Jeremy Corbyn was scheduled to speak at the 2019 Labour Party conference Wednesday but after a crazy political day in the UK Tom Watson’s speech was put on hold until conference 2020, Jeremy Corbyn’s speech was brought forward to Tuesday and the conference closed a day early. ‘ The reason for this hasty reshuffle was the Supreme Court’s ruling that when Boris Johnson prorogued parliament he acted unlawfully. The Queen has now been dragged into a mighty political storm and Johnson, just five weeks into his role as Prime Minister of the UK, is facing calls to resign. One man today took full advantage if the situation though, Jeremy Corbyn. Following an introduction by Labour Party member and singer Jermain Jackman Corbyn gave a storming leader’s speech at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. His speech was clear and articulate, he was light hearted at times yet serious, poking fun at himself at times and leading the audience into bursts of #JohnsonOut. Conference finished on a high and parliament will resume tomorrow at 11.30am. The Conservative Party insist their conference will go ahead next week but they are in unchartered waters. Make sure you are registered to vote as a General Election is back on the cards. https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote 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: 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. 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 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. Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was never welcome amongst some in Labour. This will not come as a surprise to many people. Ever since before Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour Party multiple groups of people have been attempting to devise the best way to make sure that he does not have a successful run as Labour leader. If you don’t believe this, listen to this podcast starring Labour’s own John McTernan These groups, which include the erroneously named “Saving Labour”, “Labour First” and “Progress” attempted to use the media initially to destroy Corbyn’s leadership. They chose to do this at a critical time for the Labour opposition, and at the expense of actually opposing the Tory government. Members of the shadow cabinet resigned to ensure that Corbyn did not have the team necessary to continue opposition. They chose to sabotage the Parliamentary Labour Party’s ability to oppose the Tories when we could have defeated them Now, they are at it again. Media smears have failed to topple Corbyn, and many people within the right wing of Labour believe that he will defeat Owen Smith in the Labour leadership challenge. They are not willing to accept Corbyn’s unhindered leadership of the Labour Party, even if he wins. The new plan The group Labour First recently sent out a mail to all of its members. I have reproduced it below, edited for brevity. The full mail can be forwarded to interested parties upon request Dear **** As you can see, Labour First are asking CLPs who have nominated Owen Smith to have official meetings, and suggest Contemporary Motions for submission to the Labour Party prior to the conference. The choice of using Committee meetings was the same tactic used to lock party members out of CLP nomination meetings by some local parties that chose to nominate Smith. I can provide another message from Labour First’s Luke Akehurst instructing CLPs to consider this tactic, if requested. I was interested what was contained in those proposed Contemporary Motions, so I downloaded the document. There were four motions contained inside. Due to my deletion of the tracking link, I reproduce them here for you verbatim MOTION 1: Ensuring Working People Don’t Pay the Price of Brexit Motion 2: Building a Health and Social Care System for All Motion 3: Tackling the UK’s Housing Crisis Motion 4: NATO If those motions seem familiar to you then rest assured, you are not going mad. They are precisely the arguments that Owen Smith is putting forwards in the Labour Leadership debates. You could reasonably surmise then, that the purpose of organising all of the Smith-supporting CLPs to pass motions containing Smith’s policy to the Labour Annual Conference is to ensure that whoever wins, Smith’s ideas are enacted by the party in the future. This could be seen as innocuous, as they are not terrible policies. I personally would argue that the NHS has been slashed heavily by the Tories and that 4% year-on-year increase in funding will not make up for the 60% of planned and executed cuts that have occurred after the 2015-2016 financial year, but the policy does not specify a maximum. I would not be happy with the winner of the leadership challenge being constrained to build the arbitrary figure of 300,000 houses, or the specification that 50% of them do not need to be “genuinely affordable”. I would prefer that the houses built belonged to local councils and kept in public possession. The rotten core of the fruit Contained within the mail was this line: You can read my preview of party conference here: http://labourlist.org/2016/08/luke-akehurst-labour-rule-changes-mean-conference-is-the-first-big-battle-for-new-leader/ I looked at that article, which was also written by Luke Akehurst, and found it troubling. Here is another excerpt. You can read the full text by following the link above It’s the middle of a leadership election but Labour’s rival wings are already focussed on what happens when annual conference starts, literally the day after the result of the leadership race is announced. Damage their term of leadership in the first week? Is that really the plan? […] This troubles me greatly. I respect democracy, and want to see the Parliamentary direction of our party chosen by it’s leader as much as possible. I totally oppose any action which is expressly taken to damage the incumbent or the candidates term of leadership.
What should we do about this? Beats me. I think that everyone should get intouch with their CLP to findout if there is a meeting being held to discuss conference business, and whether or not they are allowed to be a part of that democratic process. I would like to see other motions proposed to shape the future of our party, such as:
When people who understand more about these issues pass on more information to me, I will either post it here or make a link to a more useful information source. Stay tuned. In solidarity, J Simpkin Many thanks to J Simpkin Check out his own blog here https://bladeofgrassuk.wordpress.com/ |
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