The Labour right has attempted a camouflage-tactic in the contest for the three vital, additional places on Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC). Although both right-wing factions Labour First and Progress have given their backing to Eddie Izzard, Gurinder Singh Josan and the dire Johanna Baxter, they have persisted in calling the trio ‘independent’ candidates.
The claim has slipped, though, with both LabourList and would-be union-buster and former Blair adviser John McTernan naming the group a ‘slate’ – and in McTernan’s case, ‘the Progress slate’.
Further evidence of the real significance of the ‘independent’ slate has emerged in a response to a question about a series of Facebook ads for the trio posed by a Facebook user to Luke Akehurst, who runs Labour First:
‘We want the independents to win‘. Right.
Clearly.
Labour First has not only arranged a website – and taken control of registrant data – for the ‘independent’ trio, but has also been funding Facebook ads to promote their campaign.
Like others in the series of revelations about the support and organisation of the ‘independent’ slate, this latest makes clear that Labour members who want an NEC that supports Corbyn’s vision for the Labour Party and respects the wishes of the vast majority of members, there is only one logical, safe choice:
Vote for all three candidates on the left slate: Rachel Garnham, Yasmine Dar and Jon Lansman.
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