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The Times FEBRUARY 24, 2022 - by Henry Zeffman

UKRAINE CRISIS: CORBYNITES CRITICISE NATO 'EXPANSION'

The prime minister has called on Sir Keir Starmer to remove the whip from Labour MPs who signed a letter condemning NATO's "eastern expansion".

Eleven Labour MPs backed demands from the Stop The War coalition for the government to "change its policy, and start working for peace, not confrontation". The letter accused the British government of "aggressive posturing" and "sabre-rattling".

The Labour MPs who have signed it include prominent figures from the left of the party, including John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, Diane Abbott, the former shadow home secretary, Richard Burgon, the former shadow justice secretary, and Ian Lavery, the former party chairman.

They were on the front bench under Jeremy Corbyn, who also signed the letter but had the whip removed over antisemitism in October 2020.

The other Labour signatories include six MPs elected for the first time under Corbyn's leadership in 2019, plus Claudia Webbe, who was expelled from Labour last year after she was convicted of harassment and given a ten-week prison sentence, suspended for two years. She has appealed against the conviction.

After being criticised by Wayne David, a Labour MP, for the government's sanctions package at prime minister's questions yesterday, Johnson replied: "I hear somebody on the opposition benches saying that it is weak so far, but it is not - it is strong and it will be very strong. Something that would also be strong would be to take the whip away from the fourteen Labour members who say that the aggressor in Ukraine is Nato. That would be the strong thing to do."

David had said to Johnson: "The leader in this morning's Times is a scathing criticism of the government's limited sanctions against Russia. If the prime minister will not listen to members of this house, will he at least listen to The Times?"

Johnson replied: "I have the utmost respect for the media, and I of course study it as much as I can, but I have to say that the package that the UK has put forward has been leading the world, and there is more to come."

The Stop The War letter said that the "crisis should be settled on a basis which recognises the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and addresses Russia's security concerns".

It criticised the government for having "sent arms to Ukraine and deployed further troops to eastern Europe, moves which serve no purpose other than inflaming tensions and indicating disdain for Russian concerns". It said that the government had "declared that Ukraine has a 'sovereign right' to join NATO, when no such right exists to join it or any other military alliance."

It was signed by three Labour peers, all nominated by Corbyn. It was also backed by the actors Sir Mark Rylance and Miriam Margolyes, the comedian Alexei Sayle, the musician Brian Eno and the author Michael Rosen.