Here’s how Labour’s right ‘takes the fight to the Tories’

The right-wing factions of the Labour party love to counter the anger of the Corbyn-supporting majority by telling them they need to concentrate on ‘taking the fight to the Tories’.

For example, while the right was perpetrating its unlawful attempt to gerrymander the party’s ruling NEC (National Executive Committee), a parade of Progress supporters stood – and it was unprecedented for them to be allowed to – to argue that instead of ‘wasting time’ battling to prevent unelected additional members being crowbarred onto the NEC, members should ‘take the fight to the Tories’.

It’s always been clear that this is nothing but a smokescreen, but a couple of developments this week have put the issue beyond any credible doubt.

First, a Progress insider told the SKWAWKBOX some interesting 2016 metrics about Progress director Richard Angell. Mr Angell, whom the SKWAWKBOX showed faking participation in Labour’s pro-NHS campaign day, is a frequent face on media programmes as a kind of ‘rent-a-snide’ for producers who want to smear the Labour party, made no fewer than 92 media appearances last year.

Of this number, he attacked the Tory party, its policies and actions in two. Guess how many he used to attack, mock or denigrate Labour’s leadership?

You got it in one: 92.

Mr Angell is clearly planning to continue his 2016 trend in 2017. One of his first acts of the new year was to publish an article attacking an amendment by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell designed to improve the democracy of future leadership elections:

My latest piece. Together we can stop the McDonnell amendment at #Lab17. Your help is needed #NewYearsResolution https://t.co/d277QGEk4a

— (((Richard Angell))) (@RichardAngell) January 1, 2017

Bravo, Richard – clearly to you, ‘taking the fight to the Tories’ means ‘doing their job for them’.

Meanwhile, Labour First – the ‘Poundland Progress’ – having raised the majority of its £40,000 appeal to cover his salary (from a fairly small number of rich donors, according to the group’s newsletter – which is also all about taking control of Labour), announced the appointment of its new ‘organiser’, Matt Pound, whose job – as he describes it himself – is to make sure is to try to make sure that candidates friendly to his employers win ‘internal elections within the Labour party’.

His start has not exactly been auspicious, as he had to call in his boss, Luke Akehurst, to stick up for him after a few challenging tweets taking him to task. It was also interesting which accounts Twitter recommends you to follow if you visit his profile:

So, Labour First trumpet their first ever full-time employee – and they employ him to fight factional battles within the Labour party – which makes Twitter think he must be a Tory or LibDem.

Bravo to Labour First, too – and a big hand to Twitter’s algorithm-writer for accuracy.

One of the accusations right-wing factions of Labour most love to hurl at the Left is that they’re more concerned with controlling the party than taking power. Well, ‘actions speak louder than words’, as they say.

And the actions of the Labour right – whether Progress, its bargain-basement version or one of the other, endlessly-propagating ‘Labour whatevers’ that keep popping up – give eloquent and irrefutable testimony about their real aims and priorities. It’s clearer than ever that Labour can only ever fight unhobbled when these pathetic factions are expelled from the party once and for all.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn‘s Labour has not just been actually taking the fight to the Tories but has won another emphatic victory over them – but that will be the subject of the next article, because it’s highly unlikely you’ll hear it on BBC News or other mainstream media outlets.

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