MP resigning to work for Tories once claimed local members showed ‘unequivocal’ confidence in him. Video revealed meeting involved row with members walking out in protest
John Mann has announced he is quitting as Labour MP for Bassetlaw in order to focus on his new role as the Tories’ ‘antisemitism tsar’. Last night, the SKWAWKBOX showed that Mann was accused of anti-Gypsy racism after publishing an ‘anti-social behaviour handbook’ that named Travellers among social evils – and the devastating impact it had on a young Gypsy boy and his family.
But local Labour members have told the SKWAWKBOX they are also delighted at Mann’s departure, because of the behaviour they have had to endure – including Mann rescheduling a meeting to clash with their event and then falsely claiming members ‘unequivocally’ voted their confidence in him.
A year ago, Mann tweeted a ‘thank you’ to his CLP (constituency Labour party) for their confidence in him, claiming it was ‘unequivocal’:
However, he was apparently unaware that unhappy members had recorded the meeting – and it showed anything but ‘unequivocal’ support:
The unhappiness of members was driven by the meeting being hurriedly scheduled – on a Sunday – clashing with another event in the area – and ensuring that a vote was going to be won by the right. Members told the SKWAWKBOX that a Sunday meeting was extremely unusual, even unheard of – as the CLP’s standing orders say they should take place on the third Friday of each month:
The pretext for the meeting was a supposedly urgent need to commence planning for a local election campaign that was still more than eight months away.
So angered were many members that they sent a flood of emails protesting – and one member stood at the beginning of the meeting to complain at the ‘undemocratic‘, ‘underhand‘ and ‘unethical‘ ploy and to demand that the emails be read out.
But critically, the video captured Mann’s face as the member spoke – and his expression looks very different from that of someone receiving ‘unequivocal support’:
Mann can be seen sitting at the Chair’s table, with his wife Jo at the other end. She was filmed glancing apprehensively across at him as his anger rises and the chair has to gesture for him to stay silent – and a close-up of the MP’s face shows why:
The member who spoke attacked the divisiveness of the move to bring forward the meeting when the invitation email made much of the need for unity – and at the end of his contribution he walked out in protest, accompanied by fourteen or fifteen of his fellow members.
Some delegates with voting rights at the meeting stayed behind, but were unable to defeat Mann’s motion – but it’s clear that the events of the meeting and the eventual result could not reasonably be described as anything like the ‘unequivocal’ Mann claimed.
Nor was the ‘vote of confidence’ in the motion exclusively for Mann. The motion discussed supported the GMB union’s call for Labour to adopt the IHRA definition – but expressed Bassetlaw CLP’s support for ‘local leadership, the MP and the national leadership:
Oddly, Mann neglected to mention that his CLP voted just as much to express their support of Jeremy Corbyn and his team as did it to express any confidence in him.
The contradiction
Mann also seemed in two minds about his plans on Sunday and the reason for them. He told the Jewish Labour Movement, according to the Jewish Chronicle (JC), that he couldn’t attend their conference held on the same day – but did not tell them he couldn’t go because he had a CLP meeting to attend. Instead, he told the Jewish Chronicle that he could not attend because of a ‘hate fest’ in his constituency.
Quite how he battled a ‘hatefest’ by attending a CLP meeting in a different location was not explained.
At the time, Mann was invited to comment but did not respond by the time of publication.
Commenting on Facebook, musician Joe Solo, who attended the other event, said:
Local MP John Mann has a reputation for being a deaf ear to anything he doesn’t want to hear, and certainly more than one person has described a career bully. Today he excelled himself. Cancelling a speech at the Jewish Labour Movement conference so he could move a CLP meeting forward by almost three weeks in order to clash with this event, he deliberately equated these two facts in order to smear the event I sang at as being… (his words) a “Hate Fest”.
…
As a lifelong campaigner against ALL forms of racism, Fascism, bigotry and intolerance, I do not take kindly to this insult to my character and consider it a gross misuse of the power of his office.
I won’t hold my breath for an apology.
Where Mr Mann has the willing ear of the Right Wing gutter press to air insults like this on his behalf, I have to type here and hope you read it.
SKWAWKBOX view:
Bassetlaw members were not confident of being able to remove their unpopular MP through a ‘trigger ballot’, as an additional branch in Mann’s home area had been set up to make it harder to achieve a vote for a contest in one in three branches, as required by Labour’s rules.
Those who spoke to the SKWAWKBOX unanimously feel he has done them a huge favour by resigning – and linked his decision to a specific event outside Mann’s control. More on that in an article to follow.
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So glad he has gone to his natural party. As many of us have said for so long, John Mann is and always has been a Tory! His racist book which caused Travellers, Gypsies & Romany people to be attacked and abused. He lied in Westminster about his wife being antisemiticly abused by Marxist. He tried to say it had been carried out recently when in fact it had happened back in 2012. It was dead bird sent to his wife by Blairite who was angry at not being allowed to stand as a Councillor by his wife. It had nothing to do with antisemitism. But he used it to prove Labour was A-S. It was all one big fat lie. Now Mann is being lauded by Jewish press as beacon of Jewish protection. Never have I witnessed such flagrant lies as we have all seen in these past 3 years. John Mann shows, in essence, everything that is corrupt within Labour Party. Now is time to get rid of all of these miscreants from The Labour Party. Time for CLPs to act decisively against these so-called Labour MPs. ENOUGH IS TRULY ENOUGH.
There are other questions here. A CLP is not a creature of the MP. Quite the reverse. So what was happening to allow Mann to have so much influence over scheduling, and then sitting at the top table when he is simply a member – admittedly with a special role – who is invited to speak?
Jumping before being pushed is typical of what he did in Lewes CLP in the 90s. One of those opposed to him selling off the LP building at the bottom of the housing market, decided to stand against him to be CLP secretary. He simply couldn’t cope with not being able to control the outcome so he withdrew his candidacy and the whole family had moved out of the area within weeks.
Mind, not before we had experienced a couple of years of the ways in which he contrived to control the outcome of any vote. I don’t think I ever received a notice of a meeting until the day after. He had all sorts of PC justifications for selling off the building … and of course meetings held at 9 am on a Saturday morning…. but as far as we could see, he was really only interested in monetising the building to put funding into Blair’s election campaign. The interests of CLP members certainly didn’t matter.
That’s my point (above). What the f. has the CLP been doing to let him get away with it?
Thats the CLP…..Lewes COP that supports the NO POPERY HERE Signs festooned round the shopping centre…..and were my effigy was burnt in front of a 70,000 crowd…..along with the pope and guy fawkes,Where kyle paisley runs the local chapel and the local party couldn’t support a motion for any Catholic to have the right to walk the streets of Lewes without being insulted by signs NO POPERY HERE……,or me having death threats and attacks and assaulted….a constituency that saw the effigy of young gypsy children being blown up inside a caravan and filmed by the Sussex bonfie society…..The streets were ian paisley felt at home and…and where Ken Barrett considered a safe house for himself leader of the shankill Butchers the UVF that terrorised my family……thats the constituency that Mann was in and I didnt know but I do now thanks to Squawkbox and syzgysue……I left the UK because of that……and am shaking and emotional now regarding the treacherous Labour Lewes CLP…….still I was told just a bit of fun and its an honour to have your effigy burnt………yes but not for me or my wife and family Terror right up to my front door…..I spoke out?
Hello Joseph. I am appalled by your post. Sometimes there are no words. Vile, truly vile. Best wishes to you and yours from my socialist extended family.
Alexanderscotish …..Thankyou for them kind words,,hopfully we will be free of the bigotry by the people who want to bring hatred from the 1600S to our streets and wrap it up as culture!We strive for a 21st century democracy as socialist s but some like john mann and Lewes Sussex want to live in the dark ages…..sick people!
Skwawkbox John has resigned- lets just be grateful.
Smartboy, I take it you meant we should be grateful for the fact – and not grateful to the 💩?
Yes grateful for the fact-very grateful in fact!
SmartboyJust be grateful the CLP didnt do the job…..and how many more CLPs will allow us to go into an election with that type of baggage?
He’s gone- thats enough for me Joseph.
Smartboy…..he hasn’t gone and now I know his connection to Lewes I will lnvest my time in uncovering his dirty tricks and secrets…..That racist bigot does not get to walk away with a big fat pension and a cushy number slamming the Labour party and Jeremy Cornyn and thats forgotten….thats why we go into an election with baggage like Watson……never ?
Unfortunately Joseph thats exactly what he has done. Like you I totally deplore the fact that he was gifted the job by the Tories so we need to ensure once we get into government that all publicly funded jobs are subject to open competition.
Just a typical bullying manipulative thug who has no business being a Labour Party member never mind an LP MP .
We need as a Party to be ready to neutralise and rebut the inevitable AS attacks that he will instigate from his new position in the Tory party . He has to prove his worth !!
Maybe his loyal wife is only “in league” with him as a dominated, hollow cipher, possibly no longer in a position to safely exercise any female agency and speak up for the world of women. The diametrically opposed world of mysoginistic bullying may have eclipsed that and snuffed it out. How very sad that would be, if true.
At least as Tory scum, he can flex his muscles without fear of sanction now, unfurl his wings, leap and soar unhindered, free as a bird, openly shitting on those beneath or those who get in his way inside the institutionally racist, institutionally antisemitic, institutionally Islamophobic, institutionally mysoginistic, institutionally Nasty Party.
IIRC JM’s wife is no dominated, hollow cipher…
Thanks Sue!
Potato/Pot-A-toh
HATE FEST/ Unequivocal majority.
Tomato, tomato, potato, potato
At last we call the whole thing off.
If only we could make him take Tom Watson with him and give his antisemitism wages to a foodbank…
One less right wing ‘Labour’ Barbarian with a few more to go, and looked after by his Tory mates after selling out diverse working class people.
Funny Left wing socialists in my city were out yesterday confronting the Far Right but the likes of critics like political careerist moron Mann are nowhere to be seen, All Gob and No Practice!
As USA Far Right Billionaire Barbarians put millions into far right groups and individals around the World (including here) it is the Left and trade unions who are on the front line, and the Far Right attempt to set diverse working people against each other and thus help the rich and are THE USEFUL IDIOTS OF THE RICH!
But political imbeciles (and hypocrites re travellers) like Mann are out of their depth.
His role it could be argued is to damage Labour for the Tories, but perhaps if he adopted an investigative role he could take a tape recorder into Tory Clubs and he may be shocked (with islamophobia too) but is he REALLY an honest broker?
I once went in a British Legion Club and a group of Tories in the corner were openly using the ‘Y’ word, something I have never heard in a 50 year association in Labour!
Perhaps Mann the Moron could be sent on a junket to Hungary to examine the Right Wing Fidez Govt which some argue dog whistles AS, and Right Wing Barabarian Johnson apparently praised this Barbarian Govts victory.
Need left wing democratic socialist PPCs who back JC!
Diverse working people of the World Unite!
Thankyou Squawk box….for allowing me to put another jigsaw in the puzzle of the bigotry shown by Lewes clp…..John Mann….obviously he had gone before I briefly became a member…..but encountered his legacy in Lewes CLP?…..and how many more shelter racist bigots…..the joke is the appointment of tory advisor…..to a man who must have strong contacts amongst the UVF paisley and the orange lodge of Lewes in leafy Sussex……This is where Mann did his apprenticeship in Hatred and bigotry…..and never forget these organisations!like the Orange lodges and the UVF are not inactive they promote killings burning and Hate….John Mann Labours Enoch Powell!
Ps of interest Lewes in Sussex gained world wide coverage across Britian and the world for religious .bigotry and the yearly celebration of an hatefest……with even the China daily post running a page on backward Britain and the bigotry…….One CLP member… said to me its a Sussex tradition,you wouldn’t understand…..I replied so was hanging black men from trees in Alabama……they had to bring in the FBI to stop that…..how much longer to get rid of bigotry in Lewes Sussex? If ever a town attracted a certain type of baggage ,Lewes is it…..john Mann?
So Austin to the Lords…….payoff for treacherous support of the Torys…….poor little john mann gets nothing….for supporting the Torys…….Obviously too much of a thug even for the Torys……And that job they gave him will be the shortest in history of tory job creation!