Self-described ‘hack’ Michael White had an ‘open mouth insert foot’ moment this week when he tried to defend, on Twitter, ridiculous complaints of a ‘Momentum purge’ in the London borough of Haringey.
The Sunday Times ran a lamentable piece last weekend trying to portray the democratic decisions of Labour members as a ‘putsch’ of sitting councillors – when in fact, the members supported or rejected both left-wing and centrist candidates largely based on their opposition to, or support for, the much-hated ‘HDV‘ (Haringey Development Vehicle) project to transfer large numbers of council homes to a private joint-venture for demolition with no guarantee of rehousing for ejected tenants.
White leaped to convey his disquiet about what appears to have been a perfectly standard, democratic selection, even after being challenged to provide evidence of what was wrong with it:
He then moved onto a specific allegation – that ‘Momentum’ had somehow blocked sitting councillors from ‘using party membership listed to defend themselves from losing trigger ballots‘:
There were two fairly substantial problems with the complaint councillors had apparently conveyed to White – and which he had apparently swallowed uncritically.
First, Labour rules do not allow sitting councillors to use their access to member lists for campaigning until after trigger ballots are complete:
Second, the person who reminded the selection’s ‘procedures secretary’ of this rule was not a Momentum member – but was in fact London Labour’s Regional Organiser:
White was accordingly invited to withdraw his wild and utterly inaccurate ‘conspiracy theory’ allegation.
He has not so far responded, as Twitter user @EL4JC observed:
— EL4C (@EL4JC) January 25, 2018
Yet again, the ‘MSM’s portrayal of the situation in Haringey bears no resemblance to actual events – but is cast in a way that is certainly useful to those who wish to smear Momentum and, by association, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
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Why are all these guardianistas so keen to support the social cleansing of Haringey via this HDV? Do they have shares in the development company or something?
Why can’t Haringey be the first council to enact Williamson’s council tax plans. Tax the rich and use this to run social housing for the poor.
Let’s put our balls on the line and do something good here!
Even better repossess some of the vacant properties owned by the rich and put those into the social pool.
Let’s not play the old game, we need to show people the is a better way! We can make Haringey a example of how well this can all work.
Yes to the council tax, No to the the requisitioning of property – even as a staunch socialist I think that’s a step too far – unless of course it’s owned by overseas investors, in which case that’s a different thing altogether and should not be allowed in the first place.