Former Militant chief Derek Hatton 'to rejoin Labour' 33 years after being expelled
2 min read
Derek Hatton is rejoining the Labour party more than 30 years after being expelled, it has been reported.
The former deputy leader of Liverpool City Council was kicked out in 1985 for being a member of Militant.
The hard-left faction set an illegal budget in protest at local government spending cuts by the Conservative government at Westminster.
One tactic employed by the Liverpool administration was to send redundancy notices to council workers in the city by taxi - a move described as "grotesque chaos" by then Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who led the purge of Militant members from the party.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Mr Hatton - who attended this week's Labour conference in Liverpool - said he had been inspired to rejoin by Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
He said: "I have thought about it over the years, there was an incident a few years ago when I was half persuaded to and there was a reaction from the general secretary and I never fought it.
"But what I have seen over the past year or two, particularly with Jeremy Corbyn and people around him, is a move along the lines that I would have wanted to see in the 80s, but what what has amazed me this week is that you have seen something I never thought I would see, a situation where there is a Prime Minister in waiting who stands on every picket line, who is talking about nationalising the means of production, who is saying he is going to take on the billionaires.
"This is the sort of thing you would never have dreamed that a Labour leader would have said - certainly no Labour leader in my lifetime."
Mr Hatton also refused to rule out running for office again.
He said: "I'm 70-years old - at this moment in time I have got no inclination at all to stand for any public office.
"At this moment of time I am just looking forward to getting involved with the Labour party again - lets see what happens."
A Labour spokesperson said: "We don't comment on individual memberships."
Sources said Mr Hatton is still not a party member, but stressed there is nothing in its rules too stop him rejoining.
Shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler caused controversy at the Labour conference by appearing to praise the actions of Militant in a speech.
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