Ex-Labour MP Gisela Stuart has revealed she has been allowed to keep her party membership – despite campaigning alongside Boris Johnson at the general election.
The hard Brexit supporter appeared with the prime minister on the campaign trail, urging Labour voters to switch to the Conservatives as “the best way to heal the country”.
But, asked if she was still a member, Ms Stuart replied: “They are still collecting my subs....they are still collecting the direct debit.”
The leniency is in stark contrast with the instant expulsion of Alastair Campbell after he voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections to push for a fresh Brexit referendum.
Tony Blair’s former spin chief likened the contradiction to the confusing use of a video assistant referee (VAR) in football, when “all people want is consistency”.
“If it is true that Gisela Stuart remains a member of the Labour Party, when she openly backed and indeed campaigned with Boris Johnson, then that means it is now considered a greater crime to vote tactically for the Lib Dems in the European elections than it is to vote for the most right wing English nationalist Tory party of our lifetime in a general election,” Mr Campbell told The Independent.
“This strikes me as odd in the extreme.”
Some Labour and EU supporters were furious, one tweeting: “Stuart should be thrown out immediately.”
Another said: “She’s pro-Leave and happy to support and enable the worst, most divisive, most destructive Conservative government. Of course there’s home for her in Corbyn’s Labour, she fits right in.”
Ms Stuart, who chaired the Vote Leave campaign, appeared alongside Mr Johnson and Michael Gove in late November, saying: “I will not vote for Jeremy Corbyn, but I can vote for Brexit.
“This is, after all the Brexit election and a vote for Boris Johnson this time around is a vote to get Brexit done.”
She added: “Boris Johnson’s Conservatives represent the best way forward for traditional Labour voters like me and the best way to heal the country.”
Mr Campbell was kicked out in May, after revealing he had turned his back on Labour for the first time ever to vote for the Lib Dems because of their outright support for a Final Say referendum.
A party spokesman said, at the time: “Support for another political party or candidate is incompatible with party membership.”
Mr Campbell said he still hoped to be readmitted to Labour in time to vote in the looming leadership election, saying: “Given the multiple inconsistencies that have been revealed I should be reinstated as quickly as I was expelled.”
