Earlier, the SKWAWKBOX published an open letter in which Momentum members in Camden made a stinging attack on the response of the organisation’s steering committee to smears against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and others.
The NCG must by now have begun to realise that with every scalp that is taken, a new target will soon loom into view. Camden Momentum
Momentum responded to the letter. That response is reproduced below, without comment on its content so that readers can judge it for themselves:
From: Momentum Info <info@peoplesmomentum.com>
Date: 9 August 2018 at 16:58
Subject: Re: Letter to the NCG
To: [redacted]Hi _____,
Thank you for writing to Jon Lansman, Laura Parker and our team – they have asked me to reply on their behalf.
We understand that there are a range of strong views within our membership about this decision and we appreciate your engagement on the issue.
There has been a lot of discussion about this on social media, and we would like to clarify that the Momentum NCG has not called for Pete Willsman to be removed from the NEC ballot paper, nor has the NCG has accused him, or those who support him, of antisemitism.
The decision to withdraw support for Pete Willsman was taken collectively by our NCG Officers group. This is a group of elected NCG members, formed in accordance with our governing structures, responsible for making decisions between meetings of the full NCG.
The decision was based on an agreement of the NCG Officers that his standard of conduct, in addressing what is a sensitive and important issue, at the NEC meeting in question was inappropriate for somebody seeking re-election to the governing body of the Labour Party and was not in line with the principles outlined in Momentum’s own Code of Ethics.
While the NCG welcomed Pete’s apology and agreement to undertake equalities training, and accept that this has been judged sufficient by the Labour Party to avoid further disciplinary action, a recommendation to support his candidacy from Momentum must be based on expectation of a higher standard of behaviour. It was therefore agreed by our NCG Officers that it would be inappropriate for Momentum to continue to campaign for him as a candidate.
We understand that you do not agree with the NCG’s decision in this case but hope that you will remain engaged to continuing supporting our campaigns over coming months – and helping bring to power a transformational, socialist government under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
We will also be passing your comments on to the NCG. We thank you again for your engagement on this issue [redacted].
In solidarity, [redacted]
Judging by the last sentence, the letter appears to have been written without input by the NCG.
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