Labour dishonest for blocking Jamie Driscoll, Ken Loach says

Filmmaker Ken Loach has described Labour's decision to leave a serving mayor off its list of candidates for the inaugural North East mayoral election as "dishonest".

Labour's move has been linked to North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll's onstage appearance with Loach in March.

The director said it was the "lamest excuse I've ever heard".

Labour said the pair sharing a platform had been "incompatible" with its attempts to tackle antisemitism.

Loach was expelled from Labour in 2021 amid efforts to tackle the antisemitism experienced during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

He described it at the time as a "purge" of Corbyn allies using a "McCarthyite" approach.

Mr Driscoll appeared alongside Loach at Newcastle's Live Theatre earlier this year.

A senior Labour source told PA News that Mr Driscoll's appearance at the event and "then refusing to apologise" was "clearly incompatible with our promise to have zero tolerance of antisemitism".

Loach, who has been celebrated for his socially-critical films, claimed antisemitism was being used as an excuse to get rid of politicians on the left of the party.

"The people who will suffer from Starmer's manipulative, dishonest treatment of Jamie Driscoll are the people of North Tyneside," he said.

Mike Katz, the national chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement, which had described Mr Driscoll speaking alongside Loach as "hugely upsetting" for the Jewish community, criticised the director's comments.

"This is exactly the sort of offensive downplaying and denialism that Keir Starmer was right to say is as unacceptable as the antisemitism itself," he said.

Mr Driscoll, who was elected in 2019 and has been described as the "last Corbynista in power", outlined his own record of tackling antisemitism, which included working with the Jewish Leadership Council and visiting local synagogues.

He said Labour's National Executive Committee "said there was no suggestion of antisemitism against me".

Labour's Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness, who is closely aligned to the Labour leader, has been shortlisted for the mayoral role alongside ex-MEP Paul Brannen and Newcastle city councillor Nicu Ion.

The post, to be elected in 2024, will cover Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham and have powers over transport, housing and skills.

A Labour spokesperson said: "The Labour party holds its candidates to a very high standard.

"During this process, some applicants did not meet the threshold required to proceed.

"We do not comment on individual applications."

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].