While some sections of the pro-Corbyn Labour Party have been getting worked up about whether one in three branches is an insurmountable democratic obstacle for people who think they can achieve fifty percent in a vote to remove an incumbent MP, or whether a reduced nominations threshold among MPs is a good trade for an added union input in leadership contests, something is being missed in all the noise.
Labour’s right-wingers, who normally provide the background noise like sheep bleating next to a campsite, have been peculiarly quiet.
As the SKWAWKBOX has already flagged, multiple plans are in hand among the Labour right to disrupt Labour’s conference and the events around it, with the mainstream media conveniently on hand to exploit every opportunity. There may be others that haven’t yet come to light.
The present relative right-wing silence is not peaceful. It’s ominous.
Heads up and in the game.
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You are correct about the silence of the RW PLP. I have checked out a number of the usual suspects and not a word about the NEC rule changes.
I imagine that they will be promoting the People’s Vote to encourage pressure on Jeremy…
The People’s Vote is a scam. Loads of expats and EU citizens have signed along with nearly every famous character in history. Even Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker have signed. The Independent was too tight to commission a real petition so they got an off the peg one to boost flagging ratings during the parliamentary summer recess.
If the right do try to disrupt the conference the correct response would be to ignore them as much as possible and carry on around them – do not give them the satisfaction og being drawn into open confrontation and painted by an eager press as the bad guya.
They may be sitting back with a smug satisfied grin at having won the reselection debate (for now)
I don’t think is faire to directly link “the trigger ballot” of 30% branches with actual candidate election. In other word, it is not the same question to be asked. One is “who is againts that MP or who wants to change that MP?”, the other is “who is for that potential new MP?” and the latter isn’t even known when the first question is asked. so i don’t think it is wise to conflate the two things because it diminishes the argument.
Tom Watson announces a new Party at a fringe event?
Their victory on reselection will make the extreme Blairites less likely to jump ship.
The right-wing has its tentacles in all kinds of pies.
I’m always suspicious of any online news site and it took me a while to discover the Guardian secretly despises the working class. I never trust anything.
Not so secret. They have done for a long time and the Observer is worse. SDP supporters run largely privileged Oxbridge types apart from about three excellent journos Aditya being one.
Just seen Wes Streeting on Ch4 news. His grooming and staring eyes reminded me strongly of American politicians. Let’s not forget, a good number of these characters are driven by Atlanticism.
Or they are actually on the US payroll like Ruth Smeeth .
some of us Yanks are for open selection just sayin
They have very few commitments at conference – hardly any leading debates or fringe events according to the timetable. They aren’t usually shy and retiring, so it made me wonder
These traitors you can bet are plotting and scheming! They will be leasing with the right wing press leaking information. The antisemitic “crisis” has run its course for now as it became more more obvious it was a smear campaign but it will be dusted off again for some future date. There is all kinds of shannagins going on in the NEC to thwart open selection.
I think you’re right about the silence of the right. I noticed there has been no anti-semitism smear on the front page of the Guardian for a couple of weeks now — when it used to be a daily, sometimes twice a day occurrence.
Even the Manchester rally didn’t get that much mention
I think there is genuine panic in the anti-semitic’ circles as the Jewish community are fighting back and threatening the hegemony of the board of deputies and JVL. They have really opened a can of worms which threatens the whole edifice.
Ahem…..JVL, aka Jewish Voice for Labour, are the good guys! Do you mean JLM?
”JVL, aka Jewish Voice for Labour, are the good guys!”
Oh, lordy!
Isn’t that akin to ‘The wrong type of jew’ connotation? I know what you mean but that’s how easily something like this can be – and IS – twisted.
Expressing concern about the inevitable right – wing disruptive actions – about which we can do nothing is itself a distraction from the NEC failure to make any change of MP into a negative activity when it is should be the most positive action we could be making.
The Israel Lobby never gives up.
Zealots and extremists.
Without their duplicitous obsession over Zionism, they have nothing.
I wouldn’t be overly concerned, personally.
It’s quiet because they’ve got nothing, never had anything, and never will have anything.
If they had anything, they’d go to the gallows kicking & screaming and protesting their innocence, but they’ve been sussed out too many times already. Their shit isn’t sticking anymore, and people have noticed where the stench is coming from.
That said, the disinfectant of automatic mandatory reselection wasn’t bought. That would’ve been enough to kill all right wing ambitions. Dead.
However, what there is, is enough to have seen them scurrying back under their rocks. Part of the message has got through, at least.
Political Provocateur
4 hrs ·
Et Tu Brute
#WeAreHisMedia #JC4PM #ForTheMany – Not The Few #WeAreCorbyn
It would appear that the chickens are doing what they do best – coming home to roost.
Following the recent Labour party NEC meeting, many party members are beginning to ask questions. Rightwing members and the trade union delegations effectively quashed the progressive measures outlined in the democracy review. It was a snub for Jeremy Corbyn, as it was his project to hand power back to party members. His key ally, Katy Clarke, had been working on the proposals contained within it for a year.
In addition, open selection was defeated as the unions felt that their power could be diluted. They also forced through the proposal that means it’s necessary for 10% of MPs and MEPs to nominate an individual to enable them to stand in any future leadership election.
Who are these people from the unions who wield such power at such high levels in the Labour party? Who and what do they represent?
At the NEC meeting that took place on the 4th September, four trade union general secretaries spoke out before the meeting urging the NEC to accept the full International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, including the eleven examples. These unions carried enough weight on the executive to make the result a foregone conclusion, leaving Jeremy Corbyn completely isolated, humiliated and undermined.
The articles that have appeared over the last few days hinting at Jeremy’s departure are of great concern to every anti-austerity supporter. In and of themselves, such rumours could be dismissed as scaremongering. However, in addition to the attacks at the NEC earlier in the month, the meeting on Monday this week, agreed nomination proposals for the election of a new leader that would make it very difficult for a leftwing candidate to get onto the ballot paper. Add to this the proposals to bring the deputy leader under the tight control of the national executive, and things are beginning to look very worrying indeed.
There can be no doubt at all that at conference, the GMB position on Brexit, which was pushed through the TUC last week, will be used as stick with which to beat Corbyn. So trade union bureaucrats are wielding their power against Jeremy in an intense and even more uncompromising fashion than they did in early September, isolating him, humiliating him and effectively attempting to set him up for the drop.
A breakdown of the functionaries who attend the Labour party NEC and carry out the orders of their trade union general secretary would be of little use, so let’s have a look at electoral comparisons from the last general secretary elections in these unions:
GMB 2015 General Secretary election result: voting forms issued 610,043; forms returned 26,248; Tim Roache, 15,034, or 56.7% of votes cast; Paul McCarthy 11,454, or 43.3% of votes cast. The turnout was a massive 4.4%.
Unison 2015 General Secretary election result (the union claims over 1.3 million members): total votes cast 134,015; Dave Prentis, 66,155, or 49.5% of the vote; Heather Wakefield, 35,433, or 26.4 % of votes cast; Roger Bannister, 16,853, or 12.6% of votes cast; John Burgess, 15,573, or 11.6% of votes cast. The turnout was 9.8%.
The Unite union (claims 1.4 million members): total votes cast 129,75; Len McCluskey, 59,067, or 45.4% of votes cast; Gerard Coyne, 53,554, or 41.5% of votes cast; Ian Allinson, 17,143 or 13.1% of votes cast. Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis was elected unopposed.
There was another election in the Labour movement in 2015. It was for the leadership of the Labour Party; there was a turnout of 73 per cent and the winner won it on the first round with 59.5% of the votes cast, or just over a quarter of a million votes. His name was Jeremy Corbyn.
Yet these unelected, barely elected and crookedly elected trade union bureaucrats have the audacity to plot and scheme behind Corbyn’s back in an effort to undermine and isolate him with a view to removing him from office or imposing their own agenda. It is an insult to the membership of both the Labour Party and the trade union members these individuals claim to represent.
Democratising and radicalising our unions is a key task for the members who support Jeremy Corbyn and the kind of policies he stands for. People can start by making use of the opportunities they’ve been given as union members by voting for the sort of leader they would like to see heading their union. Being a member of these essential organisations isn’t just about protecting rights at work; it’s also about democracy and representation on a much bigger scale.
We seem to have forgotten that Labour First are the frontmen for the RW Unions….
What happens if everyone who signs the petition requesting Nec open ballot OMOV on IHRA definitions & examples, as well as anyone else who dares criticise Israel, are expelled from the Labour Party que pasa?
I accuse the British Press of complicity in the atrocities – just two pages. Please share:
https://www.academia.edu/s/e2b86af96f/black-and-white-and-red-all-over