Dozens of senior members of hard-left political parties have been given the right to vote in the Labour leadership ballot, in the first evidence of widespread infiltration of the contest.
Eleven people who stood as candidates for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (Tusc) in the general election have signed up without being caught by the Labour party’s vetting procedure.
Tusc was created by Bob Crow, the late RMT leader, and is now run by Dave Nellist, who was expelled by Labour over his support for Militant Tendency. It is an umbrella organisation that represents the Socialist party and the Socialist Workers party.
The names of a further 18 former and current members of the national council of Left Unity, a hard-left party founded by Ken Loach, have also been passed to The Times. Left Unity includes the Communist Party of Great Britain and the International Socialist Network among its unofficial backers.
They are all believed to have registered to vote for Jeremy Corbyn, the radical anti-austerity candidate who has risen from outsider to frontrunner in the contest.
According to my calculation, that adds up to a possible 29 extra votes for Corbyn. It's not exactly going to set the heather on fire, is it?
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