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Thornberry fails to make leader ballot

Emily Thornberry

Emily Thornberry has failed to achieve the 33 constituency party (CLP) nominations required to qualify for the full ballot in the Labour leadership contest. She also did not receive sufficient nominations from unions and other affiliates, meaning she is now disqualified from the contest.

The failure leaves Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy as the three candidates fighting it out for member and supporter votes when the ballot opens next week.

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60 comments

  1. Two out of the three successful candidates self identified themselves as Zionists at the JLM Hustings.

    1. And the other also did, but wriggled on the actual words. Which is probably worse.

      1. Until leaders can say to bullies, I LEAD TO SERVE ALL, I will NOT be directed by BULLIES, then they are not fit to lead. There is no need to appease and placate unelected unrepresentative self declared spokespeople or representatives. My CLP nominated Burgon despite an extremely determined group … tentatcles of the bullies. We expect and DEMAND that Burgon stands up to them. It is a myth that leaders need the approval of the MSM or slanderous wicked lying outfits to win.

    2. Good riddence, Thornberry, but unfortunately Starmer is the leading Leadership candidate by far, and his restatement of the ‘correctness’ of Labour’s suicidal Brexit policy in the 2019 General Election today merely demonstrates the total disconnect Labour now has with its old core working class, Leave-supporting, voters ! Labour is never going to win them back – and under Starmer will become a (very small – unelectable) Remainer Tory-lite, Lib Dem clone party, endlessly repining the UK leaving the neoliberal EU ! His arrogance in interviews today is staggering. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/16/labour-leadership-contest-keir-starmer-defends-brexit-policy

  2. SteveH, Starmer said he wouldn’t call himself a Zionist but he supports Zionism i.e. lawyer speak for ‘I’m a Zionist’

    1. Or it could equally be lawyer speak for I’m not a Zionist. It is also worth noting that the JLM audience gave a negative reaction to his statement.

      1. SteveH, anyone who says they support Zionism is a Zionist! If it walks like a duck etc.

      2. Jack T – You are of course welcome to interpret Starmer’s response anyway you choose to (I would guess that the ambiguity was intentional) but it is undeniable that his response was distinct from Nandy and JLB. Nandy was desperately chasing the JLM vote but the chance of RLB being nominated by JLM were close to zero so it is difficult to see why Little Becky felt the the need to proclaim herself to be a Zionist (a political and religious doctrine that is quite different from Labour’s).

      3. SteveH, stop digging that hole. Yes of course Starmer was trying to distance himself from the others …. Unsuccessfully.

      4. Jack T – As I said it is what it is, I’ve clearly stated what I think and how you choose to interpret it is entirely up to you. I really can’t be bothered arguing the point.

      5. SteveH. Starmer said he hoped all those who had been hounded out of the Party would return. Does that apply to Chris Williamson et al?

        If you have not already done so, check who is backing Starmer and their backgrounds and then tell me Starmer is a Socialist ….. if you dare!

      6. Jack T – ……….and RLB is a socialist, because you’ve been told she is? I really can’t be bothered indulging in endless circular arguments.

        ps: Thanks for highlighting that excellent series of tweets below. Everyone should read and take note.

      7. The phrase “hounded out of the party” made me think he meant the victims of fake AS accusations for a second – but it’s late and I’m half asleep.
        The thought of those tories-in-all-but-name sipping wine & claiming they’ve been hounded out of Labour makes me want to vomit.

      8. Yes its the clever lawyer “catch all answer” Just goes to show how experienced he his at devious and cheating he actually his.I agree with Steve H.The knights a leader,but those of us who know his background are terrified of his leadership.But to be fair we should also have severe reservations about all of them when they take part in a witchunt against loyal party members.Virtually every person on here agrees that the accusations being leveled against party members are a filthy disgusting lie.What sort of candidates have we got that exploit the membership to propagate such serious allegations…..,Morally Bankrupt!…and bought and paid for by who?

  3. So now we have a Marshmallow, a Dead Fish, and an Uber Blairite as candidates, all of whom are Zionists. What a mess we are in!

    1. Apparently Nandy said that we should welcome Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman back into the party. Also that the party should be compensating the so called whistle-blowers who appeared on Panorama’s so called expose.

      1. If anyone sees a way to rid Labour of these parasites and prevent re-infestation I wish they’d speak up.
        Maybe a congress of left wing activists and thinkers could come up with a solution to stop the rot?
        I’m not hopeful about fixing Labour but maybe while they’re there the congress could also write a modern left wing manifesto that we can include on a binding membership application for a new left wing party?
        We’ll have to accept constant vigilance over what we say, write and vote to keep us honest and educate or eject the Quislings when we find them.

        When job losses start to balloon – not long now – there’ll be no shortage of converts if there’s a party waiting that predicted the disappearance of employment and the explosion of 1% wealth in a manifesto that also set out a clear alternative economic plan.
        Labour’s website is a joke – ours has to be 100 times better if we’re going to compete with the All-Tory Media Merry-go-Round.
        I’d like to see it also operate as a ‘search engine’ pointing to all the left wing bloggers, sources, literature etc. and as a fact checker of the MSFM.
        There’s going to be a lot of free time when we’re all unemployed – let’s educate ourselves so future generations don’t have to fight the same enemies.

        I like the word OVERTHROW for a party name – ‘revolution’ has been so watered down by Madison Avenue as to be meaningless but ‘overthrow’ is unambiguous, and it does make a statement.
        Won’t mean much to people yet and many will find it objectionable – but people are going to have a lot of anti-establishment anger to vent quite soon, maybe even before the next election.
        If a new radical left party isn’t ready, the strutting hard right with the populist ‘answers’ might mop those people up.

      2. JLM backs Nandy.

        She added: “I am proud to have received the backing of the Jewish Labour Movement and the thousands of Party members they represent”

        Now that is very interesting because no actual voting figures are given and no percentage turnout either. Why is that, I wonder?

        Perhaps it would reveal how small the organisation is. And, of course, you don’t have to be Jewish to be in it. I don’t think Labour party membership is required either.

        https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/jewish-labour-movement-nominated-lisa-nandy-to-be-party-leader-1.496841

      3. Given that those former staff members who appeared in the Panorama programme illegally used membership data Lisa Nandy, and anyone taking that line, is on extremely dodgy ground both legally and morally.

        One of those ex staffers – YES YOU DAN HOGAN – was dealing with two complaints of mine along with a related complaint fast tracked through the system against another member by the subject of my complaints in the spring and summer of 2018.

        They were related because part of the fast tracked complaint may have involved, directly or indirectly, data which was obtained illegally.

        Two of the complaints, mine, went missing from the Party system around he time Mr Hogan left the employment of the Party. I only discovered this by accident and spent two and half months trying to resubmit.

        Interestingly, the fast tracked complaint against another member was not lost from the system by Danny boy.

        But then it does involve one of Lansman’s Momentum PLC self labelled disciples who was given an easy run at a PPC with no suspension (unlike Jo Bird or Sally Gimson) for having existing complaints against them.

        We even had the partner of the Head of the Compliance Unit (the one who the Camden New Journal named as the source of the complaints which removed Gimson as Bassetlaw PPC) shortlisted on their first preference conveniently withdraw the day before the hustings to enable an easier run for Lansmans pre chosen candidate

  4. Of course they think they are supporting Zionism’s definition of Zionism, which is merely Israel’s right to exist – which is fine – but it will be taken to mean they support Israel’s right to trample on the Palestinians. Fools.

    1. ” Israel’s right to exist”

      The problem is that the phrase is a can of worms. In the present context, that ‘right’ aurtomatically means the persecution of Palestinians.

      The history of political Zionism is interesting – a modern political concept (110 years or so), as much a Christian myth as a Jewish one, that has assumed non-existent ‘rights’ (by any normal definition), and a concept that was also originally dismissed by the majority of Jews. Most of its claims are fakery.

      The historical and cultural ignorance of the leadership JLM crowd-pleasers is a ‘wonder’ to behold. Why they decided to march to the tune of this Israel front, antagonistic to some of the core values of Labour, is beyond belief.

  5. Heenan, that’s not Zionism’s definition of Zionism. Zionism’s definition is that Israel is the rightful home of all Jews which even many Jews do not agree with.

    It has recently been modified to include: ‘where only Jews have the right to self determination’

  6. Is Thornbury Jewish? And if so, does that mean
    members are ‘AS’ again?

    1. MBO, don’t know but she is so supportive of the Israeli Lobby that I wouldn’t be surprised if she thinks that even saying the word ‘Palestine’ is anti-Semitic!

      1. You think you’re joking. You’re not – see her tweet about waving Palestinian flags at Conference (although it was so egregious, she deleted it, I believe – but can still be found on Asa Winstanley’s latest EI blog).

    1. none are fit to stand in JC;s shoes
      When answering questions posed at the Jewish Labour Movement hustings on Thursday, Lisa Nandy, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Emily Thornberry unequivocally called themselves Zionist. Their fellow Labour leader candidate Keir Starmer qualified his answer, saying “I don’t describe myself as a Zionist, but I understand, sympathize, and support Zionism.

      1. Joseph – Surely you haven’t forgotten already. As I pointed out to you recently KS didn’t have to negotiate anything to get his knighthood.
        “With only one exception in 1908 who was already a Lord every DPP since the post’s inception in 1880 (140yrs ago) has been given a knighthood when they’ve finished their stint.”

        Could you please refrain from posting hyperbole that you know to be untrue. If you have to resort to telling porkies to support your argument then you’re actually acknowledging that you don’t really have an argument.
        https://skwawkbox.org/2020/01/29/video-sep-2019-javid-johnson-promise-no-dept-will-be-cut-next-year-today-they-demand-eye-popping-cut/#comment-135416

  7. Thornbury was never a danger to the Labour party if you like more of the same old Labour moderate party.The real danger is Sir keir Starmer and his ideological bent to compete with the Tory party.But whichever choice is made you may get a leader but definitely not a Socialist one.

    1. Mr Okeefe some time back you said you had become so demoralised you would not be renewing your membership,I replied it was our job to stay and fight. It appears you were the prescient one as after watching the hustings I now see little point in soldiering on. To see potential leaders saying their main priority was eradicating anti semitism,not every form of discrimination ,or levelling up society,addressing climate change,giving our young a fair chance or making sure everyone has a decent home and chance in life,no,just eradicating anti semitism! This along with the kowtowing to the BoD over who is the right kind of Jew leads me to think I cannot vote for any of the candidates. My wife,who has been phone banking for Ms Long Bailey all week says I should ignore all that,vote for the best socialist and we will sort it out at Conference ,but how can you vote for someone who shows no backbone? Is it possible that if enough people abstain on voting for any leader but then vote for Mr Burgon as deputy in significant numbers the message I am sure many of you also feel will get through to the hierarchy that will will not be influenced by any minority group and certainly not one acting to destroy Socialism.

  8. Jim,I would not be arrogant in advising anyone to leave the Labour party. I am just not renewing my membership of the Labour party.I am and will always be interested in furthering the cause for the downtrodden working class of all countrys.Neo liberalism is a global problem and the working class are the same the world over.I have become increasingly remote from the UK and I have decided that flogging a dead horse is not the job for an old man who has limited time on this wonderful earth and my time is better spent in Cambodia were my heart is.I do not say we can’t have a Socialist revival( a real one),but not in my lifetime and not with the baggage the Labour party carrys.If you are young stay on and give them hell!.To answer your question our “Betters” couldnt give a flying f….co about the membership or Socialism!.They have shown they hold us in contempt and have insulted our intelligence continually with made up scams like AS and kangaroo courts to picking a bunch of no hope right wing shambles to lead the Labour party.All the best comrade.

    1. Sorry I was not suggesting you were advising people to leave the party merely speculating you had readthe situation correctly whilst I naively believed a new leader might regenerate the party. Sadly those hopes have been cruelly dashed by the current crop,we have even had one ,Nandy,saying Labour shouldn’t take sides in industrial disputes !! Cambodia seems a bit far,perhaps Portugal. Best wishes.

      1. Jim I have spent many years here,and have watched the country drag itself from the genocide and terrible poverty to see the whole country standing on their feet again.Its not difficult to see the khmer who built the city in the jungle Angkor Wat and watch them rebuild a great nation.I have never in my life been involved in somthing so special and watch the country boom.Only the CiA and western intelligence agencies are not pleased to see the rise of the SE Asian economys and the close cooperation with China and Russia.And Portugal a great European country that hopfully the union will adopt some of their politics.

    1. I was amazed at how spiteful some of her false accusations were during the campaign. If I hadn’t already lost all respect for her, I’d have lost all respect for her.

      1. heenan73 it made my week, when at my CLP nomination meeting, she inly got 1 vote … ONE out of nearly 200 peeps present. Was surprised as thought i was the only one who could not stand her. It is not lack of ability that plagues these people. It is the attitude. COMPLETELY out of touch now. If they ever were. Think of it, Thorn’s dad was a dep UN Sec Gen. Yes, the title is less glittering than the post, but still, despite him walking out on the family, Thorn was still part of a milieu with all that it brings, books, connections, that HAVE eased her way in this GROSSLY unbalanced world. No doubt she will argue no, but her taking the photo of the England flag on someones home the sneering comments, tell us much of what we need to know of her. I cannot stand her media appearance which are all “aren’t i fun”. Anyone would think all his honky dory in the land.
        Then think of last week, i returned to Buttler using scarce time and a hostile MSM to advocate for John Bercow claiming he is being bullied by his OWN party the Cons!!! Think of it, he was a nasty member of a nasty subgroup aiming to make the nasty party nastier. Tell me what exactly makes Butler feels that a man with an international voice & audience and a SUBSTANTIAL pension etc needs her support MORE THAN THE HOMELESS PEOPLE in her Brent constituency??? Butler, Thornberry, RLB, STARMER, Blair, Watson, Streeting, Johnson, Campbell, Berger, Mandelson, Ummuna, Coyle – shinier than ever … seems to even shine his suit, the whole BLOODY lot of them is EXACTLY what’s wrong with our country‼️‼️‼️ They infest our party. Oh and they come up with abstractions like “aspiration” and slanderous lies of AS because the have NO INTENTION of prioritising what the country needs. Thought that when years ago AND again last year, Harman spun her bid as “she is a woman”… Pink bus, pink T-shirts. Within days it was discovered that the shirts were produced by exploited women in Asia. Again tells you all you need to know. These people are nothing but odious PARASITES. They care NOTHING for the people or country. If they did, they would at least speak of the things that matter instead of tiresome, Tiresome BALDERDASH about aspiration and DOWNRIGHT LIES about AS. And they would NEVER sign up to the most calculatedly stitched up, waterproof, air-proof, light repelling, and most vile straight jacket shroud of “leader ship” with which THEY gladly ALLOWED themselves to be fitted. They weren’t forced. They gad a choice but NO SELF RESPECT, NO decency. NO integrity. WE MUST begin again.

      2. the post is less glittering than the title. There are several UN dep Sec Gens. Please excuse my many typos.

      3. I’ll never forget the way she sneered at Union Flags in Rochester. I’m anything but a unionist, but the Union exists and I don’t disrespect those who believe in it.

  9. Thornberry is no loss, but it amazes me that anyone is still calling RLB a ‘socialist’. You can’t endorse the politics of Zionism – as embodied in Israel – and be a ‘socialist’. Simple.

  10. https://www.businessinsider.com/rebecca-long-bailey-labour-leadership-interview-keir-starmer-establishment-suit-2020-2?r=US&IR=T

    RLB right on this but so wrong signing up like the other two, to an unspeakably atrocious list of demands that are entirely counter to reasonably freedom of thought, expression AND any form of independent government. How could ANY leader of anything, sign away their right to determine … regulate… LEAD anything❓❓❓ No self-respecting leader, signs away their autonomy as a condition of getting the approval / endorsement of ANY group… let alone a TOTALLY UNELECTED one that has NO RIGHT to claim they speak for or represent a most diverse group of people. The leadership candidates disgust me with their pathetic, odious, wet, snivelling, appeasing, spineless, integrity free sacrifice… SACRIFICE OF US the members, the party, the country, to be elected as leader on condition they are led by others.
    So good that Thornberry is out. It would be better when Starmer is out too, then Nandy AND RLB. And BEST when we can start this whole leadership search with candidates who at least have with a BACKBONE, BELIEFS, visionary substance, and the DECENCY to treat the members as we MUST be. ie it is WE THE MEMBERS and the electorate that they must make pledges to, and SERVE. NOT unelected cabals determined to handcuff, blind and maim them before they even become “leader”. NO LEADER SIGNS AWAY THEIR AUTONOMY AND SELF DETERMINATION just to be CALLED leader. It is like being called a country when surrounded on all sides, shot at, your citizens, murdered, their homes bulldozed, means of living wrecked, budgets controlled by others, borders controlled by others, wilful humiliation… Apartheid… APARTHEID… no one is a leader, who signs away leadership. And any who signs away their ability to lead even before winning the label “leader”, is a disgrace. A lamentable creature with either no sense or no sense of shame. We must start afresh.

  11. ps, it is why i LOATHE, candidates trotting our back stories. It is worthless drivel. Tell me EXACTLY what you intend to do, not abstract waffle of aspiration etc. There are more than enough specific matters that need clear change, eg OUTSOURCING, land-banking, FLOGGING OFF STATE ASSETS, then privatisation of profits and socialising losses. We all can add to the list. So why are the spineless candidates pumping out hot air about eating pizza working late??? Will they say that the office cleaners or hotel cleaners who work three jobs??? I’v listened to workers who keep countries running. They are unimpressed by the over spun packages of snot, that the candidates have adopted.

    1. “Tell me EXACTLY what you intend to do, not abstract waffle of aspiration ”

      I totally agree with you. I am fed up with a tennis match only using terms such as ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘socialism’ as if they had definitive meanings outside context. As if it’s going to convert anyone.

      We really need a better language.

      Consider : the amount of energy spent here on shouting at a bunch of poor candidates vying for leadership – candidates who feel more beholden to a myth-based religious cult than to their members and the construction of a programme of progressive social policy.

      Consider : the waffle about the myths of the Labour Party regarding ‘Heartlands’ and ‘Core Voters’ – and the terminal confusion over Brexit. Then look at the public silence over *the* key fact of the hegemony that controls the media – and, of course, the subset of the antisemitism fictions.

      Then look at what this ‘government’ of crooks, liars and spivs is actually doing – and how little effort is put into being a true opposition to all of this – an opposition dealing in plain English specifics.

      The last manifesto had a lot of good policy ideas. The problem was that there wasn’t a clear narrative of priorities, and I can’t see this being put right in the near future.

  12. To what extent will the ‘New Leader’ be open & truthful in addressing issues? If the Labour Party will invite a retired General from the Israeli Defence Force, whose father was not only an IDF General, but a signatory of the Balfour Agreement that established the State of Israel, to the next Labour Conference to address the genocide in Palestine, I will believe him/her. Miko Peled should address the next Labour Conference but again, he will not be allowed………& you believe the Labour Party is open & truthful? No debate; no platform.

  13. Ashcroft is a Tory. But he runs polls that are interesting and reliable – certainly more reliable and informed than the utterances of a whole clutch of Labour leadership candidates. 🙂

    So it’s worth having a look at the latest :

    https://lordashcroftpolls.com/2020/02/diagnosis-of-defeat-labours-turn-to-smell-the-coffee/

    … which samples a range of issues concerning Labour, but particulalrly members attitudes to the ‘antisemitism’ scam.

    The findings are interesting in light of Thornberry’s comments that delegates at Conference waving Palestinian flags should be drummed out of the Party – it would seem that people like her want to get rid of the majority of the Party!

    1. … and as a further addendum, it has to be said that Ashcroft’s own interpretation of the results misses *the* obvious key factor that shaped perceptions amongst the electorate. The views and attitudes polled are a clear reflection of the dominant media narrative inflicted on a naive public, not informed or questioning political judgment.

    2. I only scanned Ashcroft’s intro. He ignored the AS scam & MSFM bias and spoke of “extensive quotes from these discussions” as if that were representative of anything other than the perspective of the person who selected the quotes.
      “Labour has to move to the centre if it wants power” is the constant refrain and it’s a crock of shit. The centre is neo-Tory so there’d be no point.

      1. I agree that his commentary is the usual crock. It’s the actual results that are the interest – read Asa Winstanley’s extraction.

  14. Nandy, Starmer, RLB, Thorn Butler come up with backstories and pump out excrement about aspiration yet no mention of this https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2020/02/15/more-dwp-horror-as-the-cost-of-its-dodgy-assessments-explodes/

    £3 plus BILLION paid to parasites to assess the vulnerable. Yet our prospective leaders wind out stench ridden lies of AS, sneering crass stuff about drumming out flag wavers for the oppressed Palestinians and write endless words about Bercow being bullied by his OWN nasty party even though he was a chief out of touch fertiliser and spreader of nastiness. HOW could any person even begin to think of them as a Labour leader or dep and not give a whisper re over THREE BILLION £s spaffed up Johnson’s likely supporters??? £44 million per month to terrorise the sick and vulnerable??? How could our leaders prioritise words and meanings and evidence free accusations over screaming irregularities, plundering of the public purse and REAL PHYSICAL DISTRESS & SUFFERING⁉️⁉️⁉️ A man declared fit for work collapsed and DIED in a DWP queue‼️‼️‼️ Where are their words and ACTIONS on abominations like that⁉️⁉️⁉️ We must begin again. The vile demands of self-appointed selfish oppressive FOREIGN CONTROLLED operatives must be discussed in the open‼️‼️‼️ Any secretly signed demands must be ripped up. They must be shredded in public. If the demands of unelected bullies are not rejected in public, how can we expect leaders to lead in our country’s interest❓❓❓ Are we to be like the Tories with a Foreign Sec who conduct her own Foreign Policy with Israeli Operatives? Our prospective must BE different. They can be. It only takes INTEGRITY and COURAGE… some spine🔴🔴🔴

  15. I frequently adapt a famous quotation from a speech by Nye Bevan which he made in Trafalgar Square at the time of the Suez debacle. It was about the two reasons for Eden’s support of the Suez ‘adventure’ being stupidity or venality – there was nothing in between. No compromise on fundamentals.

    Remember – the general atmosphere at the time was of a media (even tho’ a better balanced media than now) being largely supportive of the current idiocy.

    I think our leadership candidates, to a wo/man, would have said ” I support the patriotism of Anthony Eden”.

    1. The Suez adventure was opposed by the Eisenhower administration and I suspect that that is why the Labour leadership opposed it.

      I seem to remember something about a US military man who advocated the sinking of British ships if Eden did not back off.

      ‘Special relationship’!

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