Tony Blair's former press secretary Alastair Campbell has been unceremoniously expelled from the Labour Party after he revealed that he voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections.
Campbell revealed that he had voted outside of party lines during the BBC's election night broadcast on Sunday. On Tuesday the PR man said he was both “sad and disappointed” at his party’s decision, which he vowed to fight having taken legal counsel.
He claimed his decision to vote for the Lib Dems was based on their platform in support of a second Brexit referendum, and that it was an attempt to persuade Labour to “do the right thing” regarding the party's handling of Brexit.
Also on rt.com Labour leader Corbyn calls for immediate general election as UK PM Theresa May resignsCampbell alluded to precedent within his own party of members voting for other parties or causes including, most notably, when his former boss and British Prime Minister Tony Blair was pressured to remove the Labour whip from Jeremy Corbyn for voting against the party. Some online commentators deployed seven-year-old tweets as evidence of hypocrisy within the current Labour Party leadership.
The former spin doctor also dredged up the ongoing anti-Semitism scandal which has plagued the Labour party for months, remarking that allegations therein were dealt with in a far more lackadaisical fashion than his own unceremonious expulsion, hinting that perhaps such efficacy might have benefitted Labour earlier in the ongoing scandal.
The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission just so happened to launch an investigation into alleged anti-semitism within the Labour Party on the same day Campbell was dumped. Many shared Campbell’s take on the Labour Party’s apparent priorities.
Meanwhile, the answer to a question no one asked, Owen Jones, questioned why there was any controversy in the first place, as Labour Party rules explicitly state that voting against the party is grounds for expulsion.
Others wistfully made light of the situation, pointing out the parallels between the seemingly never-ending Brexit saga and Campbell’s own plight.
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