Sir Keir Starmer blocking Jeremy Corbyn from standing is short-term spat for long-term gain

Jeremy Corbyn is set to be blocked from standing for Labour and his allies are furious.

Sir Keir Starmer is bringing a motion confirming the move to a meeting of the party’s ruling body that will ensure they do not endorse the member for Islington North at the next election, expected in around 18 months’ time.

Mr Corbyn and his allies knew this was coming and claim it is a “flagrant attack” on democracy. Others close to the former leader accuse the current leadership of factionalism, showing a divided party instead of focusing attacks on the Tories.

But this is not a decision taken lightly. Indeed it forms part of a broader approach from Sir Keir to reform the image of the party, ensuring there is no link between his leadership and what came before, even if he served in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could be blocked from standing for the party.

When first elected leader, Sir Keir apologised for the anti-Semitism allowed to fester and has done so repeatedly. At his first Labour conference, the party passed motions to take back control of its ruling body, making it harder for left-wing candidates to have positions in the party’s machinery.

Momentum, a grassroots group closely linked to Mr Corbyn, has been shut out and members told to get behind the party or leave.

Reducing these people’s involvements in the party and ousting Mr Corbyn is a break from the politics that saw Boris Johnson win a sweeping majority, and is an attempt to make the party electable again. What’s more, it’s working, with poll after poll showing giant leads for Labour.

Blocking Mr Corbyn is controversial, but it is also sensible. His very presence has been a stick with which the Tories are desperate to hit the new leadership with. The former leader defended anti-Semitic murals, invited Holocaust deniers to Parliament, and his office failed to tell former MP Luciana Berger about death threats.

Ms Berger has now re-joined the party, and the expectation among MPs across the Commons is Sir Keir is Britain’s next prime minister.

Mr Corbyn’s supporters will be angry, but the broader public do not like him, or care about the inner workings of political parties. Sir Keir is removing an impediment to the Labour party, not an asset, in a move he will hope is as clean as possible.