The chair of the Islington North constituency Labour party has quit before she was expelled after being spotted campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn. Alison McGarry resigned on Wednesday after a number of Labour activists campaigning for the party candidate, Praful Nargund, caught her and threatened to report her. Sources say she hid behind a hedge when she was caught, prompting Labour activists to pose in front of greenery for a photo posted on X with the caption: “Islington North’s Labour campaign, proud to have photos in front of a hedge.” Any Labour member who campaigns for a rival candidate will be expelled, according to party rules. McGarry had been a Labour member for more than 50 years, joining the party as a 15-year-old after leading a women’s strike, and had long been a supporter of Corbyn.
Her allies had said she was hoping to remain a Labour member, not because she was supportive of the party’s current offering, but so she could “influence from the inside”. “It was never going to work,” a source said. Other Labour members are expected to follow McGarry and quit so they can freely campaign for Corbyn, the Guardian understands. Nargund has been joined by prominent Labour politicians including the outgoing MP Margaret Hodge and the peer Peter Mandelson, who told Times Radio he was doing everything he could to ensure Corbyn does not win. A Labour source who has been campaigning for Nargund said the race felt “pretty close” and that many locals were yet to fully acknowledge Corbyn was not the party’s candidate, but said Nargund’s team was “pumping out campaign literature” to bolster his profile. “There are people who still thought Corbyn was the Labour candidate so we know Praful has got some work to do just based on Corbyn’s name recognition. But in Corbyn’s home ward it seemed like it was 10% pro-Corbyn support which is striking,” they said. A source from Corbyn’s campaign team said last week that their “early canvass returns show it’s pretty much neck and neck” between Corbyn and Nargund. “The other parties are miles behind,” they said, adding: “According to our data and projections, if enough supporters of Jeremy and his politics join the campaign and knock on doors, we will win. But there is a risk of Labour sneaking a victory if supporters stay at home on the assumption that Jeremy can win without them.” Corbyn has been appealing to his supporters to canvass in the constituency, saying: “Labour has the data, they have the resources, there is only one way we can compete with the Labour machine: people power.” A source from his campaign said they hoped to break canvassing records this weekend by knocking on every door in Islington North within 36 hours, in the hope of convincing people to support Corbyn. Earlier this week, the first MRP model of the 2024 general election by Ipsos predicted Corbyn would to lose to Labour in Islington North. The survey predicted Nargund would pick up 54% of the vote, with all independent candidates combined to get 13%. The poll uses a large-scale online survey of nearly 20,000 participants on the random probability Ipsos KnowledgePanel on 7-12 June, and population data at a constituency level. Questions over how many Labour members in the constituency party would quit have been circulating long before Corbyn was blocked from standing as the Labour candidate in March last year. McGarry has been approached for comment.