A decision to allow the excluded members to vote was seen as more likely to benefit the incumbent, Corbyn, in the increasingly bad-tempered leadership race. Labour’s governing body was not entitled to bar 130,000 people who recently became party members from voting in the upcoming leadership election, a high court judge has ruled. But the NEC’s decision – which Corbyn supporters claimed was made after some members had to leave the meeting for personal reasons – would have disenfranchised about 130,000 recent recruits. Corbyn had already left to greet supporters outside, having clinched the vote to allow him on to the ballot paper without gathering nominations from MPs. Both Corbyn’s supporters and his opponents had been actively recruiting party members in recent months, helping Labour’s membership rise to more than 500,000 – higher than the peak under Tony Blair.

Source: The Guardian August 08, 2016 09:42 UTC