Keir Starmer was today accused of ‘McCarthyism’ after his allies blocked a member of Labour’s own National Executive Committee, Mish Rahman, from standing in a Parliamentary selection in Wolverhampton. 

Rahman, one of the leading Muslim voices within Labour, had won the backing of seven trade unions and affiliated socialist societies – the FBU, CWU, ASLEF, TSSA, Unite the Union, Socialist Education Association and Socialist Health Association. This should have seen him automatically longlisted in the selection process for the new, marginal seat of Wolverhampton West.

Yet Rahman was instead blocked, the latest in a long line of controversial blockings decried as ‘authoritarian’ and ‘anti-democratic’ by figures across the Party.  Just yesterday, the Labour-elected Mayor of North of Tyne, Jamie Driscoll, resigned from the Party following his earlier exclusion from the longlist for the new seat of north-east mayor.

In a detailed statement issued on Twitter, Driscoll said that if he could raise £25,000 by the end of August, he would run independently for the post. In fact, he raised in excess of that sum in under two hours – and is now set to run.

In blocking Mish Rahman, Starmer has risked further accusations of hypocrisy and factionalism. As a member of the Party’s NEC, Rahman has himself sat on many Labour selection panels, leaving him in a perverse position of being able to decide on the quality of Labour candidates elsewhere, but being deemed unworthy to be a candidate himself.

Rahman’s blocking makes him the third graduate of the Bernie Grant Leadership programme – aimed at empowering BAME Labour members to run for office – to be blocked from standing by the Party bureaucracy. Others include Maya Evans in Hastings and Maurice Mcleod in Camberwell & Peckham. No graduate of the Bernie Grant Leadership programme has been selected to run for Labour, a fact criticised recently by the former Tottenham MP’s widow.

In his statement, Rahman criticises this lack of progress on BAME representation, saying that “we were told the Party would support us towards leadership positions as black and ethnic minority activists – yet after this longlisting process, nothing has changed.” Momentum – the campaign group of which Rahman is vice-chair – termed the blocking symptomatic of wider issues around anti-racism and democracy in the Party under Starmer’s leadership.

The rationale given by the Starmerite panels overseeing the selection shifted, with the Party first falsely claiming that Rahman had opposed the EHRC report into Labour anti-Semitism, before belatedly recognising that Rahman had fully accepted the report and had, in fact, only opposed certain rule changes in the Party’s disciplinary processes.  

It is understood Rahman’s objection had been to a provision granting the General Secretary – the Starmer-picked Blairite David Evans – latitude to make appointments to key disciplinary boards. Rahman criticised the use of an NEC member’s vote on Party governance matters as an excuse for blocking, calling it “a serious concern”.

His full statement reads: “I have been informed by the Labour Party that I have not made the longlist in the Wolverhampton West Parliamentary selection, despite gaining strong local support and the backing of seven trade unions and affiliates. This is not a shock – it is what I and my team expected. None of my fellow Bernie Grant Leadership Programme alumni have been selected. We were told the Party would support us towards leadership positions as black and ethnic minority activists – yet after this longlisting process, nothing has changed.

“As a two term, currently elected member of Labour’s NEC, I have chaired panels for longlisting in other Parliamentary selections – I am therefore allowed to longlist candidates but not to be longlisted myself. I was blocked for how I voted on the NEC in relation to the composition of Party disciplinary structures, following the EHRC Report. This was a position shared by an array of NEC members, including trade union representatives. Being blocked for casting a vote in a democratic process should be a serious concern for all of us in the Labour Party.

“I was honoured to win so much support from our Labour family in this selection. To the FBU, CWU, ASLEF, TSSA, Unite the Union, SEA and SHA – thank you. Thank you also to the hundreds of members who signed up to my campaign. I am not planning on going anywhere. I will be at the NPF this weekend and will continue to represent members on the NEC for the remainder of my term and beyond.”

A Momentum spokesperson said:”The vital signs of Labour Party democracy are flashing red. It is simply indefensible that a member of Labour’s own executive can be blocked from standing for selection for a free vote on the NEC despite previously being entrusted with overseeing MP selections elsewhere.

“Worse still, Starmer’s apparatchiks have blocked yet another popular local figure with trade union backing and a loud Labour voice against racism and Islamophobia. A committed anti-racist with a strong campaigning track record and experience at Labour’s highest levels, Mish fully deserved a chance to put his case before local members. It’s shameful he has been denied it on spurious grounds.

“Last year a Starmer-commissioned report by Martin Forde KC found that the Labour Party risked undervaluing the fight against Islamophobia and lacked independent processes. As this latest blocking demonstrates, the reality is that under Keir Starmer the situation has got worse, not better.”

Others also expressed their outrage. John McDonnell MP tweeted: “This is truly shocking decision. I’m calling for the recall of Forde Inquiry team to investigate the Party’s attitude to racism.”

Image: Mish Rahman, c/o Labour Outlook