Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not see how Jeremy Corbyn can stand again to be a Labour MP in his current seat of Islington North.
Mr Corbyn, who was Labour leader for 2015-2020, had the Labour whip removed over his response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report into antisemitism in the party.
He had his party membership reinstated within weeks, but Sir Keir refused to readmit him to the group of Labour MPs. He currently sits as an independent.
Keir Starmer replaced Mr Corbyn, who has represented Islington North since 1983, as Labour leader in 2020.
Asked if he believes his predecessor as party leader will be the Labour candidate for the constituency at the next general election, Sir Keir told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme: “I don’t see the circumstances in which that can happen.
“We’re going through various constituencies at the moment. The ones we’ve selected for first are the ones that are the most marginal. So we’re working through the constituencies but, as I say, I don’t see the circumstances in which Jeremy Corbyn will stand at the next election as a Labour MP.”
Sir Keir was doing the media rounds this morning as his party prepares to release Gordon Brown’s report into the U.K. constitution.
The report, which has been put together by Labour’s commission on the UK’s future, headed by Mr Brown, has as one of its main recommendations to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected upper chamber.
Speaking this morning,Sir Keir said: “Look, I think the House of Lords is indefensible. Anybody who looks at the House of Lords would struggle to say that it should be kept so we want to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber that has really strong missions, so for example looks after devolution, actually makes sure that our politics works.
“So yes, we do need to abolish the House of Lords”.
However, the Labour leader’s proposed timescale for this has come under question.
Asked on BBC Breakfast when the policy would be implemented, the Labour leader said: “I am very keen that all of the recommendations in the report are carried out as quickly as possible. So we will now have after today a process of consultation, testing the ideas with a view to how do we implement them. It would be surprising to have a report of this size if we didn’t then consult those affected”.
He later appeared to walk back this “as quickly as possible” line, saying that discussions are pending on when “exactly” Labour would seek to abolish the House of Lords.
“I want the discussion about implementation to take place before the election so that we can get on at the election and put into place the recommendations. Exactly what happens when is part of the discussion about implementation”.
