The Conservative Party conference is imminent. It will be unelected party leader and Prime Minister Theresa May's first conference as leader. The Tory Party has deep divisions but unlike the Labour Party it is good at closing ranks and showing a united front to the world.
Sadly the Labour Party has traditionally aired all its dirty laundry for the world to see or has it? Watching BBCQT Thursday the rightwing's ongoing game plan was obvious. Jeremy Corbyn was bad-mouthed as soon as the show kicked off and he featured throughout, negatively of course. These days though it is not just a hostile media concentrating on Labour negatives but enemies within supplying damaging leaked information. Thursday Rod Liddle a Sun journalist stuck it to the Labour Party and Corbyn relentlessly. But remember he is a Rupert Murdoch puppet. Billionaire Murdoch has undue influence in British politics. If you think that is paranoia or a conspiracy theory consider why potential and elected British leaders meet with that man. Thursday the Guardian reported "Theresa May had private meeting with Rupert Murdoch. PM met Times and Sun owner last week in New York despite her reputation for keeping the media at arm’s length." Could you conceive Jeremy Corbyn having such meetings with Murdoch? With previous Sun political headlines claiming "it was the Sun wot won it" when Tony Blair was elected socialists are extremely wary of the Sun and Murdoch. The Sun, with its despicable reporting record including phone hacking, misreporting the Hillsborough tragedy and supporting Thatcher while adding lies to reports of the miner's Battle of Orgreave, was banned from the Labour Party conference this week. They could not give The Sun away and free copies were binned. So Mrs May has received advice and support from Mr Murdoch and the stage is set. Expect a slick conference with:
If she does will it be that tired BRexit means BRexit mantra? It may be worth tuning in if you can face "Tory love and mutual admiration." The saying goes know your enemy well and Mrs May and the Tory Party is no friend of ordinary working and middle class people. If you disagree remember Murdoch is pulling at least a couple of strings. Andrew Neil finished Thursday's This Week which followed BBCQT with his "funny" aside which last night was "nighty night don't let Mr Corbyn bite." BBC bias to the bitter end. We are all being played. And ultimately it is the greedy 1% who want the status quo maintained. It has not been about austerity but waging class war and making the poorest and most vulnerable pay for the fat cats banking crisis. But is that what you want? https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/29/theresa-may-meeting-rupert-murdoch-times-sun http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/eileen-kersey/theresa-may-and-her-ministers-clueless-over-brexit Progress is a right wing group within the Labour Party that opposes Corbyn and harks back to the power grab years of Tony Blair. The mainstream media prefer to concentrate on attacking Momentum allowing progress a free rein to undermine party democracy. Plotters plotted in the Labour Party and there is no indication that they are ready to respect the vote which returned Jeremy Corbyn as party leader Saturday. Scheming is the order of the day for some but why? It has nothing to do with Team Corbyn's electability and all to do with self-servatism, the politics of greed and personal opinions about what should be the direction of Labour. Is the Labour Party policy moving to the left or the right? Does the electorate really need another centrist or right-wing political party? Surely after years of Tory cuts, at times propped up by the Liberal Democrats, we need a left of centre political party in the mix. A real left-wing political party not a pretence. Tuesday the BBC's Daily politics is debating conference events this morning. They are reporting on an angry morning when internal party politics is the main news. Yes UNITY is something the hard right who like to call themselves centrists or moderates will never accept. Polly Toynbee and Andrew Neil are picking the bones out of this morning but they are not letting a few facts get in the way.
Ordinary members of the electorate, those who do not follow politics deeply and rely on media sources such as the BBC, are as always getting an anti-Corbyn view with salient points missing. Today the right-wing of the Labour Party had a win. The BBC reports:
Good Morning comrades. Well today is the day. The mainstream media including BBC rolling news is in Labour Party leadership election overdrive. The result of the election will be announced around 11.45am Saturday and though political pundits are declaring a win for Jeremy Corbyn hours earlier "it aint over till the fat lady sings." We remember recent poll predictions regarding the 2015 General Election and this year's EU referendum and remain cautious. The mainstream media are ignoring #LabourPurge2 which has removed thousands from the vote; add to this reportedly thousands of eligible voters who never received ballot papers after trying till they were blue in the face to get them issued; add to this those who would have liked a vote in the election but were excluded when an eligibility timeline of January 2016 was implemented and the vote is expected to be closer than last year. Don't expect to see or hear mainstream reports today that include Labour Party shenanigans that may have mainly hit Jeremy Corbyn supporters. But though cautious this Labour Party member remains hopeful. I do not believe Jeremy Corbyn is unelectable; I do not believe that if Corbyn is unelectable the challenger Owen Smith, an apparent physical clone of many other politicians, is somehow electable. If, and it is a big IF, Owen Smith wins I expect his time as party leader may be brief. The silly, damaging and nasty "chicken coup" has been about removing Jeremy who refused to simply roll over and quit when over-paid politicians and fat cat donors wanted a return to the "same old politics." But enough - later we will update this brief post and complete the headline "And the Labour leadership election winner is...." and hopefully it will be with the name Jeremy Corbyn. And the winner is JEREMY CORBYN well done all. "674,006 eligible voters. 506,438 votes cast. Spoiled votes 1,042 Jeremy Corbyn - 313,209 Owen Smith -193,229" Opinion: [Labour] Party members will have to explicitly promise “to act within the spirit and rules of the Labour party in my conduct both on and offline, with members and non-members." The statement they will have to sign adds: “I stand against all forms of abuse. I understand that if found to be in breach of the Labour party policy on online and offline abuse, I will be subject to the rules and procedures of the Labour party.” Punishments could include being suspended from the party or eventually being expelled." I will not sign up to such a draconian piece of garbage. I am not abusive though like many people if I am goaded or attacked on social media I may respond accordingly. But here's a thing or two. I have a series of vile, abusive and in some cases simply rude comments made on social media by some Labour Party MPs and officials. As party members and affiliates have been suspended from the Labour party due to a series of unproved and non-transparent allegations how many of these officials have been held to account or reprimanded? My guess is non. As an online blogger I sometimes push the boundaries for various reasons and share images that could be viewed as contentious but as a retired British citizen my time is my own. I do not break the law. I am old enough to know what crosses the boundaries of decency and real abuse. I may be a Labour party member, supporter and sometime donor but that does not give them the right to spy on me online, gather information when they want to and ultimately use it against me. Forget it. I opposed Theresa May's so-called snooping charter and continue to do so. So why would I sign a social media behaviour contract with a political party I support and pay for the privilege? The answer is I would not. Perhaps this is the latest way to oust Jremy Corbyn supporters from the party. It is not that they are more abusive but simply most would oppose Big Brother tactics from the Tories and be ashamed if Labour adopted similar moves. Anti-Corbyn Labour Party members may have more in common with Ms May than they like to admit. If I leave the party my vote goes with me. There is only so much bull any person can stand. Having seen and heard most of it before life will be easier becoming apolitical. And if I do leave due to a ridiculous addition to the Labour Party member contract I will be like a woman possessed. I have a few axes to grind. I have voted in the Labour leadership 2016 but many friends have been excluded; some suspended, others never receiving their ballot papers or caught out with the implementation of early deadlines. Like most genuine socialists I look after my own.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/20/labour-launches-tougher-policy-on-tsunami-of-online-abuse Ironically Big Brother Watch was at the Labour Party Conference 2015 https://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/our-events/labour-party-conference-2015/ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/25/police-spied-on-labour-mps-whistleblower But the party leader fully backed this latest action and has said that he has also suffered abuse and “will absolutely not allow any sort of it, whatsoever, anywhere around our campaign”. Opinion: We are two-days away from the Labour leadership election result but the smear-a-day campaign trundles on. Thursday it is David Miliband. The mainstream media are running with the story that David Miliband has written a stinging article condemning Jeremy Corbyn as unelectable. Yes that old chestnust that drip feeds into the minds of some and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is gathering pace like a round robin as the media run with various versions of the story. It strikes me as odd that ordinary working people struggling with all that life throws at them are being suspended from the Labour Party for using angry words on social media but people like David Miliband, and my MP Alan Johnson, are allowed a free rein to attack and undermine us all in the mainstream media. Labour MPs on the right of the party such as Wes Streeting are tweeting it is worth reading Miliband's article but one man on social media hits the nail on the head. "Aaron Bastani Twitter › AaronBastani "David Miliband earns £425,000 as head of refugee charity International Rescue ibt.uk/A6RUR?utm_sou… he ain't fighting no by-elections!" In other words those who think he may be about to step back into British politics for real are deluded but it does not stop him sticking the knife in. Little wonder David Miliband like other Labour fat cats Peter Mandelson, Tony Blair, Ed Balls, Alastair Campbell et al do not want real Labour politics with Jeremy Corbyn in pole position. Is it really because voters will not go for Corbyn or that THEY do not want such politics? David Miliband was expected to be elected leader of the Labour Party back in 2010 but he lost out to his younger brother Ed. "David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is a British Labour Party politician, charity chief executive and public policy analyst who was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010 and MP for South Shields from 2001 to 2013." David said he would not serve in Ed's shadow cabinet as he did not want the two brother's to be compared and presumably Ed somehow undermined. He left politics in 2013 triggering a by-election and moved on to pastures new. He took up the posts of President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee in New York City. But he has always been in the mix and in some people's eyes remains a natural successor to Tony Blair.
The BBC reports ""The main charge against Jeremy Corbyn is not just that his strategy is undesirable because it makes the party unelectable. That is only half the story. "The real issue is that his strategy makes the party unelectable because it is in many aspects undesirable" but undesirable for whom we wonder? Voting closed Wednesday at high noon but the right-wing of the Labour Party appears to have no intention of embracing the leadership election winner if it is Jeremy Corbyn. They continue to call Corbyn supporters hard-left and themselves moderates or centrists but who are they trying to kid? Though political pundits are predicting a win for Mr Corbyn remember such poll predictions have been wrong before. With a large number of eligible voters removed it could be a tight result. First it was a ridiculously early date for eligibility, then it was changes to the cost of being an affiliated supporter, then it was people removed in many cases for silly or non-existent comments on social media, it moved on to those who heaven forbid may have supported another political party in the past and possibly finally tens of thousands who did not receive ballot papers in time. Was the latter incompetence or foul play? Look at those ruled out of voting for any of the above reasons and you tend to find Jeremy Corbyn supporters. This has led to most people drawing to the conclusion that a fix is on. Whether it will be enough to return Owen Smith as party leader is doubtful but stranger things have happened and are continuing to happen. And as always you need to follow the money trail. Opinion: Sunday Eoin on Twitter has gone for "Andy Burnham manages to fight a leadership campaign last summer without abusing Corbyn or his supporters. Why can't Owen Smith so the same?" and he has nailed it once again.
This blogger attended an Andy Burnham event in Hull in the summer of 2015 and an Owen Smith one in 2016. They were both held at the same venue and both organised at least in part by East Hull Labour MP Karl Turner. In 2015 former deputy Prime Minister and local MP John Prescott played host. He added some humour to the event and veteran politics at one point saying he would have preferred the meeting included others standing for election and he mentioned Jeremy Corbyn in particular. That mention was as a positive and it was the only time the other leadership hopefuls were "in the room." The Owen Smith event was a very different affair. For one thing Alan Johnson West Hull MP attended but Prescott did not. In 2015 Mr Johnson threw his political support behind Yvette Cooper although his CLP failed to agree on a nomination. There were also less people at the Smith event. The question and answer session was similar to last year but those who asked some questions were labelled, probably correctly, Corbynistas. One man who seemed to be a Corbyn supporter wanted to ask in depth questions about the NHS but was told by some including Mr Johnson to sit down. To be fair time was limited and the event did overrun as Mr Smith was late. Last year I was a novice at events. I was inspired by Mr Burnham who seemed the best candidate for the job of party leader. For me Jeremy Corbyn was too old and I say that as one of his contemporaries. So I voted Burnham last year but accepted the democratic result and have supported Mr Corbyn who has in my eyes proved himself more than worthy over and over again. I also attended a Corbyn rally in Hull this summer and was more than impressed; finding the right word is not easy. The rally was fun, informative, entertaining, inspiring and more. And challenger Owen Smith was not "in the room." Corbyn has held many of his rallies outdoors to keep costs down and to accommodate the huge number of people attending. The Owen Smith event was ticketed. In order to attend you had to apply online giving an email address. But it did not take long for Corbyn to be "in the room" thanks to Mr Smith. One giggle for Smith supporters was a dig at Jeremy commenting he was "perhaps making jam" when he was not available. And sadly that was not the only dig. If Mr Corbyn wins the leadership election, and I seriously hope he does, he will have done so by fair means. If Mr Smith wins will he have been helped along by an unfair and biased purge of Labour Party members and attacking Mr Corbyn time and time again? From someone else who went to an Owen Smith rally http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/your-voice/so-i-went-to-an-owen-smith-event-in-halifax http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/british-political-scene/from-an-unelectable-jeremy-corbyn-rally-in-hull Saturday Alan Johnson Hull West and Hessle MP has joined the anti Corbyn smear a day campaign. To be fair he has been openly opposing Corbyn before Jeremy was even elected as party leader. Alan Johnson is my MP in Hull West and Hessle. He represents the Labour Party and unlike many of his colleagues in the party he is from working-class stock. Wikipedia writes "Just three weeks before the 1997 general election, Johnson was selected to stand for parliament in the safe Labour seat of Hull West and Hessle when the previous incumbent, Stuart Randall, stood down suddenly. Randall was subsequently elevated to the House of Lords." According to a local source Randall stood down in exchange for the elevation to the Lords and Johnson was as they say "parachuted" into Hull. Johnson was not a local man. He had a tough start in life and you can read his story in "This Boy." Reviewing the book Chris Mullins writes in the Guardian of Johnson's childhood: It was a world of slum landlords, gang warfare, race riots and, it must be said, a strong sense of community. His first home was two rooms in a tenement that, even before the war, had been declared unfit for habitation. There was no indoor toilet, no bathroom, the kitchen was a stove on the landing and the electricity was metered, which meant the family were constantly scrabbling for shillings and often had to rely on candles for light. As a young teenager he recounts walking the streets with an old pram scavenging for coal and the repeated humiliation of having to ask local shopkeepers for goods on tick. But so many other ordinary people shared a similar childhood in the 50s and 60s. We may have had a Mum and working Dad and a small rented slum property but we had many problems. We also had to shop on tick at times at the local corner shop, experienced a stabbing in our local laundry, went to school with a family of brutal thieving rogues, lived in a two up two down, with no inside loo or bathroom, played on bomb sites and more. While some things have improved each decade for successive generations there remain various challenges for the working and middle class. The only constant winners are the very wealthy and what used to be called the upper classes. But Saturday in the smear a day campaign against Jeremy Corbyn Alan Johnson has featured across the mainstream media bad mouthing Mr Corbyn and his supporters. His careless disregard for the Labour Party, its reputation and its electability are sickening. The Telegraph opts for "Labour crisis: Alan Johnson demands relentless rebellion against Jeremy Corbyn's leadership." Mr Johnson's opinion piece is in all the main right-wing publications. These days of course he could hardly describe himself as working class. Some of us will always be working class but it is unlikely Johnson feels that way. Is he burning his labour bridges attacking Corbyn or has he nothing to lose? Aged 66 he could be about to retire but he does have an eye on a mayoral role in the Northern powerhouse plans. Then there are local boundary changes which could hit Johnson's constituency and election chances. He has openly opposed Jeremy Corbyn from day one, at times childishly citing Corbyn's rebellious track record in the House of Commons but the timing of his latest attack stinks. I guess the difference some MPs fail to recognise is Corbyn rebelled due to principles while others such as Johnson do so out of spite. When in the summer of 2016 Johnson's CLP held a meeting to vote on supporting Mr Corbyn Johnson was not present. He was, some would say conveniently, away. It could have been re-timed of course had he wanted to attend. When Mr Corbyn held a rally in Hull city centre non of the three Hull Labour MPs attended unless they did so incognito or by proxy. But at an Owen Smith event in Hull two of the three local MPs attended and one confirmed the third would have been there but she was on holiday. This blogger attended the meeting and the two rallies. Johnson's, my, CLP voted unanimously to support Corbyn:
"Mr Johnson, the former Home Secretary, condemned Mr Corbyn as “useless”, “incompetent” and “incapable” of running a political party, and called on rebels not to give up their efforts to oust him." The use of words such as moderate, soft left, left, hard left and "bourgeois concept" highlight how out of touch Johnson is. "They've captured the castle," he said. "Just as the [Left-wing] Campaign group carried on year after year undermining whoever was the Labour leader, so we've got to do the same. We've got to recapture this party again otherwise it's dead and finished and gone." Jeremy Corbyn is set to win the leadership election again although nothing is ever certain in this life apart from death. The number of people being purged from the party for sometimes silly reasons continues to grow. The majority if not all appear to be Corbyn supporters. A series of MPs and hard right members of Labour, that is my tit for tat retort to hard left, are abusive on social media but still sitting pretty. I have voted Labour all my eligible years and for Mr Johnson since he arrived in the city. I will never vote for him again and I am not alone. How could I when he no longer represents me? http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/british-political-scene/hull-west-clp-vote-to-support-jeremy-corbyn http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/17/labour-crisis-alan-johnson-demands-relentless-rebellion-against/ Tom Watson Deputy Leader of the Labour Party has emailed party members allegedly highlighting what he has been doing during his year in office and including a link for recipients to reply.
I voted for Mr Watson to be Deputy Party leader in the 2015 election but like many other members I regret that vote. If there is another election for Labour Party Deputy he will not get my vote. But at this time it is Jeremy Corbyn who is fighting to remain leader of the party while Mr Watson is sitting pretty. Mr Watson will have received a mixed bag of responses though in light of the ongoing Labour Party purge many people may have not responded. What follows is one man's reply to Mr Watson and he probably speaks for many of us: Opinion: At the 2015 General Election Tory PM David Cameron said he would step down from his role sometime before the 2020 General election. He indicated he would serve a full term before doing so. Having committed the country to an EU in or out referendum his premiership was never going to survive a BRexit vote. He was soon toast but this week he has announced he is quitting his parliamentary role as MP for Witney but why? There could be many reasons including the deep divisions in the Conservative Party, his dislike of Ms May's plans for the reintroduction of Grammar Schools, May's shift further right politically, being made an offer he could not refuse and more. But could it be the damning report on Libya released Wednesday? Mr Cameron now finds himself in a similar position to former Labour PM Tony Blair. The Independent has run with the following headline "David Cameron 'ultimately responsible’ for Libya collapse and the rise of Isis, Commons report concludes." That article says: The bloody collapse of Libya – which triggered a refugee crisis and aided the rise of Isis – is blamed today on David Cameron’s blunders when he intervened to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi. Many will say tell us something we do not know! In March this year US President Barack Obama was scathing of Cameron and Libya. "Barack Obama says David Cameron allowed Libya to become a 's*** show'" in an unprecedented attack claiming the UK was 'distracted'. But the UK was not solely responsible for intervention in Libya or perhaps it was. One politician that analysed what was liable to happen and tried to prevent British bombing of Libya and our intervention in an uprising was Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington and current leader of the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn MP @jeremycorbyn Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron letter confirms tat Libya war is about regime change. Parliament did not approve that; time for a recall.15 Apr 2011, 9:20 am Wednesday Jeremy Corbyn looked Cruella de Ville aka PM Theresa May in the eye as she morphed into a cross between Dodgy Dave Cameron, the nasty Margaret Thatcher and herself, wagging her finger, or was it a pen, at him during PMQs resorting to personal attack. She was painful viewing playing a harridan so we reached for the remote and flipped channels. Personal attack is something she has learned from David Cameron's premiership; Mr Corbyn does not do personal attacks preferring instead to attack policies but the Tories like to get down and dirty taking the heat away from themselves. They try to rattle Corbyn and make him lose his thread but they never make him drop to their level. So Ms May failed to debate serious policies preferring instead to comment on the Labour leadership election and Corbyn's re-election chances. If Owen Smith wins it will be back to the same old PMQs with tit for tat attacks and a cross between vaudeville and a whitehall farce. Some people even in the Labour Party may have tried to make Jeremy Corbyn fall at every hurdle but for many including me he has been a breath of fresh air revitalising political debate. Corbyn is often proved right and perhaps May was miffed as that has happened again and this time on our involvement with the coup to oust Colonel Gaddafi. in March 2011 Mr Corbyn wrote a piece in the Guardian titled "Libya and the suspicious rush to war." That opinion piece begins: The House of Commons is debating the government stance on UN resolution 1973, having been invited to give its approval or withhold it. It's a bit late, as the prime minister made a statement to the Commons on Friday and within 24 hours the bombing had started. We are presented with a fait accompli. That piece is well worth reading and we have added a link at the bottom of this report. Jeremy Corbyn is not a flip-flop politician who changes his mind to suit. He worked tirelessly as an MP speaking at Stop the War rallies across the UK and consistently voting against further conflict. Can that be said of others? In March 2011 BBC News reported "The full list of how MPs voted on Libya action." The House of Commons voted by 557 to 13 to support UN-backed action in Libya at the end of their debate on 21 March 2011 - here is the full list of MPs who voted against, or did not vote: Those in favour included: Labour: Joe Benton (Bootle), Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles), Chris Bryant (Rhondda), David Cairns (Inverclyde), Michael Connarty (Linlithgow & Falkirk East), Rosie Cooper (Lancashire West), Frank Doran (Aberdeen North), Angela Eagle (Wallasey), Caroline Flint (Don Valley), Paul Flynn (Newport West), Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East), Tom Harris (Glasgow South), Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow), Jim Hood (Lanark & Hamilton East), George Howarth (Knowsley), Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central), Glenda Jackson (Hampstead & Kilburn), Sian James (Swansea East), Alan Keen (Feltham & Heston), Denis MacShane (Rotherham), Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham & Morden), Alison McGovern (Wirral South), Alan Meale (Mansfield), Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby), George Mudie (Leeds East), Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian), Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central), Marsha Singh (Bradford West), Sir Peter Soulsby (Leicester South), Graham Stringer (Blackley & Broughton), Tom Watson (West Bromwich East), Dave Watts (St Helens North), David Winnick (Walsall North) Nice work if you can get it and you can get it if you try. The words of that classic song seem to fit this story well. The Labour Party is advertising two jobs working for our party's dreadfully named Compliance Unit. This unit makes sure party members are not signing up for all the wrong reasons but as the Labour party leadership election 2016 rolls on it appears to have turned against some long standing party members. The level of party suspensions, reasons and people targeted has all the hallmarks of a McCarthy type witchhunt. So what price spying on party members, trawling their social media accounts, deciding what words could lead to suspension, inflicting emotional pain on those wrongly suspended and pulling Labour into a cesspit along the way? Role: Compliance Officer – Investigations x2 The labour Party is in a good financial position right now. This in part has to be down to a surge in membership and paid supporters. Those suspended or removed from the party by the Compliance Unit will be out of pocket. Fees will not be refunded. So will people purged from Labour be paying the salaries of those suspending them from the party? Those who claim Jeremy Corbyn is unelectable need a lesson in reality and the real world. A summer of purging party members and supporters, orchestrated shadow cabinet resignations and vitrolic articles written by some Labour MPs and shared in the mainstream media hammer home the message that Labour may be unelectable not Mr Corbyn. What price spying on members? £34,061.77 plus expenses. Will you be applying or would spying on comrades be a step too far? http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/current-vacancies oOp-ed: The Daily Mail often referred to as the Daily Fail is up to its usual tricks spinning a story for maximum exposure and negative impact; negative to Jeremy Corbyn, his supporters, party members and by association the Labour Party. It relates to wealthy Labour Party donor and one time 'wannabe' MP Michael Foster. Michael Foster has, finally, been suspended from the Labour Party after a series of Labour Party supporters and members have been purged from the party, depriving them of a leadership vote; until this weekend Foster has been sitting pretty. Many of those purged are Jeremy Corbyn supporters and most have been excluded for silly comments on social media. Few have actually crossed the red line of decency and abuse. Even fewer have been reported by the mainstream media but Mr Foster is headline news Sunday. MPs have been posting abusive comments for some time, perhaps acting as a red rag to a bull and drawing people in before Labour's dreadfully named Compliance Unit moves in suspending people. Little wonder there was an angry response to Foster's earlier Daily Mail piece likening a Corbyn rally in Cornwall and its audience to a 'circus' and 'stormtroopers'. Sunday as he is suspended Foster claims the Mail added the word 'Nazi' to their piece but he does not fool me. "In the article he wrote: "To me, respect for the rule of law is fundamental to a democracy. Once political parties believe they are above the law it ends with all opposition silenced, whether it is my grandparents in Dachau, or the Left in Erdogan's Turkey rounded up and held uncharged in prison. "The courts decided that the rules as they stand allowed it. This decision advantaged Corbyn and his Sturm Abteilung (stormtroopers)." If the alleged addition of the word "Nazi" bothered him he could have distanced himself from the Mail but today we have his party suspension featured in the Fail with the ridiculous title "Jeremy Corbyn reignites race row engulfing Labour as he launches vicious act of revenge and purges top Jewish donor who criticised his regime." What a nice inflammatory title. You may never read the story or the background but you may assess Corbyn as the dictator of a regime, decide that somehow Foster's suspension is to do with "race", that peace loving Jeremy is vicious and the party is "engulfed in a race row." What rubbish but damaging reporting. It is pure Daily Mail bunkum from start to finish but even the headline will drip feed into the minds of some. Other publications have gone for titles such as "Labour donor Michael Foster suspended from party over 'Nazi stormtroopers' article" and "Labour suspends donor for 'Corbyn team Nazi comparison." The Mail and Mr Foster apear to have a working relationship as it was their weekend publication that fully removed the lid off this real can of worms. But Mr Foster has been a vocal opponent of Jeremy Corbyn from day one. Corbyn was elected party leader September 12, 2015, and at an event a couple of weeks later Mr Foster was making waves and headlines: A Labour supporter who heckled Jeremy Corbyn at a Labour Friends of Israel reception has explained his reasons for shouting at the party leader. The fact Mr Foster is Jewish should be irrelevant but that report in the Jewish Chronicle stressed his religious faith. Mr Corbyn's refusal to say the word Israel in response to Foster's childish demands highlights the measure of the man; Jeremy has backbone and does not resort to personal attacks or game play. Fast forward to July and Foster dragged the party through the courts as he fought to prevent Corbyn being automatically on the leadership election ballot. But how could there be a leadership challenge if the incumbent leader was excluded from the election? The PLP plotters knew they could keep Corbyn off the ballot if he neded nominations but they also knew he stood a fair chance of being re-elected if he was allowed to stand. The National Executive of Labour voted to allow Jeremy an automatic right to be on the ballot by a majority vote. But Foster was not happy with party democracy when it did not suit his aims and dragged the party through the courts: Michael Foster, whose family has given £400,000 to the Labour Party, said he was concerned over the "apparent manipulation" of party rules by the ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC). So what does wealthy Mr Foster care if the Labour party is being ripped apart and ordinary working people left out in the cold? Will he really care if Labour fails to win elections or splits? Draw your own conclusions. http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/146195/labour-donor-explains-why-he-heckled-jeremy-corbyn-israel-event http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/14/labour-donor-to-mount-legal-challenge-over-leadership-ballot http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-donor-michael-foster-suspended-8811755 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37329153 http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/british-political-scene/jeremy-corbyns-day-in-court http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3783399/Jeremy-Corbyn-reignites-race-row-engulfing-Labour-launches-vicious-act-revenge-purges-Jewish-donor-criticised-regime.html Opinion: British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Labour, is generally thought to be the man responsible for coining the phrase "a week is a long time in politics."
So if a week is a long time what is a year? Monday September 12, 2016, marks the one year anniversary of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party leadership. On Saturday September 12, 2015, I was awake early and waiting for the result of the Labour Party leadership election which had followed that year's Labour General Election defeat and Ed Miliband's resignation. I had followed the leadership race and done a little phone banking for my preferred candidate Andy Burnham. Yes in 2015 I believed Andy was the party's best hope. As a northerner Jeremy Corbyn had by and large passed me by. I attended a local event for Andy Burnham organised by Karl Turner MP with John Prescott acting as host. Prescott opened the event remarking that he had hoped other candidates including Jeremy Corbyn could have been included but other local MPs never supported Corbyn. The event sealed the deal for me. I did not look further. Both Liz Kendal and Yvette Cooper held no appeal for me. They were just too wishy washy and right of centre politics. I say the above as a female. I say this next bit as an older person; for me Jeremy Corbyn seemed too old. I had said this to some and been shot down in flames but it was simple; aged a couple of years younger than Jeremy I was judging him as a contemporary. I have since changed my view. So we switched on the TV and were waiting for the result when our elderly dog Jessie, became very ill very quickly. She had come to us as a leggy nine-month-old abandoned dog that had been rescued around 14 years earlier. Her previous owners had mistreated her then moved home and left her tied to a tree in the garden of their former home. By the time she was rescued she was skinny and in relatively poor health. So after a few weeks with a local dog rescue service she came to us on a temporary foster basis. Yes TEMPORARY! Hubby could never part with her and she was a much loved part of our family for many years bringing laughter and joy. A friendly dog she had one of those smiley faces. By September 12, 2015, she was almost blind, had a few lumps and bumps and was tiring easily. She was spending more time snuggled in her bed but still seemed happy. We had spoken to the vet and agreed TLC was the best course of action. But on the morning of September 12 her back legs gave way under her and she was laid spreadeagled in the garden as rain fell. Although a big dog Hubby managed to carry her into the kitchen where I had laid her bed. We rang the vet having decided it was time. I sat on the floor with Jess talking to her and stroking her. The female vet and her assistant arrived and as soon as Jess heard someone at the door she got up and made it along the kitchen wagging her tail. But she collapsed again. We managed to carry her into the kitchen and the vet prepared to put Jess to sleep. As I sat with her talking reassuring words Jess smiled serenely and passed peacefully into the next world. In the front room the TV was ringing out that Jeremy Corbyn was elected but I could not have cared less. If you have ever had to euthanise one of your beloved pets you will understand. We were heartbroken and that included our other little rescue dog who had been with us a few years. It took weeks to settle him down and even get him to leave the house by the front door the vet had used. So Monday it is Jeremy Corbyn's one-year anniversary as party leader but a sad day for us as we remember and still miss our Jessie. Corbyn faced a tough year as plotters in the party began working on ways to undermine him and remove him as party leader even before he was elected. He has showed strength of character time and time again. He is all those things a Labour Party leader should be. He is compassionate, inspiring, entertaining, thoughtful, measured, on the left of the political spectrum and unlike the rest of us he does not do personal. When Tory PM Theresa May calls him a laughing stock to his face it is like water off a duck's back. When former Tory PM David Cameron told him to "go" he ignored the abuse. If Mr Corbyn is so unelectable, and making Labour unelectable too, why do so many Tories, like smug-faced Philip Hammond sat alongside May and looking for all the world like Nasty Mr Burns in the Simpsons, laugh in Corbyn's face and attack him? In 2016 my leadership vote went to Jeremy Corbyn. This year on September 24, barring any personal tragedies or disasters, I will be watching the TV as Corbyn is reelected and if he is I will be jumping for joy. And I will not be the only person celebrating. Steven Hemmings
August 31, 2016 Iain McNicol General Secretary Labour Party Labour Central, Kings Manor Newcastle, NE1 6PA Dear Iain McNicol: It is with great sadness that I write this letter, I take no pleasure in having to point out to the wider public, outside the Labour party, the tragic and pitiful state the Labour party has descended into under your stewardship. When the current state of affairs is made known to the public at large the Labour party will become a laughing stock, and that is heart breaking for all true supporters of the socialist ideals of the Labour party. Above all else the Labour party, as an organization for social justice, has to lead by example and remember that the most important components of that organization are its members. They are the lifeblood of our party, and as such should be treated with the utmost respect. If we as a party cannot demonstrate that our organization is run in a democratic manor, that is beyond reproach, we will have no moral authority to govern this country, and we will never be taken seriously by the electorate. This purge of Jeremy Corbyn voters that is currently going on under your stewardship is nothing short of a disgrace. Over 100 years of Labour party values are being flushed down the toilet, and you are the one pulling the chain. Any decent Labour member or supporter, whether they support Jeremy Corbyn or Owen Smith, will be disgusted and appalled in equal measure at this crass and openly partisan rigging of the ballot. Most members probably don’t realize what is going on because of lack of reporting in the main stream media. The following arbitrary rule that you have set up specifically for this election is wrong on so many levels. “No abuse of any kind by members or supporters shall be tolerated. All eligible members and supporters must conduct themselves in a calm and polite manner and be respectful to each other at all times. Any racist, abusive or foul language or behaviour at meetings, on social media or in any other context will be dealt with according to the Rules and procedures of the Labour Party.”
This flagrant abuse of the democratic principle of free and fair elections has no place in a democratic society, and certainly no place in the Labour party. Examples of high profile Owen Smith supporters who have not been suspended are:
Compare this with the 100 000+ Corbyn supporters already purged from the Labour party and unable to vote for comments such as “I F”””ing love the Foo Fighters” on twitter, or in my case no information provided as to what I was supposed to have said. There are now only two courses of action open to you Mr McNicol, to allow you to retain some semblance of self respect and dignity, and more importantly, reestablish the Labour party’s credibility. The first is to suspend Owen Smith from the Labour party and thus withdraw his nomination to stand in this leadership election; or secondly rescind all suspensions made in this purge of Labour party members (excluding those suspended for racial abuse) from voting, and issue ballot papers forthwith. Sincerely, Steven Hemmings Member and supporter of the Labour party’s reputation http://stevenhemmings.com/labour-purge/
Do we count for nothing?
This is the tale of a retired psychiatric nurse, male, who has been a Labour Party member and supporter for the last 35 years. He is being denied a Labour leadership vote as around the time ballot papers started being sent out he was suspended from the Labour Party. He stands accused of wrongdoing on Twitter but has no idea what he has done. Many of us tweet foolishly in the heat of the moment or even carelessly retweet for another as tit for tat. But if you are a Labour Party member someone somewhere may by spying on you and it could result in suspension from the party. Wealthy party donors and MPs appear to be excluded from those rules however. The man at the heart of this story decided to fight his suspension by following legal procedures. Part of that is using the Data Protection Act to request what information pertaining to him the Labour Party holds . The image above is the form he received following that request but he will have to pay a £10 admin fee for the privilege of seeing his information. Note also it could take 40 days for any information to be released. In other words he will not be voting in the 2016 leadership election whether he is exonerated or not. It is standard procedure to apply an admin fee but this is the Labour Party which makes it different, or it should do. To many of Labour's core traditional supporters party membership fees are an expense; the £10 admin fee is another expense. As a long standing party member he has supported the party financially for many years but suddenly now he is a nobody. As the Labour Party continues to implode who would trust them with a vote? Are the coupsters already establishing their new party in case Corbyn wins and simply playing as a wrecking ball for now? We will update on our friend's case and in time be posting his own report of his Labour Party battle https://andrewgodsell.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/labour-hq-say-suspensions-not-being-investigated-until-after-leadership-ballot/ Jeremy Corbyn and Press TV
Allegations have again resurfaced in connection with the recent Buzzfeed article (Emily Ashton, 31 August 2016), which rehashes the same specious charges made in the Business Insider article (Adam Payne, 2 July 2016) over Jeremy's work for the Iranian-based Press TV. Like a zombie, these specious charges refuse to die even when confronted with evidence, which is why I’ve decided to expand and re-post answers I have given here and elsewhere on the forum. It is alleged that Jeremy "accepted up to £20,000 [...] between 2009 and 2012" for appearances on Press TV (Business Insider). As exact dates were not provided in the article, I had to search the Register of Members' Interest from the session 2008-9 onwards in order to verify the alleged payments. I found out the following: • Searching through the most up-to-date versions available of The Register of Members’ Interest (see link below), there are only two listed payments from Press TV in the sessions 2008-9 (version dated 11 Nov 2009) and 2009-10 (version dated 12 April 2010). • Both payments are registered as payments “up to £5,000” in accordance with monetary banding for the Register • NO FURTHER PAYMENTS may be found in the Register for the subsequent sessions of 2010-12 (version dated 7 May 2013); 2012-13 (version dated 7 May 2013); 2013-14 (version dated 2 June 2014); 2014-15 (version dated 30 March 2015); 2015-16 (version dated 16 May 2016) Conclusions As can be seen, the quoted figure of “£20,000” is utterly bogus. As exact figures are not provided in the Register (not at least until post-MP’s expenses scandal in April 2009), even at the most farfetched estimate used, it could only be surmised that the figure could be up to £10,000. How this figure has been doubled is a mystery! A further factual inaccuracy in the Business Insider article concerns Ofcom’s revocation of Press TV’s broadcasting licence. Whilst the matter was indeed brought to a head by the airing of footage from the forced confession of Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari in the run up to the Iranian presidential election of 2009, the revocation of Press TV’s licence however concerned a breach of Ofcom’s licensing conditions – namely a UK-based licensee must have editorial control over content. Ofcom in fact offered to work with Press TV to resolve this matter, but Press TV did not take up this offer and had their licence revoked in 2012. Press TV coverage of the Iranian election in 2009 caused the resignation of LBC Radio’s Nick Ferrari, who had worked for the channel and conceded that until the election, the station’s coverage was “reasonably fair”. Indeed, prior to this, the channel was widely seen as a viable platform for raising important human rights and political issues of the Middle East. Presenters ranged from the former BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan; Derek Conway, the Conservative MP who presented a book review segment for the channel; right through to Lauren Booth, sister of Cherie Blair, whose programme “Remember the Children of Palestine” featured on the channel. It is unlikely this smear will go away. However, I share this in the hope of providing a factual rebuttal to the allegations and to provide additional context. Useful links: The Register of Members’ Interest, House of Commons Publications, available at https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-financial-interests/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards/registers-of-interests/register-of-members-financial-interests/ “Iran’s Press TV loses UK licence”, The Guardian (20 January 2012) available at https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jan/20/iran-press-tv-loses-uk-licence “British journalists who work for Ahmadinejad’s mouthpiece”, The Week (1 July 2009) available at http://www.theweek.co.uk/politics/21693/british-journalists-who-work-ahmadinejads-mouthpiece [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-lobbied-chinese-government-for-saudi-oil-company-while-middle-east-peace-envoy-a7007111.html] [Many thanks to Thomas Li] http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jeremy-corbyn-defends-taking-money-from-iranian-state-broadcaster-press-tv-appearances_uk_57c705b7e4b01e359229a9be |
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