During the summer, a SKWAWKBOX interview with Labour MP Laura Pidcock not only went viral on social media but was also picked up – often with a large side of faux outrage – by virtually every mainstream media outlet in the UK and many around the world.
Of the faux-outrage articles, several compared Ms Pidcock unfavourably with ‘centrist’ Labour MP Stella Creasy. It was a straw-man attack, because Ms Pidcock had stated she had no interest in being friends with Tory MPs, while the ‘outraged’ authors were praising the success of Ms Creasy’s amendment to make abortion more accessible to Northern Irish women, with the co-operation of a number of Tory MPs, which the SKWAWKBOX praised at the time.
Apples and pears.
Ms Pidcock was also criticised by another ‘centrist’ MP, Jess Phillips, with whom Stella Creasy has close links.
So it was of interest to note that Ms Creasy does more than work with Tory MPs, as revealed by a tweet by former right-wing Labour MP Michael Dugher:
The fact of a Labour MP socialising not only with Tory MP Therese Coffey but also with a journalist not known for particular warmth toward Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is of legitimate public interest to Labour members, supporters and voters – whether they would approve or disapprove. So we sent Ms Creasy a press enquiry by email to ask for her comment.
We didn’t receive a response directly, but had our attention drawn to tweets and an accompanying Instagram post by Ms Creasy – posts that were interesting because they attacked questions we hadn’t asked.
Ms Creasy first posted a tweet referring, bizarrely, to ‘victim blaming’:
The link in the tweet went to an instagram post of the press enquiry:
Note that the press enquiry does not query the band she went to see, but the rather the fact that she went with a Conservative MP and a journalist.
Ms Creasy clearly felt this tweet was insufficient to make her point, as she quickly posted a follow-up with a further non-sequitur:
Remember, the press enquiry neither asked about, nor raised any issues with, her taste in music – yet the response, if it can be called such, ignores the actual question about possible over-cosiness with Tories and veers off into irrelevant ‘office stereo’ defiance and the unwieldy and self-important hashtag ‘noshittakingindiemp’.
Ms Creasy’s accusation of misogyny triggered ‘dogpiling’ by her supporters.
The victim-blaming smear appears to refer to a tweet she sent out in December after the SKWAWKBOX exclusively published a verbatim transcript of the statement issued by Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins after he was suspended over allegations of inappropriate conduct.
The article contained no criticism of his accuser – and Ms Creasy was challenged by various Twitter users to substantiate her claim:
To the SKWAWKBOX’s knowledge, Ms Creasy never responded to the multiple requests to show evidence for her slur.
Ms Creasy wasn’t yet done with her misdirected ‘outrage’. She issued a further ‘straw man’ tweet:
Again, the emailed enquiry made no attempt to ‘defin[e] the labour movement’ nor any mention of her taste in music – yet she ‘defiantly’ promises ‘as long as I’m here there will be indie discos‘.
Ms Creasy accused the SKWAWKBOX of victim-blaming in its article about Kelvin Hopkins’ statement – yet when challenged to substantiate her allegation she provided no answer.
Today, she was asked about the appropriateness of socialising with Tory MPs. It would have been simple enough to respond that she’ll socialise with whomever she wishes. Instead, she again raised ‘victim-blaming’ and an accusation of wishing to ‘control women in the Labour party’ today – as if her gender has anything to do with a question about how she chooses to spend her time.
As this blog tweeted in response to Ms Creasy’s post, it was an extraordinary response to a straightforward press enquiry.
When another Twitter user ventured that it was a legitimate one, Ms Creasy didn’t address the point raised but instead suggested that he, another user and the SKWAWKBOX were all one and the same:
Attack is the best form of defence? Perhaps. Some months ago, when this blog queried Ms Creasy’s failure to join or even mention a major NHS campaign by the Labour Party when she found time to tweet about fruit pastilles, she retorted:
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Nothing new about Stella Creasy here. This is exactly the gobbledegook she came out with when trying to smear Chris Wilkinson. Half cocked argument that ended up with her looking idiotic. Chris made a suggestion as a way of getting a debate going about safety for women on trains. As far as I was aware, first MP to make any suggestion at all. He said maybe we need women only carriages. You would have thought he had said “hang on all women,” the way Ms Creasy went off on a rant. I asked her what was wrong with having a debate about it. She went on and on and on and on about discriminating against women. I couldn’t believe it. Chris was actually saying something significant but she just tried to twist his words. She got herself into such a knot that she ended up looking utterly ridiculous. Sadly, one cannot challenge Ms Creasy on her idiocy. I was very polite but became utterly frustrated by her spurious arguments. Then asked her the crunch question: What is your motive for attacking Chris when he is suggesting a debate? Bang I was blocked!!! She was incredibly rude to Chris and others who questioned her.
My impression was that why challenge Tories about poverty, homelessness, hunger when instead you can attack a colleague in your own party, purely because he has a different idea about what Labour should be.
Utterly pathetic MP.
💝💕 Cheers xxx
Yet more stupidity from someone who perhaps should know better but has time and time again proven beyond reasonable doubt that she doesn’t.
On another point I see the ‘Press This’ tab has disappeared again, after it’s initial loss I was glad to see it return but that appears to have been all to briefly so I am hoping it will be back sometime soon.
What an incredibly interesting and telling response from Stella Creasy. Her bizarre response raises two issues.
The first issue has already been addressed by Skwawkbox. Ms Creasy completely fails to address the issue of how appropriate it is to socialise with Conservative MPs and with journalists who attack the Labour Party. Instead, she chooses to engage in a rather bemusing long winded rant about an unrelated topic.
In light of Stella’s close relationship with anti-Labour media outlets one can only speculate that Stella Creasy is one of the anonymous sources who regularly briefs against the Labour Party. It would not be unreasonable to assume that is the case.
The second point regards Stella’s claim that she is independent. This claim fails on two counts. Stella was one of the plotters who attempted, and who still attempt, to undermine the twice elected leader of the Labour Party. So in that sense she is not independent at all, she is self evidently sectarian and closely associated with the destructive right wing faction of the Labour Party.
It is not difficult to understand Stella’s motivations for attacking the Labour Party and attacking journalists like Skwawkbox who support the party. Stella Creasy is not a Labour MP, Stella is a Cooperative Party MP.
The Labour Party has had a longstanding electoral agreement with the Cooperative Party which means the parties do not stand against each other in elections. Whilst this may have been an appropriate agreement in the 1930s to avoid splitting the vote, it is no longer appropriate for the following reasons.
The Cooperative Party has only 10,000 members and makes no financial contributions to the Labour Party. Therefore the Labour Party membership of 600,000 is canvassing and funding to return Cooperative MPs and councillors. The Cooperative Party has 38 MPs and 700 councillors. Just think about that for a moment. It has just 10,000 members and yet has 38 MPs and 700 councillors thanks to it benefiting from the branding, canvassing power and funding of the Labour Party.
The gross over representation of Cooperative candidates due to the anachronistic electoral agreement is patently undemocratic and provides no benefit whatsoever to the Labour Party.
Then, to top it all, Stella Creasy briefs against the Labour Party which she owes her political career to and insists she is independent. Without Labour she would be nothing.
It is clear from the backstabbing behaviour of Stella Creasy and her equally aggressive fellow Cooperative Party saboteurs that it is time for the Labour Party to end the electoral agreement with the Cooperative Party.
Let us see how successful Stella and the other Cooperative candidates are when they run a campaign with a handful of canvassers and no cash.
I believe the agreement requires a 12 month notice to be served by either party to terminate the arrangement.
Comments by internal affairs here are very interesting. Perhaps there is a need for a big change here? I wonder what kind of mp’s the other 37 are? But perhaps the others are good socialist.
A couple of years ago I did some analysis of who Co-op Party MPs endorsed in the 2015 leadership election. Of course, the Co-op MPs have somewhat changed since then, but FWIW this is my analysis two years ago:
The Co-operative Party seems to have been well captured by New Labour during the Blair period. Before the general election of the 23 non-Scottish Co-operative Party MPs standing again in this election, by my count 18 (78%) had some association with Progress (8 having been Chair or Vice-chair).
Of the 22 Co-operative/Labour MPs that endorsed a candidate in the leadership election, by my count they endorsed:
11 Kendall
5 Cooper
4 Burnham
2 Corbyn (1 of which was a “lent” vote by a 2010 David Miliband supporter)
Interesting observations by Pres Obama on R4 today on social media distortion of complex issues leading to confusion and misinformation.
Perhaps Stella Creasy and others could be asked straight about the standards they claim to uphold in the uses to which they put their twitter accounts.
Meanwhile, if they insist on chatting about their social lives on the same medium used also for political activities, they should not be too surprised that followers are sometimes confused as to the point(s) they are making.
Would it be unreasonable to insist that, as part of conforming to accepted parliamentary standards of behaviour, all MPs should be required to use their twitter accounts (if they have one) in a manner that is at the very least civil?
Luv the idea that MPs should be expected to use their twitter accounts civil! Not going to happen with some I’m afraid. Read my comment re. Ms Creasy’s unworthy attack on Chris Williamson. You will get nowhere with Ms Phillips who tells Labour supporters/members who do not agree with her to: Foxtrot Oscar and then blocks them. Mr Danczuk was pretty aggressive and a few others who would attack other MPs as well as Labour members on Twitter.
Ms Creasy starts off by being patronizing & condescending to those who offer a different view and then she becomes aggressive and then she blocks you. Whatever you do, don’t ask her to explain her motives. She won’t answer and block you anyway.
I don’t see the problem. It isn’t as if she has been attending an EDL march.
Simple. Tories are wrecking what’s good about the country and hurting vulnerable people. What message does it send to those people to be cosy with them?
Tories are people too.
Of course Tory MPs are people. People who are dismantling what’s good and hurting millions
She doesn’t support Labour MPs. You know the ones on her side of the despatch box. She is happy however to go around with Tories. She constantly attacks Labour MPs but never attacks Tory policy. Why is that.
Seems to be on her own planet, doesn’t she. It annoys me when women like her cynically play the women’s rights card to duck an issue. That’s not what women’s rights are all about. Brings it into disrepute.
She’s my MP sadly, I asked her to support a local homeless charity’s Christmas lunch in 2011 and she sent a condescending email back asking why I didn’t volunteer on Christmas Day. I replied that I was volunteering and she blocked me.
Sounds exactly right for Ms Creasy! Par for the course with her sadly. Hardly any way to treat a constituent either. I hope she reads your comment and feels ashamed. I certainly feel ashamed of any MP who thinks it is okay to be so condescending.
What is the point of having Co-operative MPs? Why have this arrangement at all, it would be much better to finish it off for good.
Very good point Ray , why indeed do we need Co-op MPs , either they are members of the Labour party 100% and their loyalty is beyond question OR they are not . There are probably some very good C0-op MPs ( be interested to know who they are ) but then if they all have the same aims and objectives as Labour, why not just become a full on Labour MP and there is no longer any need for the Co-Op . After all UNITY IS STRENGTH is it not ?
If she were my MP then I would seriously doubt her loyalty and would be round my CLP asking her just what on earth she was trying to achieve .
Her judgement is very questionable as is that of her sister in arms Jess Phillips.Both seem very quick to use their gender s a weapon to silence and bully any questioning of their actions .
It does seem we in the Labour party under JC have still a long battle of attrition with these right wing MPs , perhaps under the JC review of party democracy we might see the beginning of the end of their rule !
I can only hope so
You raise a good point about shared aims, Rob.
When it comes to the most important policies Labour and the Cooperative Party do not have shared aims and are not aligned.
The Cooperative Party does not agree with one of the key economic policies of the Labour Party which just won the party 40% of the vote.
The Cooperative Party does not support nationalisation, its manifesto supports mutualisation.
It is not in the interests of the Labour Party to finance and support the Cooperative Party. By doing so it is building up a anti-nationalisation power base within the party which will oppose a Labour Government’s programme.
I am not against some of the ideas of the Cooperative Party, such as democratisation in the workplace through cooperatives.
However, we don’t need an electoral agreement with the Cooperative Party to incorporate that idea into Labour policy.
Stella Creasy, let me make it simple so you will understand!
YOU ARE FRATERNISING WITH THE ENEMY, NAMELY THE TORIES, THE RIGHT THINKING AND THE MSM!
If you want to be a Labour candidate in the next round of elections, then you had better buck your ideas up!
If you don’t, you may just as well stand for the Tories, as you’re now!
We don’t have room for the likes of your Right Wing Labour Politics!
Your antiquated thoughts and speeches don’t gel with SOCIALISM!
It’s the same mindset as the group of people at the Wallasey CLP who claimed that homophobic remarks were made. It’s the same mindset as those who claimed Jeremy Corbyn’s campaigning during the EU referendum was half-hearted, and Angela Eagle in particular who made a leadership challenge based on the totally false claim. It’s the mindset that concocted the front-page headline story regards Hillsborough. It’s the same mindset that concocted the WMD lie re Saddam Hussain and Iraq……………..
It’s a Psychopath mindset – ie devious, duplicitous and deceitful, and completely devoid of integrity and empathy. Around 4% of the population – any given population – are psychopaths, and they are a totally different breed to the rest of us, and but for them, our history and our present reality would be entirely different.
We live in a Psychopathocracy, and always have done.
The front-page headline (re Hillsborough) in The Sun, that is.
And it is the same mindset that does the following to completely innocent and law-abiding people (and infiltrate hundreds of groups and organisations), AND of both those who establish such programs and those who carry them out:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/18/police-spy-carlo-neri-woman-sues-psychological-torture
Check out ‘Undercover: The True Story of Britain’s Secret Police’ if you’ve not read it (and don’t for one second believe the stuff about the undercover cops being traunatised AFTERWARDS for doing such work).
And the same mindset that tags completely law-abiding campaigners as ‘domestic extremists’, and have done so with thousands of people, most of whom don’t even know that they have been and, as such, are on such a list:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/28/police-anti-extremism-unit-monitoring-green-party-caroline-lucas-sian-berry
I can’t help thinking about the report in the summer ‘Creasy strife with members over cancelled speakers and more’ https://skwawkbox.org/2017/07/17/creasy-strife-with-members-over-cancelled-speakers-and-more/. It seems that Ms Creasy finds it easier to socialise with Tory MPs than to allow left wing MPs like Clive Lewis and Diane Abbott to actually speak to members in her constituency. However, her ‘attack is the best form of defence’ style seems to also dominate in her CLP dealings when it doesn’t go in accord with her wishes.
Isn’t she the nepotist parasite what’s tried to get her entire family into all the top specs in her CLP?
Never get her fizzog on the back of a fiver by acting like she has.
I’ve just run through the wiki descriptions of the 38 coop mp’s. I would recommend that anyone should do the same for all labour mp’s because in the main they come across as a self preserving bunch of opportunists. About 10% emerge as socialists. About 60% come across as opportunists who will sway with whichever wind is the strongest and could probably be relied on. The other 30% should be in the Tory party.
See comment from rwendland above , makes for an enlightening picture with your findings so far , of how probably a decent organisation the Co-Op party has been in the main infiltrated by BLairites / neoliberals.
What to do tho is another matter .
I am concerned that an MP, who votes on laws and government actions, cannot interpret a short article properly.
The reality is that she knows exactly what the article said, but she deliberately misrepresents what it said so as to make it appear it said something else, and does so to paint sqwawkbox in a negative light – ie to smear sqwawkbox – much the same as Damian Green did a couple of months ago, and just like Creasy, he didn’t respond either when challenged by sqwawkbox:
https://skwawkbox.org/2017/10/23/damiangreen-fails-to-respond-to-skwawkbox-challenge-over-smear/
If I were sqwawkbox I would get my solicitor (if I had one) to send her a letter saying that if she doesn’t respond and explain why she said what she said in relation to said article, legal proceedings will be started against her for defamation. AND do exactly THAT if she doesn’t (which she won’t of course). My point is that ‘THEY’ will just continue to smear sqwawkbox unless such an action is taken. And I have little doubt that sqwawkbox can crowdfund the money to take such action.
Great idea Allan , and I am happy to contribute to costs for SB . The sickening thing is that Creasy would probably/possibly use Labour Party funds to defend the claim.
.
“The reality is that she knows exactly what the article said, but she deliberately misrepresents what it said so as to make it appear it said something else, and does so to paint sqwawkbox in a negative light – ie to smear sqwawkbox”
That is certainly one impression I got but I was taking her response at face value which shows an inability to understand and correctly identify the points/s made in short articles. If an MP cannot do that then, their ability to judge and understand documents and arguments on which to cast their vote is surely in question.
I cannot speculate as to the reason for Creasy’s actions. I do have great empathy with your interpretation however.
Correction: skwawkbox (not sqwawkbox). Sorry about that skwawkbox.
Quite apart from the obvious hypocrisy of fraternising/socialising with the enemy, you can tell a lot about people from their musical taste – or lack of it.
For instance, Ed Balls doesn’t like Radiohead and Creasy not only spends good money going to a Shed Seven gig, but is also a well-known Wedding Present fan.
And if that isn’t grounds for deselection, I don’t know what is!
Talking of balls and wedding presents…
If I’m not mistaken, didn’t I read somewhere that the serial home-flippers balls & cooper had their wedding guests pay for their own meals??
Ha ha! Wouldn’t put it past them!
“#noshittakingindieMP”
Doesn’t even call herself Labour anymore.
To help put this in perspective perhaps ,,
but I can’t help but compare and contrast the performance and actions of Creasy/Phillips and others against the likes of Laura Piddock, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Diane Abbot , Angela Rayner,Emily Thornberry.
In my opinion these are people worthy of our support and that is why THEY are on the FRONT bench and others are not .These are some of MPs who give a shit about their constituents and respect the membership whereas others do not .
Maybe, as a suggestion , another effective way forward would be for SB to now undertake an in depth examination of those Co-op MPs their voting records and general behaviour .Then produce the article for all to read and be educated as to how or what this organisation is within the Labour Party . We hear lots about “Progress” but this group is , to me anyway , somewhat a dark hole.
Yes I could go and find out this info for myself , but then it would only be me knowing it and yes we could all carry on commenting on Creasy and the like .
However , continuing this may even give her ammunition to prove her claim of bullying , but an expose of what this C0-op group are and more importantly how they operate within Labour maybe more educational than further comment.
It would in my opinion perhaps help form the basis for motions at Conference of either removing the group from Labour , ie dissolving the agreement of not standing Labour candidates against them ,,, or for them to fully integrate with and accept true Labour policies under JC .
The continuing undermining of our Labour party cannot carry on , for if so, in the mid to long term the party will suffer in the eyes of the General Public .They would see us as a ” bunch of squabbling children not fit for Govt EVER ” and in the short term , a defeat at the 2018 election against T May and we all know too well what that means for the many.
It appears that the battle for the soul and heart of Labour continues despite 2 utterly convincing wins for JC as leader and a near on miraculous performance at the Gen Election by the party under his leadership .
There’s a very high degree of overlap between the Co-op MPs and Progress MPs, but there are notable exceptions such as the excellent Kate Osamor
New Labour’s success in ’97, based on watered-down Tory policies though it was, did at least prove that they’d caught the mood of the times.
Blair & Brown’s hubris apparently led them to believe they’d discovered an immutable law of politics and that the Left are now courting disaster by ignoring it.
If their followers simply haven’t yet understood the extent of the devastation Tories and the 1% will soon wreak on employment and democracy with AI then maybe they’re not beyond redemption.
Surely we should at least ensure all Labour MPs hear the truth from experts in the field – and give converts the chance to join us wholeheartedly in driving home to the voters the inevitability of serfdom under all-powerful New Capitalists.
It would seem a shame to lose the experience of Labour ex-centrists who can be convinced of the urgent need for systemic change.
If they refuse to accept the truth they were always grubby self-serving Tory moles anyway and won’t be missed.
One of the coup ideas was to create a ‘new opposition’ in parliament, by the rebel MPs formally separating from the Labour party and just being Co-operative Party MPs. However, neither the Co-op executive nor John Bercow would support the proposal…. and like so many of their improbable plans, it fizzled out.
Ignoring the relevant points and launching attacks with entirely irrelevant rubbish is a tactic that’s been used by the RW media against Corbyn for the last 2 years.
Rather telling that Creasy should blindly use this form of aggression when politely asked about socialising with tory and Labour bashing chums.
Lets hope her CLP sees sense and deselects the nasty piece of work.
The Tories have killed, via ‘austerity’ 120,000 sick and vulnerable British citizens. That’s the reality. It’s a mass cull, a mini eugenics fest, an eradication of those who can’t produce profits for the rich. (See also calumslist.org.)
People have actually DIED because of Tory ideology and yet some Labour politicians, who are supposed to represent the poor and vulnerable are socialising with the perpetrators of this holocaust.
The right within the Labour Party despises the Working Class as much as the Tories do, they are just cleverer at concealing it.