Members of grassroots left organisation say Momentum founder preventing communication of left NEC ‘slate’ to members, when local parties already meeting to nominate
Members of CLGA – the grouping of left organisations that meets to put forward a left ‘slate’ of candidates for key Labour Party positions – have complained that Momentum founder Jon Lansman and his organisation are preventing agreement on the slate for the election of vital member-representatives on Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
A number of CLGA members have contacted the SKWAWKBOX to complain about the meeting held yesterday which ended without an agreed slate, that:
- Lansman and Momentum are delaying agreement on a left NEC slate when CLPs have already started nominating and right-wing organisations Progress and Labour First have published their slate
- Lansman advocated a move by CLGA toward the centre and right
- a statement Momentum wants all candidates to sign up to was not circulated to CLGA delegates before the meeting
Several also objected that the statement requires candidates to commit to serving a full term and not seeking positions that would cause them to be ineligible to do so. One said:
That’s fine in principle, but Jon was on the NEC when he tried get the general secretary job and that would have meant he had to step down before the end of his term. Momentum also supported two NEC members to become MPs last month, so they’ve had to step down.
Lansman reportedly said that Momentum to come back with its recommended candidates after a further meeting. CLGA looks likely to publish its own recommendations in the interim, as nomination meetings are already taking place.
Jon Lansman has said he does not want to be contacted for comment by the SKWAWKBOX. A Momentum source said:
We’re still going through our open process for selecting candidates while also campaigning full tilt for the left to win in the leadership election. Momentum NCG members will be at the CLGA meeting on Tuesday and hope to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.
NEC and leader/deputy leader nominations will be made during the same CLP meetings. However, an ‘open process’ was not used to decide which leader/deputy candidates would receive members’ support, to the frustration of many members and then-hopeful Clive Lewis.
The statement to which Momentum is demanding all candidates agree has been circulated to CLGA delegates today.
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I have come to the conclusion that Mr Lansman is not as left wing as he has been marketing himself. Sad conclusion to have had to reach.
Lansman is a weather-vane. Above all he aligns with the Board of Deputies – essentially an organisation with close links to the Tories.
‘Nuff said. Anyone who looks to him for guidance on progressive politics is sadly mistaken. If I was in Momentum, I’d be looking elsewhere for a focus as long as he kept his role within it.
I believe I’ve read that Lansman’s effectively taken sole ownership of Momentum by forming a company – I imagine the biggest block to the membership taking control away from him would be access to membership data and use of the name ‘Momentum’.
If the members were serious about democratising the organisation to escape Mr. Lansman’s imperialist tendencies I expect they’d need to organise something like a facebook group to contact each other and build a member contact database outside of his control. The name isn’t important.
I bet Steve Walker could recommend someone techy to help them do that if he were asked.
So long as Momentum is undemocratic, they have no right to any formal influence within the party. And signed agreements are as formal as you can get.
We don’t need their influence . Left and membership have already chosen RLB&RB as the left choice . Thornberry has activists campaigning for her to be second choice in the hope she will get most combined votes and pip RLB . Personally I would rather cut my right hand off than vote Thornberry or put her on the ballot
It is about the now vacant positions on the NEC. The article tells you that,
Momentum has lost its way, and, pardon the pun, its momentum. It was never democratic, but I think for most of the time, supporters felt on the same wavelength as Lansman, so they trusted his judgement.
Those days are gone. Every Momentum member should be asking themselves whom they support, Labour or Lansman. Because they aren’t the same thing anymore.
It’s high time we stopped boosting Lansman’s personal power base. If Lansman wants to run the country he should do the democratic thing and stand for election as an MP.
this a 1000 times ! but he won’t cos he is a coward , there are good socialist in the Mom membership and they really need to somehow force Lansman and his top team to stand for democratic election by the paying membership , or Mom is no better than Farages Brexshit Party , both are private run companies !
I agree Rob
If he stood for election as head honcho in Momentum, it’d be a start!
I am so desperately disappointed in Jon Lansman and Momentum.He needs to park his ego and get on with the job of getting left candidates elected to the NEC so that if RLB is elected leader she will be able to count on their support.
Lansman’s problem is he is a Zionist,and that is where the problem with him begins.It colours his judgement on everything else.
Nope. The Left’s problem is its lack of commitment to the working class and its toleration of capitalism. Laura Parker let the cat out the bag when she said there wasn’t actually much difference between the Labour Left and the Labour Right.
” there wasn’t actually much difference between the Labour Left and the Labour Right.”
Actually, there is. An ocean.
Which planet did you say you from?
Has the party turned into the Momentum Party ? Something Should be done about it, It’s not up to momentum to say who we can and can’t vote for.
Throughout the Corbyn years the NEC Left declined to behave like the Left.
They did not press for mandatory reselection, they failed to discard the Blair-era “stakeholders'” NEC with its ridiculous MPs’ ShadCab and Councillors’ Sections and they did not get rid of the National Policy Forum which serves mainly as a cover-up for policymaking by a leadership elite.
In other words, they kept the Blair LP constitution.
Not fair to link that with Corbyn. For much of the time, the NEC and the ‘Labour Machine’ were controlled by the ‘right’, and they blocked many of Corbyn’s changes. Even recently, the ‘Left’ has only had a small majority on the NEC, and depending on the issue, not all voted consistently with Corbyn.
But you were just saying the Left & Right were no different .. either you’ve joined the troll brigade, or you’re a tad confused.
Jon Lansman is the main barrier to JVL being brought on board and JLM kicked into touch,
Which makes him part of the problem and no longer part of the solution, I’m one of those who fell for bullshit early doors along with TWatson, never again
Shame because momentum the activist base needs to survive and thrive
Momentum aren’t the problem it’s Lansman. The more I hear about him the more I distrust his motives.
But if we can see this, so can those within Momentum.
If their loyalty is to an undemocratic outside group, then they have no place in Labour. At best, they are a distraction, at worst, an electoral suicide note.
Enough is enough.
Where is the full list of candidates?
We don’t need to wait for Momentum’s recommendations.
Looking at BBC performance in the GE and subsequent threats from Uncle Festa and cheap and nasty Tory party
Methinks they could be serious contenders for this years Darwin award
I wonder how many will think twice about voting for RLB because of her association with Lansman.
A fair number, I suspect – but it will all depend on the alternatives. I trust RLB’s politics, but I’m not fully convinced of her judgement. I think part of the trouble is that I don’t feel I ‘know’ her, so it’s hard to compare her with the horrendously overexposed alternatives.
May be a nose-holding, fingers-crossed exercise on the day.
RLB must know that Lansman in his own words is close to Jeremy Newmark ex chair of the JLM, re-formed to attack Corbyn. Is she naive or sympathetic to the JLM? In either case it casts grave doubt on her judgement. It’s a crying shame that she appears to be the best the left has to offer.
Let’s get the list of candidates. Maybe Skwarky can help us with this. Lansman is not to be trusted anyway. The man is on his own power craze and turning more right the more power he claims. He has got to go. Can we vote him out? .Momentum groups realy need to stand up to the ruling clique and do their thing supporting the left.
Momentum does not hold elections.
It is owned – figuratively and literally – by Lansman
Ps what does CLGA stand for?
Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance
Wikipedia is a tad out of date on this, but worth a read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre-Left_Grassroots_Alliance
Lansman’s apparent change from a Corbyn supporter to a BoD/Netanyahu supporter might be due to pressure from his family if he has one.
Shunning is a tool of control in many religions including Judaism – maybe his family demanded he stop opposing the BoD and the Israeli government’s war on the kind of antisemitic socialists who claim that Palestinians are as human as any other Israeli.
“maybe his family demanded he stop opposing the BoD and the Israeli government’s war on the kind of antisemitic socialists who claim that Palestinians are as human as any other Israeli.”
There’s nothing antisemitic about recognising that Palestinians are as human as any other Israeli – and much more in need of protection and support.
What – you took ‘antisemitic socialists’ literally?
Can somebody please tell me how to make a ‘sarcasm’ emoji in wordpress?
As it happens, I didn’t – but I needed you to clarify before the S*n gets hold of it 🙂
David, Lansman has never changed, he has always been JLM/Poale Zion’s man in the LP. It’s one of the reasons there was so much pressure put on Corbyn to appease the Zionists.
I agree Jack T.
“maybe his family demanded he stop ….”
Israeli money more likely
A fair bet given the proof of Israeli slush fund politics in “The Lobby.”
More and more Zionists are rejecting the myths and lies. Will RLB and Starmer follow suit and stop encouraging Israeli brutality against the Palestinians?
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/i-cant-support-an-ideology-grounded-in-jewish-privilege-and-persecution-of-palestinians/
I wouldn’t get your hopes up – this was ‘news’ precisely because she’s going against the flow. There’s little evidence of any change in supporters of Zionism anywhere. And Seattle – hotbed of old fashioned liberal values – is certainly not representative of the Good Ole Boys of the current regime.