It’s been a bad week for the Tories, but it hasn’t exactly been a great week for Labour. After a list categorising Labour MPs as ‘supportive’ or ‘hostile’ towards Jeremy Corbyn was leaked, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse, because it appears that Corbynistas are now ranking MPs in terms of how ‘politically black’ they are.
The Evening Standard reports that during a speech given by Marlene Ellis – a Momentum activist and member of Chuka Umunna’s local party – she claims that her local Labour party branch in Lambeth is ‘very, very right-wing’. In a recording passed to the Standard, she is reported to claim that she is ‘tired of black MPs’ and wants ‘policy from a black perspective’, before suggesting that ‘there’ll be some black MPs that don’t align themselves with being politically black’. Given that Ellis is a key figure in Labour’s branch in Lambeth – where Umunna is MP for Streatham – her remarks have been seen by some as a reference to him, although Ellis has denied this. ‘Our argument is that questions of race and racism should be foregrounded in politics and policy. That’s what political blackness is,’ she said.
But given that Umunna was one of five London MPs to be listed as ‘hostile’ on Corbyn’s loyalty list, it may not come as much of a surprise to him that Momentum might not completely have his back.
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