Labour asks school pupils to act as informants ahead of vote

Although Buzzfeed managed to successfully register a cat to vote in the Labour leadership election, the party remains insistent that they are successfully weeding out ‘supporters’ who are not genuine.

However, in a sign that they may not have quite as good a grasp on these checks as claimed, it turns out that they are asking school children to help by acting as whistleblowers on fellow pupils.

Writing in the Guardian, Tim Dowling claims that his 17-year-old son — whose six-month membership means he is ‘considered something of a senior figure in the party’ — has been contacted by Labour to offer the inside scoop on his classmates who have applied to vote in the election:

‘It’s not about his application – he joined six months ago, and appears to be considered something of a senior figure in the party – but about those of two boys in his year at school. One, the party suspects, is actually a Conservative supporter, and therefore faces expulsion “under clause 2.I.4.B of the Labour party rules”. The other, well, they’re just suspicious. Could my son please confirm that his classmate is a secret Tory, or provide assurances that his other classmate is as Labour as he claims?’

As for the result of the ‘micro witchhunt’ — which rings more of a plotline in 1984 than progressive politics — it turns out that both of the suspects are actually genuine in their support for Labour:

‘For the record my son is friends with both students (he instantly forwarded the email to them) and says their support for Labour is genuine. He reckons the Labour party’s doubts are founded on an essay written by one of the boys before the election, explaining why he would vote Conservative if only he were old enough, which appears somewhere on the school’s website. According to my son – a witness – both the subject and the stance of this essay were assignments: no one in the classroom put their hand up when the pro-Tory line was offered.’

It’s heartening to see Labour putting its resources to good use as Jeremy Corbyn’s coronation day approaches.