Labour leadership says John Woodcock should quit his seat after resigning from party
2 min read
John Woodcock should quit his seat and trigger a by-election after resigning from Labour, according to the party's leadership.
A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said the "basic rules of democratic accountability" should see him stand down as MP for Barrow and Furness.
Mr Woodcock, who is currently suspended as a Labour MP over accusations of inappropriate behaviour involving a female aide, wrote to Mr Corbyn on Wednesday to tell him the party had been "taken over at nearly every level by the hard left".
The backbencher also claimed an investigation into the allegations against him - which he denies - had been "manipulated for factional purposes" given his previous criticisms of the Labour leader.
He said: "The party for which I have campaigned since I was a boy is no longer the broad church it has always historically been. Anti-Semitism is being tolerated and Labour has been taken over at nearly every level by the hard left, far beyond the dominance they achieved at the height of 1980s militancy."
Mr Woodcock added: "There is little chance of returning the Labour party to the inclusive, mainstream electoral force my constituents desperately need. In these circumstances, I can no longer justify engaging in a rigged process to be re-admitted to it."
He insisted he intended to continue representing his constituents as an independent MP.
But a spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: "In normal circumstances, if you stand for election on one platform and you then decide to abandon the platform that you stood on, basic rules of democratic accountability suggest that you should then put that to the electorate."
Asked if they same principle should apply to Sheffield Hallam MP Jared O'Mara, who quit the Labour party last week, the spokesman said: "In general, that would be the right approach."
Labour party sources, meanwhile, pushed back at Mr Woodcock's characterisation of the disciplinary process against him as "rigged", saying there had been "no political involvement" in the probe into the MP's conduct.
They also said his decision to quit meant that his accuser's allegations could no longer be investigated by the party.
Meanwhile Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union and a powerful ally of Mr Corbyn, dismissed Mr Woodcock's resignation as "no big deal".
"He resigned from Labour's values a long time ago," the union chief said.
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