Right-wing Blue Labour publicly castigates Watson for attacks on Labour staff and lack of connection with working class
Blue Labour is a ‘small-c’ conservative pressure group within the Labour Party. It has broken cover with a dim view of Labour deputy leader Tom Watson’s constant media appearances and interviews against Labour’s leadership and Brexit policy.
Watson had again spoken to the media claiming Labour needs to both support a new referendum and campaign to remain – even though, as Andrew Neil pointed out in a televised humiliation of Wes Streeting, this would mean Labour trying to negotiate a positive Brexit deal and then campaigning against it.
This latest attempt to damage Labour was a step too far for Blue Labour, whose Twitter account publicly attacked Watson both for yet another attack on Labour’s leadership and Corbyn’s staff and for being hopelessly out of touch with Labour’s working-class base:
Watson’s attack on ‘LOTO’ staff is part of a clearly-coordinated effort on the part of remain ‘ultras’ and Corbyn’s entrenched opponents to isolate Labour’s leader from his most steadfast support – an attempt to quarantine him, since they can’t defeat him in a leadership contest.
But clearly the tactics have become too transparent even for a significant right-leaning group of Labour MPs who recognise that Corbyn’s attempts to bridge the Brexit divide while respecting democracy are the right way to reach the working-class Labour voters many of them represent.
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And Watson just carrys on.No reprimand from the NEC he’s allowed to day after day rubbish the Labour party and the member’s.The silence from the rule makers is deafening..Before ruling the country ,we might learn how to rule the NEC and sort out Watson and his gang? Just saying!
We are the rule-makers, not the NEC. The NEC are there to fine-tune and implement our conference decisions.
As for dealing with discipline. If we want the NEC to better represent the member’s wishes, we need to democratise the unions as much as the party. Many of their delegates are r-w and it is their presence on the committee that often tips the balance.
Katherine, to a large extent I agree but the NEC do have power to recommend certain coarses of action, an exaple was their decision to adopt the full IHRA definition, which has been disastrous – bearing out Steve Richard’s point earlier.
Your point about the IHRC definition is well made. Watson is an irritation, but the amount of repetitive condemnation of him is pointless when the NEC has ben complicit in dumping the Party in the doo-doo by backing off from confronting the Israel lobby and letting good, genuine left-inclined anti-racists go hang and swing in the wind.
That sequence of failures does much more damage than Watson mouthing off – and being given credibility by – again – a timorous policy stance that defies rational analysis.
‘The NEC are there to fine-tune and implement our conference decisions…’
It appears the NEC are taking their time in implementing the Reformed Trigger Ballot. It might be worth our while to forward this motion to our CLPs:
https://www.labour-open-selection.org.uk/implement_the_reformed_trigger_ballot
Just imagine if this man was deputy leader!
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/keep-our-eyes-prize-and-well-build-better-britain
The NEC has no power to discipline Watson. MPs come under the remit of the Whips Office but even so I’m not sure whether they can discipline him when he has his own mandate from the membership.
Bringing the Party into disrepute resulted in Chris Williamson’s suspension from Labour by the NEC did it not,
bringing the Labour party into disrepute!Behaviour unbecoming of a member of the Labour party.!Just a few Watson can be nailed with,and the main criteria is the will to enforce.?Watson is not fireproof and it just takes the willpower to get busy with the traitors.Do not encourage the Traitors by talking down a task that Will have to be faced up to.by all of us in the Labour party.
I have emailed Tom Watson a couple of times along the lines of (more politely put) “stop mouthing off publicly, start supporting the Party and the Party Leader”… This I’ve just read has got me steaming again: He says HE has commissioned a “poll analysis”…
I asked who paid for it, and has he shared it with anyone other than the media, and have requested a response.
https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/tom-watson/news/104764/tom-watson-labour-facing-catastrophic?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SUNDAY%20Breakfast%20Briefing%20Template%202306&utm_content=SUNDAY%20Breakfast%20Briefing%20Template%202306+CID_191c58e2af0a307a962b3791baff849c&utm_source=Email%20newsletters&utm_term=Tom%20Watson%20Labour%20facing%20catastrophic%20election%20and%20Tory%20landslide%20unless%20it%20backs%20Remain
“I asked who paid for it,”
Max Mosley or someone like him.
Ah, it must be related to the People’s Vote UK group. https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesVoteUK
I had an email from the group about a week ago but it was actually from Tom Watson:
“You may have seen I made a speech yesterday arguing for Labour, the party of which I am so proud to be deputy leader, to make the case clearly for a People’s Vote with an option to remain in the European Union.
It’s not only what our voters and members want, giving the people the final say is the right thing to do to uphold our values as a democratic and internationalist party.
On June 30th Labour’s National Policy Forum consultation will close. If you support a People’s Vote – especially if you are a member or supporter of my party – I’m asking you to get involved.
Every submission is taken into consideration, so your email will make a difference. Will you take 30 seconds – or longer if you like – to send my party a quick email?
If you follow the link there is some suggested text for you. But it’s only a suggestion so please make any changes you would like, add your name at the bottom and then hit send.
Tom Watson MP,
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,
Leading Supporter of the People’s Vote campaign
P.S. I’d like us to stay in touch with each other. You can follow me on twitter @tom_watson or sign up for my weekly newsletter here.
“You may have seen I made a speech yesterday arguing for Labour, the party of which I am so proud to be deputy leader, to make the case clearly for a People’s Vote with an option to remain in the European Union.
It’s not only what our voters and members want, giving the people the final say is the right thing to do to uphold our values as a democratic and internationalist party.
On June 30th Labour’s National Policy Forum consultation will close. If you support a People’s Vote – especially if you are a member or supporter of my party – I’m asking you to get involved.
Every submission is taken into consideration, so your email will make a difference. Will you take 30 seconds – or longer if you like – to send my party a quick email?”
Usually, when there’s a cause or petition to be signed, people who agree post that they’ve signed. There’s three protagonists on here that very seldomly type about anything else but what twatson’s asking….But, inexplicably, no post from any of them, telling us they’ve signed.
I guess they don’t have the courage of their conviction(s) after all. Maybe all these members (and voters) DON’T really want a people’s vote after all.
I would question the whole concept of legality of Watson’s email and contacting people to act as Labour HQ.This in itself including name trawling for a database to further his ambitions is just another breach of conduct.If only we had a Body to enforce discipline ,instead of the Judean popular front(NEC) we could deal with Watson and his Traitors by using the same rules many socialists have been been suspended and disciplined by.Discipline for the many not the few Watson fanatics.?
So these Right Wingers are now saying Corbyn’s strategy was right? Unbelievable. Wonder when NEC is going after all these MPs, including Tom Watson, Jess Phillips, Wes Streeting, Stella Creasy, John Mann, Ruth Smeeth, and all the rest of these useless MPs who only care about keeping their “tickets” on the “gravy train!”
‘Wonder when NEC is going after all these MPs,…’
Not quite soon, it appears. An extract from an article by Carla Roberts of Labour Party Marxists (http://labourpartymarxists.org.uk/new-trigger-ballots-will-see-many-mps-given-their-marching-orders/): “In the face of a very successful campaign led by International Labour for the mandatory reselection of all MPs (under the name of ‘open selection’), Corbyn and his allies agreed instead to reform the existing trigger ballot – a way, perhaps, of softening the blow and not spook rightwing MPs too much. But it was a huge political own goal, in our view. It is, after all, the right in the PLP that has been driving the slow coup against Corbyn. The membership, given half a chance, would have long replaced the most ardent rightwing MPs.”
It appears we are still trying to appease our rightwing MPs, hence the lack of action against them. (My apologies in advance for trying to use bold tags , just in case the they wont work)
Ironically as Chris Williams has always said ” Trust the membership ” ironic as it is because of TWatsons actions that Chris now finds himself suspended on a false bullshit AS accusation .
The time is coming , so it feels to me , that the membership will have a ” revolution ” of some sort and mass protests over the way in which the NEC and the PLP is still running/ruining this party.
The anger is palpable and I think this years Conf will be a humdinger , maybe I should open a milkshake stall next door to it ,selling a Twatson special , super-sized extra large disposable mug , or for a small fee you can get the bucket sized version !
Well Rob that’s a far more proactive idea than anything that the Judean popular front NEC have come up with.It would also help with anger management,that’s common among party members who have to suffer u farcical pretence of socialism by the NEC club?
Thank you Joseph , I can see the que forming slready , in fact I may have to form a online registration process and advanced ordering system to cope with the demand!!
God how I wish this was so totally unnecessary , we are on the cusp of power and these xxxs are intent on destroying that opportunity, for what end exactly I wonder, what would Twatson and the RW do better for the many ….. answers on the back of a microdot pse.
Exactly which MPs are members of “Blue Labour”? As far as I can see its just a small pressure group that hosts events at which MPs such as Caroline Flint speak.
No one has any regard for Tom Watson these days apart from a few media luvvies and “People’s Vote” campaign, but let’s not over egg the pudding every time the pudding is mentioned.