As Kevin Maguire has reported in the New Statesman, right-wing Labour MP Ian Austin launched into a verbal tirade against fellow MP – and party Chair Ian Lavery – in the division lobby of the House of Commons just before the parliamentary recess.
So loud and aggressive was the prolonged outburst that MPs heard it before they saw it, with Austin calling Lavery a ‘w*nker’ and a ‘f*cking b*stard’:
Austin, who has previously attempted to harangue Labour colleague Chris Williamson and was described as ‘thuggish‘ for his behaviour in the Commons chamber when Jeremy Corbyn was criticising Tony Blair over Iraq, has a reputation for unpleasantness, but may have had a lucky escape – after the tirade Labour’s Kevan Jones commented to strongly-built ex-miner Lavery:
You handled that well, Ian, in the old days you might have nutted him.
Instead, it seems Lavery is content to let Labour’s disciplinary process run its course. He declined to comment to the SKWAWKBOX about the incident, as “there has been an official complaint submitted and due process needs to take place”.
Austin was contacted for comment but has not so far responded.
Comment:
Seems the Labour right has now decided attempts to bully and abuse are the way to handle its diminishing relevance.
Austin may have been feeling the pressure, as the SKWAWKBOX understands he’s worried moves may be made against him in his CLP – which has already shown signs of swinging left – and his chances of becoming West Midlands regional mayor – an ambition he has yet to deny – look slim
These dinosaurs, Austin, Hodge, etc,are hilding Labour back! They’ve got to go!
Hodge’s attacks on Corbyn are truly sickening.
On the Today Programme on Monday she also said:
“I fought the BNP.”
However, she did not mention the boost she gave them in 2006. Prior to her intervention, the BNP had been losing support including in Barking and Dagenham. But her intervention revived their campaign.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1516300/BNP-set-to-win-seats-as-support-surges.html
No-one messes with Ian Lavery (my MP I’m proud to say)
LP has got to deal with these foul, loud mouths bringing the party into disrepute swiftly and decisively or they will escalate even further. Not acting only invites more of the same.
Spot on, it’s no good hoping it will all go quite and be forgotten. The Right of the Party appear to be getting desperate.
They are acting now I’m pleased to see, if I had my way Ian Austin would have been kicked out of the party for openly and thuggishly attacking Jeremy Corbyn telling him to “shut up and sit down” when Corbyn spoke out about the Chilcot report. Austin is a vile nasty divisive block head and I have always been of that opinion long before Jeremy became leader. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-told-to-sit-down-and-shut-up-in-commons-as-he-criticises-iraq-war-after-publication-of-a7122871.html
Anyone remember John Mann and his verbal assault on KL. Same old right wing bully boy tactic. Seems they are looking to get sanctioned to give them an excuse to leave the party in a self generated petulant huff.
Remember Mann’s demented raging at Ken L? Unforgettable. How did these idiotic people get into politics and manage to stay there? Incredible. We need more democracy in the Labour party so that clearly unsuitable individuals like Mann and Austin can be shown the door. Enough is enough.
Yes. It was absolutely disgusting. He could have written to him to express criticism of what he had said.
I must say it is a pleasure to watch the filth show their true colours and resort to abuse as they start to crack.
All JC has to do is stay calm, smile and say “I’m sorry you feel like that”.
It must drive them out of their tiny minds!
And no doubt whine to the MSM about how they’ve been provoked and left little choice by the left..Oh how unfair its all been.
Contemptible shithouses – each and every one.
John Mann must think that none of us know how to Google John Mann + Wife + Dead Bird and discover the offence Mann was ranting about in the House recently was nothing to do with antisemitism but all to do with someone getting the hump because they were not selected to stand as councillor and that the offence took place in 2012, yep that’s SIX YEARS ago!
The electorate and the party have a right to expect better from their elected representatives. Are the RW so consumed with their cult-like hubris that they have completely lost track of why Labour Party members and supporters voted them into office. Are they looking to get expelled so that they can use it as a catalyst for another mass exodus. I really find I difficult to believe that seasoned politicians like Hodge are suddenly overwhelmed by anger management issues that would be completely unacceptable in any professional or social setting. Are they looking for a martyr to rally behind ?
Maybe they can see their gravy train vanishing. These are career politicians, after all.
If they really were career politicians they would have had the political nounce to know that there career ambitions would be best served by getting with the new program but instead they have behaved like those opiniated and dogmatic dinosaurs from the DUP. Yesterdays men.
People forget how colligate and inclusive Jeremy was when he appointed his first shadow cabinet. They also forget (choose to ignore) how well received the last GE’s centre left manifesto and campaign was, especially when compared to their best efforts which ‘climaxed’ with the EdStone.
They are not by any means indispensable, they can be replaced
I always wondered what happened to the other Stone of the Twelve Suggestions.
Every time one of these right wing idiots resorts to these futile gestures, they only confirm that they are so politically impotent, that they cannot make a political point against JC, and secondly, that the rightist claims of a Corbyn “cult” are completely refuted by the fact that he is totally inclusive. Perhaps I am being unkind to idiots by calling these obvious Tory sympathisers as such. They certainly have no interest in the concerns of Labour voters.
Their only aim is to make headlines adding to the narrative that Corbyn’s Labour is chaotic. Of course, the corporate press happily oblige. My advice; quietly remove these traitors within.
It’s as if the ‘centrist’ faction have decided that if they can’t have the party, no-one else can either. It’s becoming surreal, with the incoherent ranting, bullying and irrational accusations of antisemitism flying around
The irony being it is the Corbynites who are accused of bullying.
How do they live with themselves?
I strongly recommend to other contributors that they subscribe to Kitty S. Jones’s excellent blog.
http://kittysjones.wordpress.com/
Article in Electronic Intifada 25/7 alleges Pay Pal censored critics of Israel. Will Skwawkbox be reviewing its relationship with the firm?
PayPal, Google, Facebook, Twitter – I couldn’t name one giant corporation that’s a friend to the Left.
We could of course withdraw our participation – but only by living smaller, less connected lives – until viable socially-responsible alternatives are created.
The internet has enabled this expansion of activism that we’re all trying to be a part of but we still need to win before we can fix stuff.
Also remember John Mann’s spontaneous, angry attack on KL conveniently had an MSM cabal in tow, with multiple TV cameras primed and at the ready. We need to quosh this idea that is anything other than ChickenCoup3 , or is that 4 , I lose count … ..
Not hard to see which side of the party the “grown-ups” reside on these days.