Councillors ‘auto-excluded’ for supporting anti-Labour candidate in local elections
Two Sandwell councillors – Julie Webb and Bill Cherrington – were revealed last weekend by the SKWAWKBOX to have supported an ex-Labour independent candidate fighting local elections against the Labour Party.
The SKWAWKBOX understands from local sources that both councillors have today been expelled from the party under rule 2.4B, which makes support for a rival party or candidate an ‘auto-exclusion’ offence.
Both councillors declined to comment on their expulsion when invited to do so this evening.
Cllr Bill Cherrington 
Cllr Julie Webb
Another councillor, Caroline White, was expelled for supporting the candidacy of the same independent councillor and his wife, David and Shirley Hosell, who had been deselected by the party. Both were unsuccessful in their bid for re-election.
All of the councillors are understood to have been supporters of former council leader Steve Eling, an ally of Tom Watson. Eling was suspended after complaints of serious misconduct. His case has been referred to the National Constitutional Committee, Labour’s ultimate disciplinary body.
Watson attacked the suspension of Eling and the deselection of the councillors. According to eyewitnesses, he behaved in a ‘foul and appalling’ manner at a meeting of Labour’s National Executive (NEC) in an attempt to block or overturn the case against Eling.
Sandwell is not the only area to have seen similar expulsions recently. Last week, Haringey councillor Barbara Blake was expelled under the same rule after extensive support for ‘Change UK’ candidates.
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I should be interested to know in what way Tom Watson thinks that these rules which apply to all Labour members shouldn’t apply to his friends? Particularly rules that are as so clear in their meaning and categoric.
He should ask himself ;
How could these people serve as Labour Party Councillors alongside other Labour Councillors who’s election they had publicly campaigned against?
How could they be permitted to remain in the Labour Party having actively campaigned to reduce the number of Labour Party Councillors on the Council?
How could he speak up for people who must have known that their actions immediately disqualified them to be Labour Party members yet they continued to promote themselves as Labour candidates and used the efforts and resources of the Party to obtain their own election to the Council?
With apparently so poor a grasp of such fundamental Party rules how were these people ever considered to be suitable to represent the Party in the first place?
Was Tony Blair not asking people not to vote for Labour in the EU Elections? Why is he not suspended? But at least they are ridding the party of dead wood. When does Tom go?
If Tony Blair advising people not to vote labour in the EU elections was the worse he had done hundreds of thousands of people who have died as a result of the illegal war in Iraq would be still alive. This man did not bring the party into disrepute – he dragged it into the gutter with other rogue nations which ignore or contravene international law. Suspended? He should be jailed!
It seems the offence arises when you support specific alternatives to Labour rather than generalised opposition to the current leadership or Party. He was careful to say that he was supporting Labour but appealing to those who would in any not in any event support Labour to support alternative ‘progressive’ types. But it matters not since neither Left nor Right Labour can get over their deference to the nobles. Even Liam Byrne seems to be rising in some quarters among the Labour stardom.
Even Skwawkbox seems to be seduced into seeing ‘relative Left’ is as if it is as good as the real thing. No wonder Byrnes sees he has a future, despite his remaining admiration for stock market replacements of current Government backed pension schemes.
There is no point in gaining satisfaction for something starting to look like what we have not long since turned away from.
There’s a pattern emerging here. One that’s been evident for a long time. I think it’s high time Tom stood for re-election, and then considered whether the Labour Party is best suited to his points of view.