Sadiq Khan’s bid to be London mayor was dealt a blow yesterday as hard-Left activists admitted backing him to “strengthen” Jeremy Corbyn.
The Standard revealed that leaders of the controversial Momentum group told activists to support the Labour candidate because defeat in London on May 5 would “undermine” his party’s leader. Tories seized on the revelation by taunting: “Vote Khan, Get Corbyn.”
The revelation is a setback to the Tooting MP’s efforts to distance himself from Corbyn. His office has repeatedly insisted that “Jeremy’s name is not on the ticket” and helpers chose not to knock on doors with Corbyn while campaigning in the party leader’s Islington North seat on Easter Saturday.
But Momentum founder Jon Lansman, a senior Corbyn supporter, made clear in last week’s meeting at the launch of a group branch in Enfield that the mayoral result was significant to the Labour leader’s future.
Lansman, a veteran Left-wing fixer, freely admitted that Khan was not the Left’s “first choice” for mayor but it was a “no-brainer” to back him in order to bolster Corbyn. “We’ve got to go out and campaign for Khan,” said Lansman, who directed last year’s triumphant Corbyn leadership campaign. “Now he might have been your first choice, he might not have — I don’t know. That’s actually at this point not the point.
“The point is that there’s a choice in May between a Tory and Sadiq Khan. Who do you want to win? It’s a no-brainer. We want the Labour candidate to win and we want a candidate who’s going to ensure that Jeremy is strengthened by the London result.”
Chris Ford, the Momentum organiser in Waltham Forest who has links with Corbyn’s leadership office, told the 22-strong gathering: “If we lose in London, if we get hammered in May’s elections, we’re assisting in undermining Jeremy Corbyn. We need to win.”
Another speaker, North London People’s Assembly chair Elaine Graham-Leigh, urged: “One thing that will really help get Sadiq elected is actually again if we have a really enormous demonstration in London against austerity.”
Three days after the meeting Momentum tweeted that its members were running a phone bank at Khan’s campaign headquarters located at the TSSA trade union headquarters.
The tweet read: “London: Head along to Ergon House tonight 6-8pm to phone bank for @SadiqKhan. #Momentum WinsForLabour #JezWeKhan.”
Tory MP Paul Scully said: “It’s clear that Khan and Corbyn come together as one package. If you vote Khan you will get a Jeremy Corbyn experiment in City Hall and in the Labour Party, with unions calling all the shots.”
A spokesperson for Khan said: “Sadiq Khan is a unifying candidate who draws support from all parts of the Labour Party and will be a mayor for all Londoners. By contrast, Zac Goldsmith and the Tories are running a desperate, nasty campaign that seeks to divide London’s communities.”