Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has blocked another progressive journalist – Femi Oluwole – from attending this year’s Labour conference, while allowing a GB News presenter to quite literally host a fringe event there.
Femi: Labour is sorry but you’re not coming in
Femi Oluwole is an activist and journalist. He rose to prominence amid the EU referendum for his strong pro-Remain sentiment. However, Oluwole has evolved to become a well-known centre-left voice around issues like migration, justice, and racism.
He has regularly written for outlets such as the Independent, the Guardian, Metro, and the New Statesman. On 23 September, the Independent published an article by him called If even Stephen Fry has turned his back on Britain, what does that say about Brexit?
However, Oluwole being a regular columnist for the corporate media clearly wasn’t good enough for the Labour Party. As he revealed on X on Tuesday 24 September, it blocked his application for press accreditation:
I’m sat outside #Lab24 conference, publishing articles in national newspapers, about the biggest political issue in decades, and Labour is refusing me entry because they can’t find evidence I’m a political journalist. 👀
Labour simply LIED to censor a journalist they don’t like. pic.twitter.com/lJn99stPK3
— Femi – REJOIN MARCH SATURDAY 28 SEP (@Femi_Sorry) September 24, 2024
Labour gave Oluwole the usual spiel: that passes were for working journalists, blah, blah, blah. However, he made it clear that:
Labour simply LIED to censor a journalist they don’t like.
Labour conference: no dissenters allowed…
Now, why would Labour not like Femi Oluwole? probably because he has been a thorn in its side over Brexit. He penned a column for the Independent just after 4 July’s general election, which was titled:
Welcome to a Labour government – it’s time to fix the Brexit mess
Now that Keir Starmer and his party have finally achieved power, it’s time to stop being scared of sounding ‘too left wing’ and start working on making a real difference, writes Femi Oluwole. Failing to do so could be catastrophic – and could hand Nigel Farage the keys to No 10…
Of course, fixing the Tories’ Brexit mess is barely on Labour’s agenda. The party is looking to realign British product safety standards with EU ones. However, there has been no formal discussions around rejoining the Single Market – the one thing that was potentially the most damaging about Brexit. Nor has there been any noises off about freedom of movement, at a time when the UK has a productivity and recruitment crisis.
So, the party letting Oluwole into Labour conference as a journalist would be like letting the fox into its hen house. However, he has also been vocal about Israel’s genocide in Gaza – another reason for Labour not to grant him entry:
The way Rachel Reeves responded to the Stop Arms protester, is a huge part of what’s wrong with Labour.#lab24 pic.twitter.com/NIHWPyjKXC
— Femi – REJOIN MARCH SATURDAY 28 SEP (@Femi_Sorry) September 23, 2024
… unless you’re GB News
As the Canary previously reported, all this echoes the party blocking Declassified UK journalist John McEvoy entry to Labour conference. Now, of course we’re not comparing our former colleague John McEvoy to Femi Oluwole. They are politically very different people.
However, ideological viewpoints are irrelevant in this case. Labour should not be blocking entry to any working journalist just because it does not want them agitating at its conference. When the party allows GB News’s Tom Harwood to host a fringe event, but won’t allow Femi or John access, you know something if very wrong in the party.
Featured image via the Canary
