Labour ‘moderate’ Andy Bigham was recently expelled from the Labour Party for supporting the Tories, both in comments on Facebook and even in running a Tory Facebook group. Bigham came to wider attention after making offensive comments on the same platform about putting Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott in a ‘box with the lid fastened firmly’.
Bigham has now announced via his Facebook profile that he has ‘sever[ed] all my ties’ with Labour – even though that had already been done for him – and has joined UKIP.
Even more entertainingly – and many would say tellingly – he also made an interesting comment about his intentions regarding two ‘Labour’ Facebook groups he runs. The Tory group ejected him after finding out that he was still a Labour member while he was helping to run their group.
Bigham said of his ‘Labour moderates’ group:
Bigham’s ease with a UKIP way of thinking will surprise few Labour members who have been outraged by his social media comments – but his claim that a ‘Labour moderates’ group can be repurposed to a right-wing group simply by renaming and relaunching it will raise many wry smiles, as similar thoughts must pass regularly through a lot of left-wing members’ mind about ‘Labour moderates’ in general.
His comments about being a ‘loyal Labour supporter’ may also amuse, given his behaviour since 2015, but the fact he feels ‘more at home’ in UKIP at least serves to shed even more light on the nature and politics of so-called ‘centrists’.
The SKWAWKBOX’s inbox received a small flood of messages from members pointing out Mr Bigham’s decision, all with comments along the lines of ‘good riddance’, so it seems he will not be missed by any with more authentic Labour values. However, it will be interesting to see how his co-moderators and frequent defenders feel about both his new membership and the idea of becoming moderators of a UKIP group.
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