Two left-wing front-benchers in talks with unions and Labour officials
As would-be candidates from the right of the party increase in number ahead of next week’s formal launch of the campaign to choose Labour’s new leader, left-wing front-benchers Rebecca Long-Bailey and Ian Lavery look set to face off to decide who will stand for the majority left of the party.
The SKWAWKBOX understands that both candidates are in talks with Labour-affiliated unions and party officials.
With the National Executive Committee to meet next week to finalise a schedule for the contest, it looks likely that the influential Socialist Campaign Group of MPs will choose its preferred candidate when it meets next Wednesday, with an announcement as soon as the following day.
Although it’s possible that enough nominations could be found to get both candidates into the contest, now is the time for Labour members with a strong preference for one candidate or the other to make a noise.
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pity they could not run on a joint ticket
There is absolutely no reason why they can’t, providing one of them is prepared to temporarily sacrifice their leadership ambitions and settle for the deputy leadership instead.
They really could. Chris at Stumbling and Mumbling blog convinced me it would ba an excellent idea for a left wing Labour Party
https://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2019/12/a-case-for-collective-leadership.html
The right wing billionaires press would be flummoxed!
The article identifies the problem then fails to address it,
If the problem is the overwhelming bias against the leader and party in the MSM and toilet papers then take the attack to them,
Call them out for what they are, use the same language, belittle them, slander them and destroy them
Leveson II with teeth
As for leadership, JC was the man of peace and reason, J McD was supposed tohave his back but failed miserably
Final nail in coffin was £58 billion bribe for WASPI women that wasn’t costed,
Only saving grace is the FPTP system which doesn’t take a huge swing to reverse fortunes
It’s all about policy now, so bring back WASPI but make it means tested and lose FBTP the moment you win next GE,
Only question for candidates
Are vexatious claims of anti semitism a hate crime
Double barrel Bailey could not run on the same ticket as socialist lavery How far right do you have to be. before Bailey realises she is right wing.and more Importantly how long before the membership realise that they are being conned again with a false label on Rebbeca ..long….Bailey..Doublebarrell….Bailey?no way jose.!
It would be a little disappointing if the left can’t manage to get the support of only 20% of the PLP.
It’s a little disappointing that the PLP are have so little relationship to the membership.
It’s a little disappointing that the PLP are so unrepresentative that they cant stand up to the scrutiny of regular democratic re-selection.
Suggesting the membership is failing the people that are paid to represent them – rather than the other way round – is the tactic of neoliberal entryists. Obviously they’d like begin discussion from this false premise and sideline debate into this cul-de-sac.
the only democratic way I’m aware of to get the PLP representative of the membership is open Selection
Steve H…….how very very sincere of you.!
It would show the REAL relation of forces in the PLP and llustrate why it Corbyn has so often had to be circumspect
Circumspect is not really the word I would use. Yes he has been circumspect but he has also been smeared, undermined , unsupported and harassed by members of the PLP none of whom can expect my vote if they are foolish enough to throw their hats in the ring. Vile disgusting behaviour such as they have engaged in must not be rewarded.
In relation to who I will vote for that will be whoever Jeremy either directly or via the SCG endorses.
Lavery/RLB as a dream Left field ticket can work for me given the lack of credible candidates from all sides of the Party, of course such a move would be a red flag to a bull as far as the Labour Moderates are concerned, but given Progress/Labour First pushing Starmer/Phillips time we gave the two fingers I’m afraid.
Yes possible dream ticket Lavery/RLB. Both Corbynites. Both Northern. Hope they negotiate to this and say positions open in their shadow cabinet for Corbynistas, starting with Dawn Butler
Perhaps either or for Leader/Deputy in any any particular order? Good cop, bad cop but 2 genuine left wing democratic socialists working together for the progress of diverse working people in the UK and for working humanity.
It has to be Lavery for Leader. In the public eye the Deputy is non existent. RLB is not Leader material but as architect of the Green Industrial Revolution policy would make a great no.2 and as back-up to Lavery would complement him and be led by him.
IL & RBL 4 Me in any order!
IL and RBL in any order. Good cop, bad cop. 2 genuine left wing democratic socialists for diverse working people.
Make some noise ? We shouted loud and clear that having a second referendum was an act of self harm and would lose us the election but to no avail . Labour does not listen to individual members outside of its insitutional bubble .
why have a zero sum game here , run with BOTH ffs .
Either RBL leads with Lavery giving her extra support / backbone where needed , or Lavery leads and RBL gives him necessary softly softly guidance as needed … seems straight forward to me !
Yes why I say RLB/Lavery ticket and pull in Corbynistas starting with Butler to our Cabinet in waiting
Rob…you mean undermine lavery like she did with the AS scam and talked to the isreali lobby to undemine corbyn and again with starmer in brexit negotiation…..Nighmare of tom watson again ?no way!
Joseph
Its now clear to me that the membership NEEDS to have from reliable sources a check list for each candidate for
1.Their voting history
2.Their stance on AS smears in particular proven examples of where they have stood up to it or capitulated and why
3.Their positions in any and all the coups that have occurred.
4.Their memberships of various affiliated organisations , eg Co-Op party , JLM , LOFI ,Progress, Unions ,and any others one can think of .
Can Sbox or other “insiders” help with this listing ?
rob – You’ve missed out one :
‘Widely recognized credibility as a leader across the Party.’
That’s the difficult criterion.
‘Widely recognized credibility as a leader across the Party.’
Actually, that pretty much counts them all out, and will turn out to be a big issue. No-one in the current PLP has ‘natural successor’ stamped on their forehead (arguably we’ve recently lost a couple who did, but that’s another story for another day).
There’s certainly variation in experience, self-confidence (narcissism for Phillips), and popularity within the party, but that doesn’t necessarily mean leadership.
Popularity, of course, will be reflected in the vote, but MSM/tory popularity will inevitably be foisted upon us.
This will not be an easy contest. Hopefully, whoever wins will do so by asserting their leadership skills during the campaign.
Express has already started a smear campaign on Lavery running a story that he was convicted of a public order offence years ago. I wish people would grow brain cells and see this for what it is instead of the manipulation that it is.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1223560/ian-lavery-labour-leadership-race-football-hooligan-num-miners-strike-spt
Aidey Aitchdee.I have conviction for a public order offences in S.Afrika and spent a few days in a cell in Pretoria.I and many others including the priest of the sacred heart church in Pretoria were arrested and beaten and jailed under the pass laws of attending a mixed gathering without a permit.I was also convicted in N.Ireland for asking for civil rights in northern Ireland and again was beaten and locked up..I am allowed to fly in and out of the US despite the strict rules on criminals,because unlike Britain my offences were deamed not criminal in the USA. I am in theUSA still allowed to visit my grandchildren.and daughter.Anyone who has been involved in activism has been afforded the badge of honour of a criminal offence in a oppressive society “I was born in a unjust Society I… don’t want to grow old in one”…Bernadette Devlin 1968 founder and leader of the peoples democracy movment 13bullets lying in her bed courtesy of the British forces,and still fighting for justice for the immigrants and the oppressed poor in Ulster.Laverys looking better everyday thanks to the toilet paper.,Just hope he can get past the PLP?
Labour needs someone that holds firm to their foundation principles and never backtracks on those core principles or becomes a weathervane that moves where the wind blows, a flip flopper.
Mr Lavery has never thrown the disabled people under the bus or backtracked on the Brexit vote. Ian Lavery was among a few others on the left to shout out loud for the disabled and the vulnerable in the HOC and on the street. He’s a true signpost as far as I can see and has held firm at the darkest times, even when not really heard. He has spoken out loudly to defend the onslaught on JC.
THIS is what we need not RBL who has shown she will backtrack. I had high hopes for RBL but over the last 8 months I saw a negative change in her whereby she showed traits of a weathervane/ flip flopper, which un-nerved myself and others
Hi Foggy – Could you give some specific examples of where RLB has backtracked on Labour policy.
I didn’t say anything about specific policies but as you asked ; On the Brexit vote. She and others pushed for the PV with remain on the ballot. Labour had got it right in 2017 with the Brexit decision to accept the democratic vote but to get the best possible no deal off the table deal..
RLB also threw CW under the bus and slated The Canary without doing her homework, just to pacify the smearers & witch hunters it seemed
Foggy …you dont need to justify anything,to steve h.let him do his own research.You are spot on with double barrel Bailey and we all know of her disloyalty.She could be worse than Tom Watson and thats saying somthing for someone like me who was conned into voting for him on lies. We don’t have a choice of who to vote for if we are looking for a socialist leader..The Labour PLP are basically centre right and are cuckoo’s inside of a socialist Labour party.They cost us the election and we cannot afford to bankroll a party which is full of rightist imposters..Lavery is looking better everyday with the endorsments from the toilet papers.We the membership should choose the leader of the Labour party ,not the shameful PLP or the toilet paper.
RLB bought into the Zionist attacks on Labour by saying Corbyn had lost the trust of the Jewish community. She went running to the Zionist JLM to commiserate and said Chris Williamson should not be in the Party. In short, she is a disgrace and must not be allowed anywhere near the Leadership position.
Jack T ….I am becoming increasingly aware that many do not see the massive danger of double barrel Bailey and not just on her treacherous behaviour with the isreali lobby.Some have accepted the label Bailey has given herself as left wing?…more like national socialist….than socialist.Bailey already using patriotism and we all know about it being the “Last refuge of a scoundrel” which is exactly what she is to put it in polite terms.
JackT – One of my criteria is a record of facing down the ‘antisemitism’ lies instead of either facing them down or, at least, not agreeing with the media narrative that Labour has a significant issue to sddress in comparison with other parties.
The trouble is that finding such a member of the PLP who also might have other necessary qualities is like searching for water in the Namib.
Undoubtedly, those of us who have constantly pointed out the folly of accommodating the extreme right masquerading as Jewish ‘representatives’ have been proved correct. The strategy only emboldened them and embedded their lies as ‘facts’. And it still goes on. The JLM remains affiliated to the Party, against all logic, whilst the JVL remains outside. The dangers of the IHRA definition have been shown to be very real.
Whilst Israel remains protected by the West in all its inhuman acts, Trump feels emboldened enough to warmonger in Iran whilst his little pals here murmur “Tut, tut”,
Who among the candidates is going to really face this down? I’m stuck.
RH, I totally share your concerns and those of Joseph above.
The ‘country’ which threatens our democracy the most and is also a threat to world peace is Israel, a country born from the results of terrorism. Many Jews such as Tony Greenstein, Jackie Walker and Miko Peled etc., who do not subscribe to the Zionist ideology, recognise this and have been at pains to point it out to the Labour Party and what have they received as a consequence of their brave actions? … vilification and expulsion, instigated by the Zionists who have a stranglehold on the Party.
As a Party we are now in serious trouble for not recognising the dangers of allowing the JLM and the LFOI to exercise so much influence on our procedures, culminating in allowing the despicable Ella Rose of the JLM to actually speak from the Platform at our last conference, yet Miko Peled being refused entry and Colin Monihan not being allowed to stand as a Labour candidate.
We cannot find anyone to Lead who is not tainted by their failure to stand up for Chris Williamson, the one person who was wise enough to foresee the problems and who now should undoubtedly be in poll position for the Leadership.
RLB has already written her ‘leadership suicide note’ – “progressive patriotism” is a nonsense to appease the media, and shows the kind of sliminess we associate with Jeremy Hunt, though I am not suggesting she’s anything like as bad; merely as slimy. It’s an approach that wouldn’t survive three days in the real world.
Is Andy McDonald throwing his name in the hat, or what?
He’s yer man AFAIC. RBL isn’t socialist no matter how the MSM portray her or she portrays herself. All very well appearing by Corbyn;s side on a number of occasions – but so did thornberry.
Lavery’s socialist enough for my preference but be in no doubt that the shithouses will round on him too, with the complicity of those who protested they were supportive of Corbyn but when push came to shove they were proven to be no such thing (Everybody knows who I’m on about. Yes – those who have tried to shift the blame elsewhere. Just like the shithouses in the running are doing now)
McDonald’s shrewd, and competent in the interview, and while he seems to me to be not so ‘hardcore’ as the few proper socialists there are left in the PLP; what I’ve heard from him while he was shadow transport suggests he’s on the right track (No pun intended).
Surely having two left candidates is better especially as no doubt they will be outnumbered by the right MPs such as Starmer, jess Phillip’s, Thornberry, Clive Lewis and Lisa Nandy?
Clve Lewis ‘right wing’? Uh?
Dawn Butler with Ed Miliband dep to keep the rabble in check.
So get them to answer questions
Lisa Nandy this morning, keeping up fine tradition of talking a lot and saying nowt
Surely we on Skwawkbox can come up with clear questions for candidates, if they refuse to answer, job done
The dream ticket to ensure continuity would have been Pidcock and Burgon. An operation that put Lavery in place until such time as Pidcock could be re-elected would be a possibility but it would mean a Lavery/Burgon ticket, which idpol mongers would find unacceptable in this day and age. Butler, I’m afraid, is an accident waiting for a place to happen and RBL – a straw blown in the wind and a creature beholden to McDonnell. Whoever it is must be brave enough to say the Israeli government and its “friends” will have no veto over who leads the British Labour Party in future – and brave enough to say that Williamson, Livingstone and Galloway are welcome back, because they are the very sorts of people who can speak truth to the real power in our country and whose backbone is what masses of working class voters are crying out for. So reluctantly, I would back a Lavery/RBL ticket if that’s what they agree, whilst working to get Burgon elected as deputy.
Think fundamental change in to rid us of those who wake up every morning and plan how they can sabotage the party for their own factional interests
We are the one legged man in an arse kicking contest
So there is a strong case for candidates who can do the dirty work and then hand over to next generation before 2024 GE
Point of order
What is to stop cheap and nasty Tory party taking us out on No Deal at the end of this month January 31st
“What is to stop cheap and nasty Tory party taking us out on No Deal at the end of this month January 31st”
They effectively are, though we won’t know it until December. the ‘talks deadline’ Johnson has set means there will not be enough time to reach a permanent agreement during the ‘intermission’ which lasts until Dec 31.
Mind you, Europe thinks he’ll back down, and he might – if they have enough leverage on the City to frighten him. But frankly I think his concern for overpaid city slickers is no greater than his concern for nurses or Grenfell families. We’ll go WTO on Dec 31, almost certainly.
So if WTO is the end game, why not just fall out at end of month and do deal with Trumpton
You mean an arse-licking contest with Trumpy Toons?
… always the trajectory of Brexit in actuality.
I claim no expertise in Brexit negotiation details (I have a tendency to vomit), but my understanding is that there’s a leady a deal for a ‘transition period’ during which our future is agreed. This is currently proposed from the end of Jan to end of Dec; with ‘no extensions’. We’ll see. happy to be corrected on this if anyone has a stronger stomach.
Fascinating to see the Guardian turning the Nandy launch news story into a propaganda pitch for Phillips.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/03/lisa-nandy-enters-labour-leadership-race-with-call-for-change
Any excuse to promote their fave [shudders]
Again – Nandy won’t address the biggest elephant in the room – the incredibly bent media.
Is there no-one with the guts to tell it as it is? Are they all afraid of the coterie than runs the media?
If the answer is ‘No’ – then there is no potential leader available.
If there is no real leader available, then we can just resign ourselves to Tory hegemony.
[And no, despite the wishful thinking – Lavery isn’t the man]
Nandy couldn’t lead a well-trained donkey along Blackpool Beach.
I don’t know what you mean by a ‘real leader’.
We don’t know yet who will run; nominations have not closed. There is no perfect candidate; there rarely is. It’s a matter of getting the best of those willing to do the job. And possibly picking someone who isn’t obvious and helping them grow into the job.
You may not like Lavery, but I notice you don’t suggest anyone better.
RH, the media is possibly more biased than bent, although I wouldn’t argue too strongly one way or the other. However, the bureaucracy of the LP is undoubtedly ‘bent’ and probably corrupt.
RH
Something as simple as the paper reviews on MSM need to stop, they are fundamentally undemocratic
Party should have a list of folk we want them to use, bring in Geordie Galloway to coach them,
Refuse to play the game until there is a fairer balance, remind them of their previous misdemeanours
If they are rude respond accordingly and on and on and on until message gets through
You dont fuck with the Labour party
Doug, re your final comment, which Labour Party?.
IL & RBL.
Whoops were’s my post gone, oh always scroll down RH and his probable 2 other versions.
Think IL as Leader best but with RBL as Dep but perhaps she needs to free herself from bourgeis traits and stand for what she believes in, then like all left wing democratic socialists, she will be free.
The failure (which can be alliieviated) of the Left was that they failed to understand grassroots, bottom up, participatory left wing democratic socialism where we transform WITH not for example like Momentum, captured by the top down bourgeois Socilalists, who offered socialism FOR.
We should engage and politicise as the facilitators of power for diverse working people – SOCIALISM WITH.
Get out amongst the left behind offering political support, working with unions, have leaflets countering the Tory Neo-Liberal narrative, with membership forms for Labour, unions, the Coop and practical support, info on food banks, welfare rights, and benefit take up campaigns.
From crisis comes opportunity.
Keir Starmer launches his bid for the Labour Party Leadership
https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1213536222783688704