Newton Emerson: Takeover of UK Labour Party in North all too easy
Labour membership in Northern Ireland up tenfold as a consequence of Jeremy Corbyn
“The UUP could be as readily seized as Labour because it has the same one-member one-vote rule that brought in Jeremy Corbyn (above).” Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
I must write this article carefully, as my mother-in-law is chairwoman of the UK Labour Party in Northern Ireland. The Irish Times must also edit this carefully, as mixing up the Labour Party in Northern Ireland with the defunct Northern Ireland Labour Party would be as unfortunate as confusing the People’s Front of Judea with the Judean People’s Front.
Political conversations in our family often descend to the level of a 1970s sitcom, just like the Labour Party itself (boom-tish). However, my mother-in-law is having the last laugh. Membership in Northern Ireland has risen tenfold in a year, to more than 3,000, inspired, it seems, entirely by Jeremy Corbyn. Similar growth in Britain has attracted much comment but the phenomenon is even more remarkable in the North, where Labour only permitted residents to join in 2004 and will still not let candidates stand for election.