‘Last Corbynista in power’ Driscoll quits Labour after Loach row

An elected Labour mayor, previously dubbed “the last Corbynista in power”,has announced he is quitting the party after he was barred from standing as the candidate for a bigger role.

Jamie Driscoll, the current  mayor of the North of Tyne, was blocked from standing for the wider North-East mayoralty after he failed to apologise at an interview for his appearance at an onstage event with the film director Ken Loach.

On Monday, Driscoll, who was pictured again earlier this month at the Durham Miners Gala with Jeremy Corbyn, his wife Laura, and Loach, confirmed he planned to  stand as an independent candidate for the new role  if he can raise £25,000 from his supporters.

The announcement came shortly after Kim McGuinness was confirmed as Labour’s pick to stand in the first North East mayoral election, after the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, who is a strong supporter of Keir Starmer, picked up nearly 75 per cent of votes to stand for the party.

Driscoll attempted to attack Labour in his resignation statement saying:”  “Given you have barred me from running as North East mayor, despite being incumbent mayor, I have no other choice.”He added:“Millions of people feel the parties in Westminster don’t speak for them.

“They want decisions made closer to home – and not by people who are controlled by party HQs in London.”Last month Labour confirmed they had barred former Newcastle Momentum leader from standing for the north-east mayoral role.

In a succession of media interviews he refused to apologise for taking part in an on-stage interview event with Loach at a  Newcastle theatre in March.The Jewish Labour Movement were among those to welcome the decision to ban Driscoll from standing.

He claimed that under his leadership the north of Tyne district had an excellent record of working with communal groupsBut in a disastrous television interview Driscoll was  asked by Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge:”Have you read the EHRC report into antisemitism in the Labour Party?”Pushed for an answer  he admitted: “No, not the full report I haven’t.”

He claimed also to have attended antisemitism training with the Jewish Labour Movement, and to have worked “very closely” with the Jewish Leadership Council “visiting synagogues in my region.”

But responding to Driscoll’s Ridge interview Adam Langleben, national secretary of the Jewish Labour Movement, told Jewish News:”It is astonishing that the most senior Labour official in the North East of England hasn’t even read the critical and shameful EHRC report into Labour Party antisemitism….
 
“Mr Loach’s previous history of provocative statements, especially in regards to Jewish victims of the Holocaust are now well known within the Labour Party. Ignorance can be no excuse after the past seven years.”

At the Durham Miners Gala event earlier this month Driscoll again posed for pictures with Loach, who was expelled from Labour in 2021 over his involvement with an organisation proscribed by the party for the downplaying and denial of antisemitism claims.