Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s new political advisor Andrew Fisher has been appointed despite still being under investigation by the party for urging voters not to back a Labour candidate at the last election, it has emerged. In a tweet, Mr Fisher urged the voters of Croydon South to vote for a Class War candidate instead.
Mr Fisher’s appointment was heavily criticised at last Monday’s meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, thanks to a whole series of tweets he has posted over the last 18 months which are highly critical of senior Labour figures.
On August 13 last year, he urged voters in Croydon South, a Conservative-held constituency, not to vote for Labour Candidate Emily Benn, an investment banker and granddaughter of former Cabinet minister Tony Benn.
“FFS if you live in Croydon South, vote with dignity, vote @campaignbeard,” he posted, @campaignbeard being the twitter handle of Jon Bigger, the candidate for the anarchist Class War Party. The tweet has since been deleted.
Depressing to see @UKLabour right wingers rounding on @AndrewFisher79 for encouraging people to vote for a socialist. @Classwar2015
— Jon Bigger (@TradeOnion) October 13, 2015
However, Miss Benn wasn’t Mr Fisher’s only target.
On the morning after the general election in May Mr Fisher gloated over Ed Balls’ demise, posting “Fitting that the architect of Labour’s miserable austerity-lite economic policies should lose. #Balls”
In another tweet aimed at the former Shadow Chancellor, posted in September last year, Fisher suggested that the opening line of Miliband’s conference speech “needs to be either ‘Ed Balls was joking’ or ‘Ed Balls is sacked’ Austerity = Tory policies”.
Ball’s wife Yvette Cooper also featured on Fisher’s radar – he compared her to the British Nationalist Party, tweeting that the former shadow home secretary’s position on migrants was “beyond a right wing BNP policy”. He then went on to defend his stance.
@sundersays @chakrabortty How false? BNP policy = no benefits to people who haven’t paid in. Cooper = no benefits even if paid in for 3yrs+ — Andrew Fisher (@AndrewFisher79) May 31, 2015
Of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair he said it was “long overdue” for Blair to be sent to the Hague charged with war crimes.
Former shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeve was deemed to have “defected to Ukip” for advocating withholding tax credits from some EU migrants.
And former home secretary Jack Straw was described as “a vile git that has got his comeuppance”, adding “good riddance”, following allegations that he had broken parliamentary rules on lobbying. The allegations were later dismissed by the parliamentary standards committee.
Not content with singling out party leaders for criticism, collectively the whole of Labour’s front bench under Ed Miliband came under fire when Fisher described them as “the most abject collection of complete shite” last September.
He hasn’t limited his ire to Labour party members either: in one tweet in January this year he called the occupants of Buckingham Palace “bastards” and denounced Prince Andrew as a “parasite”.
His colleagues have questioned whether he is really the right person to be granted a senior position in the party, considering Labour party rules explicitly state that it is forbidden for members to openly support rival candidates and in light of the tweets. Mr Corybn and his aides have so far refused to comment on the appointment.
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