Dear all
It is time to talk about the elephant in the room - Labour Party suspensions. Around 8,000 people according to some. There may be many reasons some members are still suspended from the Labour Party, stuck in limbo, but a lack of useful, pertinent information to those affected is just one cruel aspect of this sorry state of affairs. Legal concerns and matters may be part of the problem but we members are just ordinary folk. We are not in it for the money, the power and the glory. We have our own life stresses and strains. When we opt to commit to a political party we deserve some respect. People join for many reasons and yes some do so mischievously. But the majority join the party to show support and pay for the privilege. In some cases they work their socks off trying to get the Labour Party message out and representatives elected. If they then respond angrily on social media using a word that the party machine has suddenly decided is off limits, such as TRAITOR, do they deserve suspension? When the party has trawled back over time following anonymous complaints regarding party members the affected member is scuppered. But as previously stated if you feel a person has betrayed you or broken a promise TRAITOR is a very fitting word. Those MPs who vowed to support Mr Corbyn when he was elected September 12, 2015, but did anything but, fit that category to perfection. But as #LabourPartyPurge2 drags on tempers are fraying and people are resigning - enough is enough and who can blame them for quitting. A sensible way forward would be an amnesty of sorts. The abuse timer reset, as after all in many cases it was simply angry debate and not abuse. That would allow a date to work from. No more trawling back over social media just a clean slate and new era following your re-election in 2016. Allowing the current situation to drag on is destructive. It means people listen to Chinese whispers and gossip. That results in more anger and the downward spiral circle continues to whirl out of control. It is not rocket science. It makes some conclude the party is still split, that a further leadership challenge could follow and it provides the mainstream media with ammunition all making Labour's electability a distant dream. For the sake of us all we need to hit the restart button. With so many factions working against each other little wonder people are 'speaking with their feet' and resigning. Who will respond to this open letter? Will anything change for the better in 2016? Or is the Labour Party just too big for its boots now. Party suspensions need putting to bed. Time to move on and work toward election success with all hands to the pumps. Note: The writer is not suspended. But she has Labour values which means she cares about those that are. Do you Mr McNicol?
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. 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 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 |
All things CorbynLatest news, views and more Archives
September 2021
Categories
All
|