Smith drops behind “no one” amid fears of voter purge

After a couple of days ahead of “no nomination”, Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith MP has dropped back again and is now once more “less popular than no one” – while Jeremy Corbyn remains way head of both.

Accounts of the number of supporting nominations made for each candidate vary, with Twitter counting 106 Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) nominating Jeremy Corbyn, while the New Statesman claims there are 109. Twitter has found 22 CLPs which have nominated rebel MP Owen Smith, while the New Statesman has found 23. There are also claims that 25 constituencies have now decided to make no nomination – putting Owen Smith’s support in bottom place regardless of which statistic you believe.

Corbyn’s campaign has been boosted by endorsement from the National Young Labour Committee – by a decisive 15 votes to eight, knocking out of the water any potential attempts at claiming that Corbyn does not appeal to a younger audience. He is also formally supported by three national trade unions CWU (communications workers), UCATT (building workers) and TSSA (train staff).

Smith has now won a nomination from the TUC’s smallest general union, Community – formed from the steelworkers’ union and a number of specialist smaller unions. He has also been nominated by the Musicians Union and the Socialist Health Association.

•To keep an eye on the supporting nominations, go to:
https://twitter.com/clpnominations
or
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/08/which-clps-are-nominating-who-2016-labour-leadership-contest

•Meanwhile concerns are emerging that the Labour Party may be trying to exclude Corbyn supporters from voting in the contest. The 180,000-plus people who paid £25 a head to register as Labour supporters (and therefore quality to vote in the leadership contest) are, of course, being checked by the Labour Party to ensure they are on the electoral register and are not members of other parties. The recent worries, however, are that checks are going much further.

It has been alleged that the Party is using sophisticated software to sweep the internet and drag up quotes, comments and “likes” that applicants have made over past years and which imply that applicants are more likely to support Corbyn than Smith. Where examples of this kind are found, the applicant is excluded – formally because they seem to be anti-Labour.

•See the full story on:
http://guerillawire.org/politics/purge-proofing-for-labour-supporters-a-handy-guide/

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