For the past two years Sir Keir Starmer has done his damnedest to distance Labour from the Jeremy Corbyn years. He’s stripped his predecessor of the whip, purged his party of many of his supporters and shifted Labour policy across a swathe of issues. Starmer even mocked Boris Johnson at the despatch box this week as the ‘Conservative Corbyn’; hardly the treatment you might expect of a ‘friend’ as Sir Keir once described Jezza.
So there will no doubt be consternation at Labour HQ in Southside at news that Corbyn-era MP Lisa Forbes now intends to make a comeback. Mr S was the first to bring news last month that Forbes was eyeing up a return in Peterborough which she won in a by-election in June 2019 but then lost six months later in the general. She famously sparked demands for her to lose the Labour whip before, er, she had even taken her seat in Westminster. Both the anti-racism group Hope not Hate and the Labour party’s Jewish affiliate, the Jewish Labour Movement, called for her suspension over controversial social media posts.
This week Forbes confirmed that she would instead be standing again for her party’s candidacy at the next election. Given Sir Keir’s effort to move the party on from the antisemitism rows of the past, he will no doubt be surprised to see that such a comeback is endorsed by one of his own frontbenchers. Rachel Hopkins, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, has released a statement which Forbes has now proudly shared on her Facebook page in which she declares that ‘I’m backing Lisa for Peterborough’s Labour candidate as she is rooted in her local community and an experienced political campaigner.’ She adds that ‘having known Lisa for many years, I’m confident she will be able to hit the ground running, building on her previous experience.’ Because that turned out to be a sterling triumph, eh?
Hopkins isn’t the only one lining up behind Forbes: Unite has also swung its weight behind her. Sharing an endorsement on her Facebook page, Forbes declared that ‘I am delighted that Unite have recognised by commitment to our movement and my long track record.’ Well, that’s one way of putting it…
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