LABOUR is silent on whether ex-Coventry MP Bob Ainsworth will be expelled for revealing he voted Green in the European elections.
We asked the national party this morning if it would take action after Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alistair Campbell was expelled yesterday for revealing he voted Lib Dem on live TV.
Mr Ainsworth, the former Coventry North East MP and defence secretary, revealed his vote to the BBC yesterday.
A party spokesperson responded to us by saying: “We can’t comment on individual memberships due to data protection responsibilities.”
We are awaiting answers to further questions.
A Labour Party spokesperson yesterday tweeted: “To be absolutely clear, the way Labour Party members vote is a private matter.
“But publicly declaring or encouraging support for another candidate or party is against the rules and is incompatible with party membership.”
Mr Ainsworth, Mr Campbell and others in the party have been vocal critics of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s stance on Brexit.
Both have called on the party to explicitly back a second referendum, despite millions of Labour voters backing leave in the EU referendum in June 2016.
They include in Coventry, where 55 per cent of voters in the staunchly Labour city voted to Leave the European Union.
Leaping to Mr Campbell’s defence, Mr Ainsworth told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire: “I was shocked at the expulsion and the speed of it. This is a man who is Labour through and through.
“I have known Alistair for many, many years and I have enormous respect for him.
“There is a Labour tradition, it’s called solidarity. And when you see a guy being expelled from the party for doing exactly the same as you’ve done, you stick your hands up and say ‘I’m Spartacus’.
“I thought that Labour’s position needed to be challenged, I didn’t think it was worthy of support.
“And therefore I had to vote for a pro-remain, pro-second referendum party, as Alistair did.
“I’ve never voted anything other than Labour.
“But the party needs to embrace the idea of a second referendum.
“I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn is a big fan of Alistair Campbell’s and I don’t think he’s a big fan of mine – and I am not a big fan of his.”
Mr Campbell and Mr Ainsworth were joined by former party home secretary and party chairman Charles Clarke who also revealed he had voted for the Liberal Democrats in the May 23 European elections.
In Coventry, Labour bucked the national trend, finishing second – with nearly 17,000 votes – behind a dominant Brexit Party spearheaded by Nigel Farage.
The pro EU Liberal Democrats finished third, almost 7,000 votes behind Labour, despite beating Labour nationally – which many believe was down to their clear campaign message for having a second referendum.
