Labour is to review its expulsion of Alastair Campbell after he voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections, the party has said.
Tony Blair’s former director of communications was forced out after he revealed he his decision not to vote for Labour over its lack of commitment to a second Brexit referendum.
The decision has prompted anger among other party members who said they too had voted for the Lib Dems, and the shadow attorney general, Shami Chakrabarti, said it would be re-examined and called for a swift process.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Now there will be a review, which is appropriate. I don’t want to cut across this review, I’m not part of that process. I would not like to see this drag on.”
Asked if she believed he should be allowed to rejoin the party, she said: “That will depend on what he says about his intentions.”
Labour has said Campbell’s expulsion was simply a matter of applying its rules consistently. The shadow women and equalities secretary, Dawn Butler, said on Tuesday that any member who said they had voted for another party would automatically be excluded. “It’s just part of the rulebook,” she told the BBC. “Everyone knows that.”
Others, however, said the move failed to take into account the exceptional circumstances of the Brexit debate. The former home secretary Charles Clarke called for Campbell’s reinstatement and was one of a number of members to say they had also voted for the Lib Dems in the European elections.
“His expulsion from Labour party membership is a disgrace and only compounds Labour’s current political difficulties,” Clarke said. “I also voted Liberal Democrat. This was a one-off decision because of the hopeless incoherence of Labour’s position, particularly that of Jeremy Corbyn, on Brexit.”
The former defence secretary Bob Ainsworth said he had voted Green, and Fiona Mactaggart, a former minister, Lib Dem. It was “time for us all to declare: ‘I am Spartacus,’”, she said. Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, said the decision was spiteful.
Campbell said after his expulsion that he would appeal the decision.
