Jeremy Corbyn: I do not see ex-leader standing for Labour, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not see how ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could stand as the party's candidate at the next election.

Mr Corbyn was suspended from Labour in 2020 over his response to a report that found anti-Semitism in its ranks.

The party's governing body reinstated him as a Labour member, but Sir Keir barred him from representing the party.

Mr Corbyn says it would be more democratic for the party's election candidates to be chosen by its members.

The ex-Labour leader, who has represented Islington North since 1983, could potentially stand as an independent candidate.

He won the seat in 2019 with a 26,000 vote majority and Mr Corbyn remains popular with the left wing of the party who helped propel him to the Labour leadership in 2015.

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Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Keir said: "I don't see the circumstances in which he will stand at the next election as a Labour MP."

Asked if he believed Mr Corbyn could stand as an independent against a Labour candidate, he added: "I can only speak for the Labour Party, I can't speak for Jeremy on this."

A few hours afterwards, Mr Corbyn tweeted that party members should be able to pick election candidates, set policy and "decide what their movement stands for".

Referencing a newly-announced Labour blueprint for transferring power away from Westminster, he added this would ensure "the same principles of devolution and democracy" are respected by political parties.

Mr Corbyn had the whip removed and was suspended by Labour after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that the party had breached the Equalities Act over its handling of complaints of anti-Semitism during Mr Corbyn's time in charge.

In his initial response to the EHRC report, Mr Corbyn claimed the scale of antisemitism in the party had been "dramatically overstated for political reasons" by opponents both inside and outside Labour, along with the media.

But he later attempted to clarify his comments in a statement to the party, saying concerns about anti-Semitism were "neither 'exaggerated' nor 'overstated'".

A panel made up of members of the party's National Executive Committee readmitted Mr Corbyn to the Labour party a month after he was suspended. After it decided to readmit Mr Corbyn, Sir Keir tweeted that it had been a "painful day for the Jewish community and those Labour members who have fought so hard to tackle anti-Semitism".

While sitting as an independent MP, Mr Corbyn has repeatedly clashed with the party's leadership.

In April, he called for Nato be disbanded to "bring peace" after the war in Ukraine ends.

At the time Sir Keir said the Labour party's position is "not to accept the false equivalence between Russian aggression and the acts of Nato" and to support the transatlantic military alliance.