Labour’s leadership contest was exposed to mockery yesterday after would-be voters signed up using celebrity and joke names.
Stephen Pound, the party’s MP for Ealing North, rooted out a Lyndon Johnson, the name of the 36th US president, and someone who claimed to be Serena Williams, the tennis player. The Kensington and Chelsea News found a Mr Bum Fluff, who purported to be 115 years old.
Last night the party’s procedure committee granted two concessions to candidates Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall after they raised concerns about the vetting process.
Mark Serwotka, the leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union, Britain’s sixth largest trade union, and the musician Brian Eno, have been banned from voting because they are not deemed to share “the aims and values” of the party.
Mr Serwotka has been a vocal critic of Labour in the past and was ejected in the 1980s for joining a hard-left group. He has publicly backed Jeremy Corbyn in recent weeks, and hinted that if he won his union could affiliate with the party. Mr Eno, of Roxy Music, who attacked Labour over the Iraq war, has spoken out in support of Mr Corbyn.
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Labour’s procedure committee gave in to pressure from the Burnham, Cooper and Kendall campaigns to allow canvassing details gathered during the general election to be used to weed out infiltrators. They also persuaded the party to release the breakdown of ballots by category when the result was announced, which would reveal whether the preferences of “affiliated” voters and registered supporters differed from those of party members.