Key Labour aide Andrew Fisher resigns
One of Labour’s most senior aides has announced he will resign at the end of the year, saying he does not think the party will win the next election.
Andrew Fisher, Labour’s head of policy who wrote the party’s most recent manifesto, said he will leave his post by the end of the year “to spend more time with his young family”.
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According to an internal memo, seen by the Sunday Times, Fisher said: “I no longer have faith we will succeed.”
Fisher also hit out at the “lack of professionalism, competence and human decency” in Corbyn’s inner circle and said he had enough of the “blizzard of lies and excuses”.
The move is a further blow to Labour, whose party conference was overshadowed by infighting between Momentum, the leftwing pressure group, and deputy leader Tom Watson.
Watson, who has been an outspoke critic of Corbyn’s stance on Brexit, found out via text message late on Friday that the founder of Momentum, John Lansman, had tabled a motion to have him removed.
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The motion to scrap Watson’s role was later withdrawn following a backlash, in which Watson branded the move “a drive-by shooting of someone you disagree with”.
Corbyn later decided that instead of scrapping Watson’s role, a review would be held into whether there should be two deputy party leaders, with one post being occupied by a woman.