Due to the many sources of power within the Labour Party, several politicians have fallen out of line of either the party’s leadership or membership. 2024 saw former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn overcome the machinations of his own party moving against him to retain his seat – and this is not an unprecedented event in Labour history. So whether it is socialists who fought back with rank-and-file support or right-wing members purged by left-wing constituency parties, these are the men Labour could not hold back.
Jeremy Corbyn (2024)
In 2015, socialist backbencher Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party after a grassroots campaign for the leadership.
His tenure was marked by cataclysmic events such as Brexit as well as the highs of the 2017 election and the lows of the 2019 result.
In 2020, Sir Keir Starmer – ironically running on the most Corbynite platform of the contenders – would become leader and later that year, suspended Corbyn after he claimed a report uncovering the level of anti-Semitism during his leadership was overexaggerated for political purposes.
Three years later, the decision was made to bar Corbyn from standing as a Labour Party candidate in his Islington North seat that he had represented for 40 years. This was despite the former leader having “unanimous support” from his constituency Labour Party.
He would be expelled in May 2024 after stating he would stand as an independent and against an official Labour Party candidate, breaking party policy.
Labour pulled out all the stops to prevent Corbyn winning re-election, including putting New Labour bigwig Lord Mandelson and Corbyn’s former Deputy Tom Watson on the campaign trail in the constituency for Labour’s candidate, private health profiteer Praful Nargund.
For his part, Corbyn had some big name support too, including from RMT Union General Secretary Mick Lynch, Primal Scream lead singer Bobby Gillespie, and socialist activist Owen Jones.
On election day, Corbyn triumphed, lifted no doubt by his personal popularity in his constituency. True to socialist form, he had fought against the big party machinery, and in this case won, with nearly 50% of the vote and a margin of over 7,000 votes.
It was the first time the constituency had elected a non-Labour candidate since 1937.
Corbyn’s win was symbolic of a larger development in the election: the disturbance in the Muslim Labour vote over the war in Gaza, with several other pro-Palestine candidates winning in large Muslim communities.
The win allowed Corbyn to continue to remain perhaps the biggest pro-Palestine voice in Parliament.
George Galloway (2005, 2012, 2024)
Across three decades, former Labour MP George Galloway has proved a nightmare for the party he was once affiliated with.
In 2003, Galloway was kicked out of the Labour Party for bringing the party into disrepute with his continued outspoken opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
Under the banner of the new Respect political party, George Galloway contested the parliamentary seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, then held by Blair loyalist Oona King, who had supported the Iraq War.
After an incredibly divisive campaign, George Galloway narrowly emerged victorious, in what the BBC described as “one of the most remarkable results in modern British electoral history.”
Galloway was able to take the Labour stronghold, obtaining a 26.2% swing. Able to galvanise the Muslim and anti-war vote, he remarked after his win: “All the people you’ve killed, all the lies you’ve told have come back to haunt you…it was a defeat for Tony Blair and New Labour and all of the betrayals.”
Also worth noting is that the same election, Labour lost its safest Welsh parliamentary seat, Blaenau Gwent, to Independent Peter Law after Law ran against his own party in protest at the use of all-women shortlists.
2005 would not be the only occasion Galloway would upstage his own party.
In 2012’s “Bradford Spring”, George Galloway won a by-election in Bradford West, another Muslim-heavy constituency. In an extraordinary result, he won 55.9% of the vote and win every ward, in spite of a high-profile Labour presence for the by-election, with Labour leader Ed Miliband, Chancellor Ed Balls, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper all campaigning there.
2024 saw Galloway deliver Labour with one of their first major rebukes over its supportive stance with Israel when winning the Rochdale by-election. In a contest no fought by Labour after withdrawing support from a disgraced candidate, Galloway campaigned on a strongly pro-Palestine platform and marched to a conclusive victory in Labour’s absence. In a post-result speech, he made it noted how it was a victory for the Gaza cause for Starmer’s complicity in Palestinian genocide.
Ken Livingstone (2000)
As a result of a 1998 referendum which yielded 72% support, the New Labour government introduced a Greater London Assembly and London Mayoralty.
In the Labour Party’s inter-party battle for the inaugural holder of the new position was Ken Livingstone. “Red Ken”, as he had become known for his socialist policies, had been the leader of the Greater London Council prior to its 1986 deconstruction.
Not wanting the radical socialist Livingstone as his party’s candidate, the Blair government moved to prevent Livingstone’s nomination. A complex three-way electoral college was constructed that allowed preferred Labour candidate Frank Dobson to emerge victorious. Indeed, although Livingstone had greater rank-and-file and trade union support by notable margins, Dobson’s support from elected London officials meant he was able to win by a whisker.
Calling the results “tainted” by a New Labour fix, Livingstone announced his own candidacy, thus forcing him out of the Labour Party. In the words of The Guardian, Labour had a “mess on its hands, one chiefly of the leadership’s making.”
His bid for London Mayor was supported by various high-profile figures such as Fatboy Slim, Ken Loach, and Blur – the latter of whom had featured Livingstone on 1995 track “Ernold Same”. In addition, the radio DJ Chris Evans donated £200,000 to Livingstone’s campaign.
In the election, contested under a Supplemental Vote system, Ken got 39% of first place preferences to the Conservatives’s 27.1%, with Labour trailing at just 13.1%.
In the run-off, Ken would increase his lead and win with 57.9% of the vote. With a considerable 200,000 vote margin, Livingstone knocked off Tory candidate Steven Norris – himself not his party’s preferred choice but a contingency nominee after Jeffrey Archer became embroiled in the perjury scandal that would eventually see him sentenced to a four-year prison term. The independent won 12/14 of London’s constituencies.
In his victory speech, a teary Livingstone pledged to “heal the division” between himself and his old party whilst crediting opponent Frank Dobson who had “borne a terrible brunt of odium that should have been reserved for people behind the scenes.”
During his first term, he pushed forward with radical proposals such as his flagship congestion charge policy whilst being an outspoken opponent against Labour on issues such as the Iraq War, helping organise and speaking at the 2003 Hyde Park rally.
Due to his popularity, by the time of his 2004 re-election campaign, Livingstone was finally readmitted into the Labour fold, successfully retaining his position.
Dick Taverne (1973, 1974)
Dick Taverne served as the Labour MP of Lincoln for over a decade before his 1972 deselection after a rift with what he described as the “Militant virus” that had taken ahold of his local constituency party.
The breaking point was his support for European integration. He was one of 69 Labour rebels who voted against the Labour whip to join the European Economic Community, putting him into head-on conflict with socialist local leader Leo Beckett who accused him of voting in the “Tory lobby.”
In his own words, Taverne told Beckett: “I am not a puppet. I don’t vote as I am instructed by my party masters and I am going to vote for entry.”
He had previously been Minister of State for the Treasury and Financial Secretary to the Treasury, during which government cuts to industries such as electricity and the reintroduction of prescription charges made left-wingers’ blood boil.
The conflict between Taverne and his party gained greater exposure through Granada Television’s World in Action programme, which documented the tensions between the two sides of the Labour Party in Lincoln.
In the end, Dick was “asked to retire” by a vote of 75-50.
Yet, the Labour Party was about to find out how hard it was to keep Dick down.
A London Weekend Television poll before deselection found an overwhelming majority of Lincoln voters supported Taverne’s EEC stance whilst 79% approved of his job as their MP.
Taverne would resign as an MP in 1973, seeking a mandate for re-election under the banner of Democratic Labour. His bid was perhaps aided by the decision by the Liberal Party to not stand a candidate.
The Times noted how a number of senior Shadow Cabinet members campaigned for Labour candidate John Dilks, a figure “probably unequalled in any by-election.”
For his part, Taverne tried – but failed – to get the backing of Roy Jenkins, who, according to his biographer John Campbell, regretted turning down the offer, feeling it “remained a scar on his conscience ever after.”
In the end, the result was not even close. Taverne won with 58.2%. By contrast, Labour came in second with a measly 23.2%, giving the Democratic Labour candidate a margin of 35%, equating to over 13,000 votes.
It was the first time an English by-election was won not by a Conservative, Labour, or Liberal candidate.
By 1974, Taverne had started up the Campaign for Social Democracy, who contested select constituencies, such as that of radical socialist Tony Benn.
In that year’s February election, Taverne’s majority crashed to just 1,293, being unseated in the October election by old nemesis Leo Beckett’s partner Margaret Jackson, later to become Margaret Beckett – perhaps the most pioneering and historically significant woman in Labour’s history.
Eddie Milne (1974)
Like in the case of Dick Taverne, Eddie Milne found himself on the wrong side of his constituency party – although this time it was not due to militant infiltration, with Milne an advocate of state ownership.
In November 1973, Milne was deselected by his constituency Labour Party, influenced by Milne’s status as a “corruption crusader” – in the words of The Guardian – which saw the exposure of local figures such Newcastle City Council leader T. Dan Smith and trade union leader Andrew Cunningham. His role in uncovering the Poulson affair, in which architect John Poulson bribed public officials to earn government contracts, led to the resignation of Home Secretary Reginald Maudling too. It has been dubbed “Britain’s Watergate”.
Infuriated by the corrupt Labour figures unearthed by Milne, he was dropped, with Hillary Wainwright noting in her book Labour: A Tale of Two Parties that the party’s decision not to adopt him was due to “upsetting the powerful interests in the regional and national political machine.” She too notes how the constituency party’s rebuke was met with “total silence [and] probably a good deal of relief” by fellow Labour MPs.
Milne would stage a third party bid as Independent Labour, hoping to upset the figures that had pushed him out. He hoped to hold onto his Blyth seat he had since 1960 after taking over from the future Lord Robens.
Labour chose pro-EEC moderate Ivor Richard, who would go on to be a UN Ambassador and EU Commission member.
In the election in early 1974, Milne was able to win re-election, defeating Labour’s Richard by 6,140 votes.
Milne was less fortunate in the October election, being narrowly edged out of the seat by Labour’s John Ryman, who squeaked through by 78 votes.
Milne would try again in 1979 and, although he would come second with 18,000 votes, he still fell over 7,000 short of regaining his old seat.
S. O. Davies (1970)
In 1934, Stephen Owen Davies would win a by-election, going on to serve his constituents in Merthyr Tydfil for the next 36 years under the Labour banner.
The old seat of Labour Party forefather Keir Hardie, Davies continued to serve in his Marxist vision, often to frustration of his party, from which he was suspended on three occasions under three different leaders from 1953 to 1968. His support for nuclear disarmament, Welsh home rule, and conciliatory policies towards the Soviet Union were just some of his socialist commitments that went against the party’s more mainstream leadership.
In 1970, his local party did not reselect him, even in spite of his personal popularity, which helped him win nearly 75% of the vote and a 17,655-strong majority the previous election.
Reportedly, the party wanted a younger candidate than Davies – by then well into his 80s – to help quash the rise of nationalist party Plaid Cymru. The UK Parliamentary website however frames the move as being due to a conflict between Davies and the national party, particularly Harold Wilson, over the 1966 Aberfan disaster and recovery efforts.
Davies was not deterred and fought on, proclaiming: “Let the people of Merthyr decide whether they want S. O. or not. I have been the member for 36 years and I’ve always made Merthyr my absolute priority.”
He stood as an Independent Labour candidate and was able to gain grassroots support, boosted by both young activists and perhaps by an industrial conflict over a Hoover factory, the region’s largest employer.
In the election, Davies won handily, with a margin of over 7,400 votes. He was the first former Labour politician to run against and defeat his old party in 25 years.
At just £212, his winning campaign in Merthyr Tydfil was the cheapest in the country.
Davies would serve until his death in 1972. Always somewhat of an enigma, although it is commonly reported he was in his mid-80s, there are persistent rumours he was actually passed away in his 90s.
GRIFFIN KAYE.
Leave a Reply