and Islington North," he told PoliticsHome.
"There’s a tsunami of outrage building up from the party grassroots over the miscarriage of justice. Members feel it glaringly exposes the fact the current discredited party disciplinary process is unfit for purpose, as Shami Chakrabarti said in her report, and needs to be rapidly overhauled."
The support for Mr Wadsworth was attacked by the centre-left Labour First group, however, with national organiser Matt Pound saying the activist's expulsion had followed "a lengthy investigation process" and represented an "unbelievable” distraction from holding the Conservatives account.
Mr Pound told PoliticsHome: "When you consider the plethora of major issues CLPs could be debating now that we're in our eighth year of Tory government, it is almost unbelievable that any member of the Labour Party would think that debating Mr Wadsworth's expulsion is a worthy item of business.
"The truth is, these tedious motions say more about the tiny cadre of obsessives tabling them than they do about the disciplinary procedures of the Labour Party, or indeed Mr Wadsworth. Thankfully, these people are small in number."
He added: "Providing mainstream Labour members continue to turn up and vote down this nonsense, we can all get on with the business of appealing to the voters and, ultimately, securing a Labour government."
But Mr Wadsworth said supporters from "across the Labour political spectrum" had backed his reinstatement in Croydon - and he urged MPs to take note of the motions.
"Of course, elected representatives, including MPs, must take heed of the opinions of the party members who selected them, especially when those views are clearly overwhelming,” he said.
Mr Wadsworth said he would continue to press for a "negotiated settlement with Labour that avoids a damaging High Court hearing", and will look to drum up further support among CLPs and trade unions with a summer speaking tour of local parties.
A Labour spokesperson said the party would not comment on individual cases.
However, Labour sources downplayed the prospect of any change to longstanding rules following the CLP pressure.
They said Labour’s new general secretary Jennie Formby was focused on putting the Chakrabarti report’s recommendations into practice and making sure the party’s disciplinary processes were “robust and efficient”.
Labour currently has no process by which ex-members can directly appeal a decision handed down by Labour's National Constitutional Committee (NCC) disciplinary body.
Croydon North MP Steve Reed declined to comment on the latest CLP motion. However, he told PoliticsHome: "I'm relieved for all concerned that a process that dragged on for nearly two years is now over."
Mr Wadsworth's case prompted deep splits in the Parliamentary Labour Party when it was heard earlier this year, with around 40 MPs including Jess Phillips, Louise Ellman, Rachel Reeves, Margaret Hodge and Wes Streeting flanking Ms Smeeth as she arrived to give evidence at the activist's disciplinary hearing in the face of protests.
Following Mr Wadsworth’s expulsion, Ms Smeeth said: "I hope that this decision represents the first step towards a return to the values of decency and respect throughout the Labour Party."
But fellow Labour MPs Chris Williamson, Clive Lewis and Keith Vaz rallied around Mr Wadsworth, giving evidence on his behalf.
Mr Williamson, a close Jeremy Corbyn ally, last month told PoliticsHome that he felt the decision to oust Mr Wadsworth was "plainly absurd".
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