One of the UK’s most prominent LGBTIQA+ politicians Lloyd Russell-Moyle will not be running in the upcoming General Election after he was suspended from the Labour party.
The party informed the incumbent MP for the seat of Brighton Kemptown that he would not be endorsed as a candidate for the July 4th election because they had received a complaint about his past behaviour.
Rusell-Moyle told the BBC that he believes it is a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” about his behaviour eight years ago.
He says he will fully cooperate with the party’s investigation and clear his name.
“I believe I will be fully exonerated”. he told the braodcaster.
In a post to his social media accounts the politician said because the party’s process would take so long, he was no ineligible to run in the election. He described news of the anonymous complaint as coming “out of the blue”.
“This is a false allegation that I dispute totally and I believe it was designed to disrupt this election.
“There isn’t enough time to defend myself as these processes within the party take too long, so the party have told me that I will not be eligible to be a candidate at the next election. I’m gutted.”
A party spokesperson said they took all complaints seriously.
“The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.” a spokesperson said.
Rusell-Moyle was first elected in 2017 and returned in 2019 with over 50 per cent of the primary vote. Prior to entering parliament he served on the Brighton-Hove local council.
In 2018 on World AIDS Day he shared with the parliament that he was living with HIV, making him the second British politician to publicly disclose they were living with the virus, after Chris Smith.
In 2019 he called on then PM Theresa May to condemn comments made Cabinet Minister Andrea Leadsom who had commented in a radio interview that parents should have a right to decide if their children were “exposed” to LGBT education.
Russell-Moyle issued an apology to author J.L Rowling in 2020 after he wrote an article which accused her of using her experience of domestic violence to justify her discrimination against people who are transgender.
In January 2023 he also apologised to Conservative party member Miriam Coates after reacting angrily to a speech she gave in the House of Commons.
The British Labour party will now be rushing to find a replacement candidate for the seat which will undertake the expanded name of Brighton, Kemptown and Peacehaven at the next election.
The other contenders announced to date include Khobi Vallis for the Conservatives, Elaine Hills for the Greens, Stewart Stone for the Liberal Democrats, Kellie-Jay Keen for the Party of Women, Valerie Gray for the Social Democratic Party and Elaine Ghoneim for the Workers Party of Britain.
The seat was held by the Conservative from 1950 until 1964, when it fell to Labour. It returned to the Conservatives between 1970 until 1997 when it switched back to Labour with the election of the government of Tony Blair. Between 2010 and 2017 it was once again a conservative seat.
