in july 2019, in the week boris johnson became prime minister, campbell penned a 3,500 word open letter to jeremy corbyn saying he no longer wished to be re-admitted to the party, despite legal advice saying he would win a court case against his expulsion. he called on corbyn to step down and cited his "failure" on brexit, antisemitism, broader policy and "above all the failure to develop and execute a strategy". the story was broken in "the guardian" and the full letter published in "the new european". corbyn said he was "disappointed", prompting campbell to ask why he had been expelled.