A couple of days is a long time in politics. Just ask Lewisham East Labour Party chair Ian McKenzie.
On Saturday he was ‘crowing’ – his own choice of word – about the selection of Janet Daby as Labour’s candidate in the constituency’s impending by-election:
This evening, he’s ‘eating crow’ with the news that he has been suspended from the Labour Party – and has resigned from an appointment as an advisor to his borough’s elected mayor – over foul tweets about gang-rape, sex-slavery and beheading.
His former – and very brief – boss, Newham’s elected mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, issued an anodyne statement about his resignation this evening:
Probably an even more bitter pill to swallow for Mr McKenzie is the news that Labour First will no longer welcome him.
McKenzie has been what passes for a star player in Labour First terms in recent months, travelling the country to conduct ‘Organising to Win’ events to train right-wingers in other constituency parties (CLPs) how to seize or cling onto control of their ‘CLP’ structures:
But Labour First secretary Luke Akehurst told the SKWAWKBOX:
Obviously [Ian McKenzie will not be eligible to participate in further events]. While someone is subject of a disciplinary process we wouldn’t have them speak at our events.
McKenzie is also still the subject of a number of complaints with regard to the conduct of recent local election candidate selections. Right-wing Labour figures, Tory politicians and journalists have defended his misogynist tweets, but local Labour councillors Alex Feis-Bryce and Luke Sorba condemned McKenzie’s comments:
Oddly, the ‘MSM’ has paid little or no attention to the suspension and resignation of a right-wing Labour die-hard.
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