The current North of Tyne mayor Jame Driscoll has been blocked from the long list of Labour candidates for mayor of the rather larger new North East Mayoralty. The reason for his exclusion seems to be that he is identified by the leadership of the party as a Corbynista. The pretext for his exclusion was an interview (about films) he conducted some months ago with Ken Loach, the world famous film director, who was earlier purged from the Labour Party.
The attack on Driscoll is the latest step in the intensification of the factional war being waged by the Labour rightwing against anybody on the left. Far from strengthening regional and local democracy with the party and within society, Starmer is showing his true autocratic centrist credentials.
Read more about this latest attack on participatory politics in LabourList.