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Labour expels leftwinger who raised over £150k for party

FORMER Henley CLP secretary Crispin Flintoff, who raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the party through the Stand Up for Labour project, has been expelled on “spurious grounds” that show how “Kafkaesque” the party has become under Sir Keir Starmer, he told the Morning Star today.

Originally suspended last year for circulating the resignation letter of his CLP’s chairman — something he felt obliged to do as its secretary — Mr Flintoff was expelled following a national executive committee (NEC) disputes panel meeting last Wednesday but was only informed at the weekend.

The charge was “threatening and harassing employees of the Labour Party,” but the leftwinger says that this refers to a guest on Not PMQs sharing information that was in the public domain about a Labour regional director standing for election who owned a mortgage business.

“Since Sir Keir suspended Jeremy Corbyn, Labour bureaucrats have felt empowered to get rid of anyone on spurious grounds,” he told the Star.

Stand Up for Labour was a programme of comedy gigs that started in 2012 in which comedians including Jeremy Hardy, Arthur Smith, Shappi Khorsandi and Sara Pascoe did sets in between speeches from local or national political figures.

He put on over 250 shows across England, Scotland and Wales between 2012 and 2019, raising £150-200,000 for local parties.

After lockdowns began, Mr Flintoff organised the online Not the Andrew Marr Show and Not PMQs, shows giving a platform to left voices frozen out of the party after Sir Keir took over.

The regular Not PMQs show aired on Wednesdays will discuss the expulsion and the situation in Labour today. Register at mstar.link/NotAndrewMarr to join.

Labour has been contacted for comment.

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