Deputy leader candidate’s Ash Wednesday message attacks lack of ‘confession’ of responsibility by candidates who helped bring about hard right government
Deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon – by far the outstanding candidate in that contest – delivered a blistering and humorous rebuke to ‘chicken coup’ MPs last night when he spoke at a rally in London.
Speaking on Ash Wednesday, the traditional festival of contrition and reflection that marks the beginning of Lent, Burgon was clearly aiming at centrist Labour MPs when he told his audience that he believes in forgiveness because he went to Catholic school – but that to be forgiven you’re supposed to confess your sins first.
Right-wing so-called ‘moderates’ and their media friends have instead attempted to rewrite history and apportion blame everywhere else but on their own heads, in spite of their ceaseless attempts to resist and end the party’s left-wing leadership and to insult and demonise the left majority among Labour’s members.
Burgon went on to describe his memories of the notorious ‘chicken coup’, in which right-wing MPs resigned hourly in an attempt to force Corbyn out of the leadership to which he had been overwhelmingly elected.
And he put the blame squarely on the shoulders of those MPs for the hard-right government under which the country’s millions of vulnerable people are now suffering:
Burgon is standing for Labour’s deputy leadership, but his message was also a powerful and relevant one for the party’s leadership contest.
Both Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy resigned during the chicken coup – with Starmer’s resignation letter weakly claiming he was doing so because everyone else was.
And Starmer’s responsibility for the Tory government is all the greater because he was the chief architect of the disastrous pivot to supporting a new referendum that cost Labour more than fifty parliamentary seats in December.
When challenged by Labour members and media, neither he nor Nandy have confessed their roles in preventing a Labour government – let alone shown contrition, but are asking Labour members to present them to angry voters as the new face of the party.
Those who are thinking of voting for them should reflect on that truth.
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Head & shoulders above ALL the PM candidates never mind DPM ones
Terry I could not agree more. Richard is EXACTLY the up front, clear leadership material need. He realises the coup plotters MUST be exposed OVER AND OVER! You cannot leave blank spaces. Starmer, Nandy Ummuna Berger, Hodve Blair, Campbell et el, did EVERYTHING in their power to divide the party and lose the election. They lack shame and fail to confess. But it is fatal to let them get away with it. RICHARD BURGON is indeed by a long long way, head and shoulders above ALL the Dep AND leadership contenders.
Should read … leadership material NEEDED.
Great stuff indeed from one of the very few socialists now remaining in the PLP, Richard Burgon. But unfortunately the post of Deputy Leader is actually irrelevant in the Party in the current context of rampant renewed Right Wing ascendancy on the back of the epic defeat that they carefully stage managed over the four years of ‘Corbynism’ . With the help. we need to remind ourselves, of the politically naive Left Liberal ‘Corbynista’ activist membership’s overwhelming support for the suicidal 2nd Ref. and Remain policy of course !
Even if Burgon won (which I’m sad to say he most likely wont – it’ll be the blatant , media puppet, dimwit opportunist, Angela Raynor, as Deputy). It was only the support of the Right Wing majority of the PLP and mass media of every comment and smear during Tom Watson’s constant , attention-seeking, sabotage and treachery that made his role in undermining Jeremy and his small coterie of Left MPs so important.
Those vainly hoping that Burgon as Deputy could serve as a rallying point for a, increasingly embattled Left membership very likely to face a rabid campaign of expulsion as soon as that agent of capitalist globalist, Keir Starme, is elected as Leader, are deluding themselves. It all over for the post 2015 ‘Corbyn Insurgency’ – and of the Labour Party itself as the only remaining mass Leftish-leaning Party in Europe. Within just a few years, under the dead neo-Blairite, Tory-lite, hand of Keir Starmer and his neoliberal, corrupt, careerist, PLP buddies, the membership will be back down to its sub 200,000 pre ‘Corbyn Surge’ figure, and our collapse in our old heartlands will be in full spate – this time at local government level.
It’s over comrades – any socialist is now wasting their time in the Labour Party. Staying in will inevitable lead, not to the socialist Left transforming the Labour Party, but the deep corruption and pro capitalist politics, and careerism, that is now built in to the Labour Party at every level (including Lansman’s wholly owned Momentum monstrosity nowadays) , will only lead to YOU being corrupted too. Surely it must be agreed by any socialist capable of objective analysis that the ancient Left Labour hope of ‘winning the Labour Party to a socialist position’ has been fully tested to destruction over the last four years ?
JP, though i agree with most of your observations and some of your diagnosis, i disagree ENTIRELY with your prescription. Tell us, at each stage, when unexpectedly, despite negativity, Jeremy won the leadership, and trounced the traitorous lot, increasingly, DESPITE attacks from without ie ALL the other parties Limp Dims, SNP etc and MSM BBC, LBC, Talkradio, Telegraph, Mail, Guardian, Mirror, Owen Jones, Toynbee, Mcguiare etc etc and JEREMY STILL WON… Tell me did the traitors within and without, the well bankrolled within and without, DID THEY GIVE UP on their UNCEASING PLOTS⁉️ Did they❓ So why are u preaching negativity. Please, i’m begging u, you are perceptive and well informed, please please please use your gifts to discourage the the coup plotters, the Tories A and B side.
PLEASE point out areas where we must improve and method. But please what exactly is the point of nourishing negativity and starving hope. And this is encouragement to you and others to use you considerable knowledge to build rather than entrench the myth that nothing can be built, nothing can be achieved. This is definitely a “cultural disease” of the “Left”. Idealistic inflammation at plus. Hopefulness, strategy, priorities, sequencing and realistic focus at ALL at zero. We can and MUST change that. Or what is the point of taking time to read, listen write and post “we’re doomed! We’re doomed!” Please, we’re desperate for a constructive answer… any answer.
Thanks and best wishes
🌹🌹🌹
signpostnotwindchimes, if even after the utter defeat of the four year long ‘Corbyn Insurgency’ by the combination of the constant sabotage of the Labour Right (at constituency, national Party machine, regional party machine, and local government, levels) , plus the utter cowardice of the Corbyn circle, continuing the long dishonourable gutlessness of the Labour Left historically, yet again to tackle in any way the treachery of the Right, hasn’t convinced you, and other socialists, that the Labour Party cannot ever be a vehicle for Left transformation, then keep on hoping and fruitlessly campaigning, during the imminent return of the long Tory-lite, neo-Blairite night now almost upon us .
But it is a hopeless waste of any socialist’s time and energy. the only route now must be to build a genuine radical socialist Party from scratch. But I fully acknowledge the painful experience of failed past radical Left projects like Respect or Left Unity strongly suggests that the required radicalised mass class forces, particularly within the working class, in the UK to provide a social base for such a party simply are not currently present in the service industry-de-unionised, economy and society of the UK today. Nevertheless, my 50 years of sporadic political activity across many Left Parties and campaigns, (Labour for two, widely separated, periods), still tells me that the game is up for Labour as any sort of progressive Party. It will quickly, under the globalist Trilateral Commission’s man, Keir Starmer, return to being the deeply reactionary ‘Loyal Reserve Party of UK Capitalism’, it has been for most of its life. You can keep on wasting your time thinking that there might be a spark of socialist potential in the now electorally doomed, corrupt, rotting corpse, of Labour. But sensible activist socialists need to be looking hard for an alternative political vehicle – but one that somehow avoids being trapped in the tiny posturing ultraleft middle class bubble that every other Left project has been trapped in over the last 30 years or so.
Better to be realistically gloomy about current prospects than simply delusional with false hope, signpostsnotwindchimes, individually comforting as falsely optimistic delusion undoubtedly is. As across all of Europe, the radical populist Far Right wait like vultures in the wings of UK politics to fill that political void and hopelessness felt by our angry and betrayed old Labour heartland working class ex-voters, after the utter collapse of the Labour Corbynite Insurgency and its message of communal solidarity and progress.
Let’s look at the origins of the Labour Party and why it came about. Prior to the 20th century, the working class were chattels for the upper class, exploited to the point of death. For example, children employed as chimney sweeps, in mill factories, in mines.
Moreover, there was no such thing as an old age pension in the UK, social security, votes for women or for that matter the ordinary man, unless he was a property owner. The work house was frequently the fate for many who were unemployed, ill or old. What’s changed?
Why the sacrifices, organisation and determination by ordinary people to change things. Pessimism, negativity and throwing your arms up in the air saying “ what can I do changed anything” never altered nothing.
Agreed many points you have made about, Starmer et al are correct. You are also correct about apportion of blame to certain extent about the GE defeat.
However, let analyse it a bit further. From 2001 to 2010 New Labour lost 143 seats, 5,000,000 votes, 250,000 members and was down, in the 2010 election to 8.5,000,000 votes plus losing 90 seats. Not forgetting of course, every one of the 55 marginal Labour seats which the party lost in the 2019 GE, gained enormous support in the 2017 GE. Why? Well, Hope is the simple answer. Hope that things could, should and would improve under a democratic socialist Labour Party. The Achilles heel was/ is the PLP which came about because of a purge by Blair, Brown, Whittey, Straw, Mandelson, Campbell etc.
Their strategy is, in conjunction with the establishment, just like it always has been in history, to split and divide the opposition. The one thing they fear is not being able to control the narrative, this is apparent in the treatment of the political prisoner, Julian Assange.
So to start to lose hope in the democratic socialist Labour Party and Balkanisation of the 550,000 plus members into a myriad of splinter parties plays right into the hands of the strategy of the quislings within the party and their fellow travellers in the establishment.
United we stand!
FACT
Unless RLB wins first time round 50% then Starmer wins
Unless RLB moves on vexatious claims of anti semitism then Starmer wins
At moment more members will not vote in leadership election, desperately need clear red water
FFS
Oh, if sleazy starmer wins the leadership, I DO hope Burgon wins the deputy and becomes to slimeball what ‘fatberg’ was to corbyn.
Get yer earplugs ready in that event because then we’ll hear the squeals and shrieks about ‘foul play’ from the same rats that kept scthum when the two of them conspired and connived against Corbyn, only a million times louder.
Had it not been for the coup, then it is likely there would be a Labour government.
Labour was recovering in the early by -elections and was more or less level in the opinion polls at the time that the coup began. And then it plunged into a deficit of around 20% in the polls.
How can anybody in this election vote for Lisa Nandy or Keir Starmer knowing what they did?
And Starmer voted for Trident replacement at the end of a debate in which Theresa May said she would be willing to kill 100,000.
And Lisa Nandy’s opposition to Trident replacement is not quite what it seems either.
Vote RBL for leader and Burgon for deputy!
@Tony
I felt that it went far deeper than that. The Tories were in total disarray after the referendum. The whole world had fallen out of their arses.
And this was the time to choose a coup…
If they wanted power, government, to give folks a chance they could have knifed Corbyn later on. Instead they chose the state, the establishment.
Remember Mays words “We will not let you become prime minister”
“I felt that it went far deeper than that. The Tories were in total disarray after the referendum. The whole world had fallen out of their arses.”
Quite possibly!
Not only Starmer, Sir Keir Starmer to give him his full title which he frequently omits, participated in the coup along with Nandy and many other ” moderates, centrists” and Blairites but allso refused to oppose the Tories austerity bill, as his role as head of the crown prosecution service permited the USA to begin proceedings to extradite the political dissident Julian Assange. When, for example the Swedish authorities considered dropping the bogus rape charges against Assange, Starmer was adamant that they proceed.
Moreover, he made certain trivial social security fiddling punishable by a maximum of 7 years in the gaol. Thornberry, Corbyns other new friend wanted 14 years.Let’s not forget that he refused to have an enquiry into the unprovoked attack on Iraq, resulting in over a million deaths and rising, by the New Labour government.
Lastly, Starmer is a member of the European Trilateral commission which was founded and funded by Rockefeller a right wing American multi billionaire that advocates policies to undermine governments and democracies. Members should be very aware of were Starmer wants to move the democratic socialist Labour party to, and it will not include anything recognizable as socialism, except for a few very diluted policies to try and pacify the majority.
All those on the Left MUST vote for RLB and RB, if they do not Labour will be irrelevant for another whole generation or much longer. The Party will undergo another Kinnock/Blair purge and lurch to the right. The Gate keeping will be permanent.
Yes, the stakes are too high to do anything else.
“All those on the Left MUST vote for RLB”
Nope. RLB hasn’t a clue (I’m being generous – if she has a clue, she is devious). Belly crawling to appease the BoD/JLM lobby is the last thing we need, and appointing the deceptive schemer Lansman is bad judgment at best.
After the December car crash, she will be additional road kill in short order.
(And no – that’s not an endorsement of Starmer or Nandy).
Burgon could make a good deputy, however.
RH, RLB is the least worse option. In the real world it is often like that. Better a leaky boat than no boat at all. Btw, Nandy and Starmer = no boat at all. In fact they are chariots to hell. Tis not their fault. They were made that way to bring Blair from hell. Thence they will return, IF we expose their poor disguise. They won’t go if we fail to push them.
And, Richard Burgon WOULD make an EXCELLENT deputy, and WOULD make an EXCELLENT BRILLIANT leader also.🌹🌹🌹
No. Sorry. I won’t support someone so aligned with the visciousness of the antisemitism exaggerations. For me, it’s the *worst* of options.
Push come to shove, I’d prefer to be lumbered with Starmer as more transparent than a pretend leftie who dresses to the anti-Labour right.
But I guess I actually won’t be voting.
@RH “Push come to shove, I’d prefer to be lumbered with Starmer as more transparent than a pretend leftie who dresses to the anti-Labour right. “……..
You prefer a devious ducker and diver to someone who at least says where her money comes from . No matter how unpalatable RBL capitulation to the BOD ( Starmer will do EXACTLY the same ) , it is MUCH more concerning to see how STarmer is avoiding being honest and trustworthy to the membership.
Consider this anomaly then , you say you prefer Starmer to RBL over the BOD issue , then square the argument that STamer is quite happy to re-admit the likes of Ummna , Campbell , Berger et al , those who were instrumental in propagating the very AntiSemitism lies you castigate RBL of cuddling up to with the BOD .
Or is it more likely that you really prefer Starmer as he states he will force re-joining the EU through as a Labour goal should he become Leader
And no I don’t like or agree with RBL BOD or LAnsman decisions they suck ,,, BUT by Christ she is a far better option than Blairite wanna be Starmer who , make no mistake, will purge the fuckin life out of the Left of the Party ..
Its a shit deal all round , but I’d rather have someone honest and demonstrably so , than some shifty slippery slick willy in a shiny suit with a title SIR STARMER
rob – ” then square the argument that STamer is quite happy to re-admit the likes of Ummna, Campbell, Berger et al”
I guess you must have missed this little gem from ‘Little Becky’ at the JLM hustings.
Asked about the Labour whistleblowers who appeared on Panorama, however, Long-Bailey was willing to criticise the leadership. She said: “I don’t think the party gave the right response. We should not have called out or attacked former members of staff… We should apologise for how we behaved. We should settle any claims that were made.” She also confirmed that she would welcome Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman back into the party, saying what they “have been through was absolutely shocking”.
https://labourlist.org/2020/02/how-each-leadership-candidate-fared-in-the-jewish-labour-movement-hustings/
Fair enough, rob – that’s your opinion.
It’s not mine in this unpalatable choice, comments on which which reflect the common Skwawkbox exaggerated polarization between angels and devils.
Pragmatically – RLB has all the marks of a loser, and one without the consistent priciples and knowledge of Corbyn – which is why Starmer is currently ahead.
Sandra, brianbitou, tony, toffee, Doug and Terry, you all say it better than i could. I will add, we are also in this state because of the vacuum that is appeasement including to the likes of Starmer. He should NEVER have been allowed in the front bench. And Campbell, Hodge, Blair and the rest of the saboteurs should have been expelled. The myth that you create peace by turning a blind eye to BLATANT traitorous behaviour, is a big cause of this. A failure to rebutt and a fear of the rabid MSM. I hear it over and over amongst colleagues and even here before the election. Eg don’t do this, don’t do that or the media will have a field day. It is akin to refusing to confront a wrong doer for fear he will do wrong. I say SOD the MSM, and the coup plotters! They are doing wrong already. The buddhist zen monk approach must be DUMPED SWIFTLY! Now !! EXPOSE THE COUP PLOTTERS NOW!!! Expose their links NOW !!! Yes SH it is COMMON SENSE to ask who us funding the SIR STARMER N O W • not just before YOU vote for your sir. In fact i’m convinced your tick for YOUR sir was the first ballot returned… even before your sir himself. No one believes you when you say you’ve not made up your mind. It is as evasive as Sir Starmer refusing to be open and honest.
hmmm RH your ” 27/02/2020 at 5:18 pm · ·
No. Sorry. I won’t support someone so aligned with the visciousness of the antisemitism exaggerations. For me, it’s the *worst* of options… etc etc etc ”
Rob responds with my thoughts exactly. I would add that, your declaration of determination to support SIR stamer is at least a tiny bit less shifty. However, each failure to vote for RLB including abstentions, is a vote for Sir Starmer. I hope you can live with that. On your head be it.
ps do you think the bankrollers of Starmer paper his slime trail for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable??? Of course you don’t. You know, as well as any sensible person does, that the funders of Starmer are funding their Tory B-Side puppet = More outsourcing, more invasions of foreign lands, more flogging off state assets, more privatisation of “profits” + socialism of losses and corporate failure. More train travel chaos, more social care and DWP tragedies, more terrorist attacks under Tory B side mismanagement, prisons in chaos … could go on but in short more of the same old same old. If you are happy with that on your conscience then its your choice. I hope the approx 500,000 members ( ie minus the new ones we are unsure of), i hope they DO vote and vote for the by far least worse RLB for leader and the EXCELLENT, BRILLIANT & BOLD
RICHARD BURGON.
I do wish you’d learn to read accurately – it’s not a good testament to sound perception to say that I ‘support Starmer’.
It’s just that I don’t support fake leftery.
RH, I believe u support Starmer. Is that so upsetting to hear ? ? ?
Your anger / upset reminds me of when the plotters & MSM objected to being referred to as “Blairite”. They rightly understood it as an insult. As if the name Tony Blair conjured up stench / lies / WMD / Iraq / Gaddafi cosy / George Bush anal suppository.
You see RH can say openly, we have looked at the field and picked the BEST combination. I support the excellent Richard Burgon and RLB. RLB is the least worst option of the candidates for Leader.
Great were it Richard for Leader ➕ Jeremy or someone who has not signed away autonomy, for Dep.
However RH, life sometimes offers a less than ideal menu. Others here and throughout the 500,000 JC supporting members, recognise that. So RICHARD BURGON & RLB get our votes.
Sir Huge Face Poster secretly bankrolled Starmer & Nandy both coup plotters? NEVER‼️ RH NEVER‼️”Resonating” Rayner? The over powdered face? NEVER ‼️ Always be wary of an hastily over powdered face… then again it depends on what you seek.
Have you decided yet RH ? ? ?
Methinks this is the Kinnock election but
Members and supporters have moved to far to be denied the manifesto commitments and progress made under JC
If Starmer does not stick to the script there is a new generation who will put him into early retirement very quickly
The idea that you quit the party or stop voting Labour is a nonsense, I will almost certainly vote RLB as least worst option
People died to give me the vote
Time for RLB to stand up to her campaign Manager
“The idea that you quit the party or stop voting Labour is a nonsense, I will almost certainly vote RLB as least worst option”. Exactly my view Doug. Yes it is not easy but giving up is no solution. The B side Tories never did. Why should we❓❓❓ It is our party. You do not giv up and give in. Whats the point of that❓❓❓
Doug – RLB has irretrievably shot her bolt as far as I’m concerned by having such poor judgment as to align with Lansman and the JLM. I couldn’t trust her to make the right calls or have sufficient bottle after that massive mis-step.
… and I don’t think she has the qualities of a leader, anyway.
Rather a Starmer, if push comes to shove. But it’s not much of a choice.
There’s no Jim Bowen to say to the chicken coup-ers “Here’s what you could have won” if you hadn’t knifed the massively-elected Labour leader in the front. But yes, the chicken coup cost us the election in 2017.
Richard Burgon, say it loud and say it often: Labour doesn’t need a chicken coup-er as a leader.
Thanks for standing Richard. May your victory be forthcoming and abundant.
Great to see a socialist from Yorkshire stick it to the wreckers in the party. That is why I have voted for Richard as Deputy Leader. I think he would make a great leader. I have voted for Rebecca Long-Bailey as leader as she is the only one of the three that has a plan for power. Starmer is to Labour that Major was to the Conservatives, a grey man with few ideas of his own. The major (no pun intended) difference is that John Major did not have the backing of Tony Blair and his backers in the shadows who don’t want change. Starmer is a stalking horse for the return of Blair in a position of power. Blair’s backing will cost Starmer and the party dear, who wants Blair anywhere near the party as he is so toxic. Let us see some transparency from Starmer regarding his backers, not wait till Monday but why not now!
I agree with most of what you say Christopher Fox but I cannot believe that Tony Blair would be stupid enough to try to make a comeback. He is one of the most despised public figures ever -his warmongering,his greed ,his multi millions earned by rubbing shoulders with the scum of the earth make it impossible for him ever to regain public trust or affection. He did a lot of damage to our party and most of us will never forgive him.
Smartboy, Blair is determined enough. Self obsessed enough, Self worshiping enough. The creature would accept all at the same time, to be Grand Empress of Europe, Queen of the UK, The Pope, Jesus, even if the creature thought it would attract attention & adulation, the WMD BLAIR creature would raise a worm infested Margaret Thatcher from the dead and beg to be her spittoon and chamber pot … all at once. NEVER underestimate the demented vanity of the Iraq invading creature Blair…, its craving for wealth, attention and determination to get it. Wish we had a tiny fraction of that sustained determination.
If you notice, the Guardian/ Observer frequently rolls him out as the voice of stability, sense and statemenship. He is being portrayed as the only one who can offer advice to “ save” the party from extinction. Galloway, made a comment some time ago that he was the hidden hand behind the “ moderates, centrists “ and “ refuseniks “ in the party. Which is not that far off the mark, considering his, Mandelson and other malcontents comments. He might not make a comeback as frontline politician but he will be pulling the strings!
Reply to Signposts and Brianbotou.
I don’t disagree with either of you and like Brianbotou I believe that Blair has been the (Not so ) hidden hand behind a lot of the propaganda against the party. He should have been expelled long ago along with disloyal and undemocratic Mps who participated in the coup and who have sought to undermine us and the elected leader ever since
Great to see Burgon talking the talk and imo he is the most likely candidate for both posts to walk the walk. What I cannot get my head around is why he was so quiet under Corbyn? Perhaps I just didn’t notice him in the anti-Semitism smear campaign/witch hunt. If ex CPS head Sir Starmer wins I am wondering if Burgon will keep talking the talk if elected as deputy or at all.
As I mention Starmer… here is a link to a petition for legals to sign calling for the immediate release and UKGov refusal to extradite Assange…. even enablers can sign if they care for British and international law, humanity and press freedom as well as free speech. Do read the petition and forward to MPs with legal background.
https://twitter.com/deepa_driver/status/1232981960080928768
Just think, Patel has the final word on this as she will be the minister to sign the extradition order if it comes to that…
I am so glad that Richard has had the guts to openly lay the blame for our losing the election in 2017 and 2019 at the door of the PLP and their undemocratic and stupid coup.
We must never forget their role post coup either when they spread poison about Jeremy Corbyn every single day. In my opinion that is why so many of them lost their seats – people who believed them didn’t want to vote for a party led by someone as awful as they alleged while those who saw through their lies and smears did not want to vote for a candidate who was so treacherous and vile.
Neither should be forget the disgusting role the so called Labour grandees played in our election losses. Tony Blair openly stated that he would prefer to lose an election than win it on a Socialist platform and Mandleson said he worked every day to undermine Jeremy Corbyn.
Add this all to the combined efforts of the Establishment Tories and MSM and then we can see why we don’t have a much needed Labour government today.
I think it is vital we don’t slide back to the bad old days of new Labour when we engaged in illegal warfare and welfare cuts . Therefore I think we should elect candidates who are continuity Corbyn. For this reason I am going to vote for RLB for leader (although like many posting here I feel she needs to confront head on those who make malicious allegations of antisemitism bullying etc ) and Richard Burgon .for deputy and I urge all others to do likewise
Several candidates in Labour’s ruling body by-elections – for which voting started on Monday – have called on the party to pause the process amid further suspensions of their rivals.
Commenting on the letter, deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon told LabourList: “I do know that members are concerned and members don’t want to see complaints about serious matters ever used as an election tool.”
He added that while “suspension in employment is meant to be a neutral act… when there’s an election going on, it’s not really a neutral act if the suspension means that you can’t be a participant in the election”.
The latest letter has been signed by 1,500 members, including five NEC candidates still in the running. It follows an initial letter raising concerns, which was supported by 1,050 members.
Below is the full text of the letter.
Elections have to be fair, and they also have to be seen to be fair. The elections for NEC representatives continue to fall short of this standard.
There are now reports that and are therefore not eligible to stand in the election [edit: now confirmed as they do not appear on the ballot]. Members have a right to know who has decided to remove them from the process, the rules under which this has happened, and the conditions that had to be met for this step to be taken. We have not received any such explanation, so we cannot have confidence that due process has been followed.
The previous letter about was signed by over 1,000 members, including 12 candidates for the NEC and over 50 CLP chairs and secretaries. No response has been received to date. One of the suspended candidates has now been reinstated, but only after missing out on CLP nominations during the busiest part of the nominations period – if this was as a result of unfounded charges, it has had an unacceptable impact on the election process.
At this point we demand that the NEC by-election is suspended, and the party takes immediate steps to clarify its processes so that we can begin to rebuild trust ahead of the full NEC elections that are already planned for later this year.
Peyman Owladi, Luton South (NEC CLP rep candidate)
Trish Williams, Berwick-upon-Tweed (NEC CLP rep candidate)
Jo Bird, Birkenhead (NEC CLP rep candidate)
Chaudhry Qamer Iqbal, Ealing Southall (NEC BAME rep candidate)
Omide Deinali, Easington (NEC BAME rep candidate)
https://labourlist.org/2020/02/candidates-demand-pause-of-nec-by-elections-amid-suspensions/
Yes RB nailed it and I voted for him and RLB but they are the last chance saloon for the Left.
The establisnent, right wing media but mainly the Right in Labour stopped Labour under Corbyn getting over the line in 2017, they deliberately sold out left wing democratic socialism and if the Right Wing Neo-Liberal barbarian Starmer and lightweight Rayner get in “There will be a purge of the left” and the dreams many of us had under JC will be over.
So would it be time for a new Left Wing Democratic Socialist Party?
CONS: * Will it just mean the political wilderness unless some trade unions come too?
* You lose the Labour brand which gives you access to millions of voters and which is all the Right badly want?
* You may lose access to millions in unions.
* You may have to deal with the tiresome Trot bores who will try and take it over as ONLY their bourgeois top down socialism FOR is acceptable?
PROs: * Under Starmer Labour will run to the centre and may be crushed and as the Far Right then try to get in amongst the left behind a Left alternative will be needed.
* Such a party could offer political education to the multitude and a counter narrative to the Neo-Liberal Tories, Lib Dems and New New Labour.
* Potentially there may be hundreds of thousands of potentially homeless socialists.
I hope RLB and Burgon get in and we then fight to keep the flame of left wing democratic socialism alive as we unite diverse working people.
But if not it will be the time for some serious discussions and bloody soon!
Solidarity!
RLB & Burgon – Last Chance Saloon for the Left or its New New Labour!
Bazza…we had the last chance saloon at xmass.I was going to abstain,seeing the return of blairism and that knight leading a socialist Labour party has been the reason I have been forced to vote for RLB .Iand RB to hope that the membership can eventually triumph over adversity in a long fight to return the Labour party to its roots.This non government can only further the cause when the public see the return to “Victorian values” .Many of the old Tory establishment and the new intake will relish the prospect of punishing those that voted them in and cruelty will once again be a standard of morality.I Very much doubt that I will see a Labour government and hoping that a Johnson disaster non government will further a true socialist revival that will clearout the PLP and see the real socialist Labour party rebuild a asset stripped country after the Tory carpetbagers have had their fill.IT is a long road to victory but it can be done .We must never again allow a party within the Labour party rule inside the PLP who are the drivers of this Labour party.
The recent opinion-polling of Labour Party members and affiliates indicates that both RLB or RB are a long way from being able to secure a majority.
Bazza and Smartboy
When wavy Davy Cameron won a majority despite writing his resignation speech in 2015 there was an almost visceral scream from millions in this country
Hundreds of thousands felt strongly enough to join the party, it was only then that an alternative came forward in the shape of JC
I walked into hustings supporting Andy Burnham, actually spoke to him about PR after the event and left looking at the only candidate offering clear red water
That’s what we have now and that’s what our members and supporters want, there is no going back to red Tories
Now you both raise the most important question ‘who owns the party’
That’s what we are fighting over now
I agree wholeheartedly with you. What is the point of a Labour party if it is a just a watered down version of the Tories – if we launch ourselves into illegal wars, scapegoat immigrants, the old sick and disabled , see homelessness and food bank use increase and do nothing about it.
I cast my votes this evening – RLB for leader, Burgon for Deputy with Butler my No 2, I also voted for Bird for the NEC. I sincerely urge other to do likewise. There can be no return to the bad old days of New Labour.
I would recommend everyone (regardless of who they intend to vote) hold off voting till the last few days before the polls close. A lot can happen over the next few weeks, why on earth would anyone want to voluntarily give up the option to change their mind.
” What is the point of a Labour party if it is a just a watered down version of the Tories”
That’s a fair question, and one that some of us asked in the early heady days after the first Blair election – and indeed, before that. It wasn’t a popular question in the Party.
The question remains valid.
The other question that remains equally valid is “What’s the point of a Labour Party if it is just a minority interest group on the sidelines that can’t muster a large enough coalition to take power?”
We can all come up with varied reasons for December, and we have to face the fact of the almost total elimination of anything like balance in the MSM. But the question remains, and currently we are faced with a situation where the Party is short of convincing leadership material that can both command a policy consensus *and* the necessary skills to take on the Tories whilst holding the membership together and isolating those in the PLP who have actively undermined the Party.
It’s a combination of a big ask and poor resources that won’t be fulfilled by prancing around just preaching factional purity and spending enormous energy on internal disagreements.
Just read an excellent piece on Novara Media on the apparently far right friendly (?) political grotesque Right Wing Barbarians at the Right Wing, very posh, middle class and upper class, politically ignorant and thick Turning Point student body, who have been trying to interfere in Labour’s internal election, attacking RLB. (With plenty of suspicious money, probably funded by US far right billionaires?) and if such USEFUL IDIOTS of the rich and powerful Neo-Liberal capitalists attack certain candidates then you know you should vote for RLB and Burgon!
Link?
There is a distinct lack of coverage of Julian Assange’s plight on MSM
https://youtu.be/q2SY4aNext8
Steve H..you are correct that the coverage is abysmal,and the court is stage managed with Assange sat in a glass showcase like a war criminal.ITs noticeable that the judge rules Assange cannot sit with his lawyers and is unable to converse with them whilst in the glass showcase.I am sorry to say that it looks like a biased judge is steamrolling Assange to extradition and a life sentance in the USA.I believe that a death sentence is also possible?.
Yes – it’s very reminiscent of the shut-down of factual reporting about the AS ‘crisis’.
The decline in journalism as a serious pursuit is more and more apparent.
Front page article in the morning star 🌟 worrying like all of us about Strummer the knight and handy Nandys funding?Theres something rotten at the heart of the Labour party to produce these two crooks
So my first post to a site I have been following for a while. Old school Labour and I mean old, old school Labour here !!! So on the subject of Richard Burgon, heart and instincts are in the right place, but have serious concerns as to his judgement at times. The vow to let members veto military action was a real WTF moment for me, impossible, impractical and downright dangerous under certain circumstances.
”When challenged by Labour members and media, neither he nor Nandy have confessed their roles in preventing a Labour government – let alone shown contrition,”
And according to at least two beauts on here, you have NO right to be fucking irate at that fact, amongst other things.
So I’ll leave it for you to guess who’s who. No prizes…
The first one calls your exasperation: ‘faux outrage’.
The other thinks that because he got a labour MP in his constituency it absolves him of any blame. In fact, he thinks it vindicates him, and therefore qualifies him to continue pontificating and spouting more & more utter tripe.
…No, honestly!! I can provide proof if necessary.
I strongly recommend this recent article from The Canary about Rachel Reeves, a possible returner if Starmer wins:
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2020/02/24/heres-why-laura-kuenssberg-and-centrists-spent-all-day-celebrating-a-rabid-antisemite/
Tony, in 1919 when Astor was elected antisemitism was endemic and the appalling consequences of Nazism were unknown.
We can’t hold the long-dead to the values of the 21st century.
I was born into an innately racist society where the superiority of white people and of protestantism was assumed. I got over it.
Most societies in today’s world are still racist and bigoted but some have legislated to try and rid themselves of such evils.
I happen to admire Joseph Conrad yet he wrote ‘The N***** of the Narcissus’ – and there’s similarly racist language in the works of many celebrated authors from history.
Someone should tell the Canary there’s plenty to criticise the teutonic twat Kuenssberg for without attacking women for celebrating the first female MP.
Rachel Reeves I know nothing about.
ps… I forgot to make the point that highlighting the hypocrisy of the AS accusations against Corbyn and Labour with parables only works with an audience that isn’t immune to irony.
We already knew the accusations were bullshit.
Rachael Reeves, refused to oppose the Tories austerity bill. In fact, she said during the 2015 GE that she would support some of the social security legislation attacking the poorest, the most vulnerable, the disabled in society.
Moreover, she refused to accept the democratic will of the leadership election and participated in the coup to oust Jeremy Corbyn. She, along with the usual cast of malcontents amongst the “moderates, centrists “ and Blairites pushed the fabricated AS smears, disinformation and downright lies.
Now, as concerning Nancy Astor, she was a member of the Cliveden set who supported Adolf Hitler and openly supported him.
Therefore, to illustrate the hypocrisy shown by both Kuenssberg and Reeves by the Canary who on the one hand have tried to attack JC plus the Labour on the subject of AS, yet, support and admire a woman who supported one of the most evil AS in history is rightly deserved.
brianbotou, are any other women denied the right to celebrate the first woman MP, or is it just people we don’t like?
1919 being long before Nazism an’all?
Hmm, to celebrate a woman who openly supported Hitler, and by the way AS was prevalent before 1919 eg the pogroms in Russia in the late 19th century and also AS was rife even in the 2nd Reich or do you think Hitler just conjured it out of thin air, so it’s a bit more than “ women we don’t like.
Apples and oranges brianbotou, and I’ve already made the point that AS was endemic throughout history.
Women have the right to celebrate the first female MP even if she was a complete twat in every other aspect of her life, just as Churchill can be celebrated for leading Britain to victory despite being a complete twat in other respects.
And again – until it happened – and certainly not in 1919 – nobody could have predicted the Holocaust.
We ALL have feet of clay.
To have a coup plotter, a supporter of Tory austerity, and in the vanguard of attacking Jeremy Corbyn over AS plus a chief political correspondent, convicted by the BBC trust of political bias plus a deliberate bias against the AS and at the forefront of the State Broadcaster perpetuating the myth of widespread AS in the Labour Party. Yet, can throw adulation, regardless if she was the first woman MP or not, at an ardent AS really takes the biscuit.
Perhaps, they should be celebrating more worthy women political figures such as Margaret Grace Bondfield, British Labour politician, trade unionist, women’s right activist and the first woman cabinet minister. Of course, Reeves and Kuenssberg wouldn’t like the fact she believed in helping, the poor, the disenfranchised and the workers. Astor came from a class, besides supporting an arch Semite, that believed in helping themselves.
True, but at least you have acknowledged the problems of Joseph Conrad. None of the people who praised Nancy Astor have acknowledged her problematic side at all.
Rachel Reeves said that Labour should not represent the unemployed. As all workers run the risk of unemployment, that is really an attack on all workers.
She also supported the idea of a coup in Venezuela.
“We already knew the accusations were bullshit”
Yes, we did but a lot of people do not and that is why we have to mention it.
Last nights Sky debate
Was interesting in how the two audience members reacted to the AS question
First guy 40 years as an activist and never experienced AS in the party and saw it more as right wing propaganda inside and outside party
Questioner was incensed that none of the candidates stood upto attacks against party, members and supporters, finished with I’m seriously considering not voting for any of you
Methinks they summed up how the vast majority of us feel
Starmer sides with Trump against Assange
Sadiq Khan backs Bloomberg or Butyigeig
Red Tories Blue Tories Red Tories Blue Tories Red Tories Blue Tories
For Fucks Sake
The Right Wing Neo-Liberal Barbarians are currently enjoying their politically thick moments in the sun, as the Legal capitalist thieves pretend to be for the working man/woman as they resistribute wealth to the 1% CONNING THE MASSES!
Labour’s problem is that it has forgotten it is a political party that can politicise citizens re Tory Neo-Liberalism.
I have decided, if Starmer/Rayner get in, I’m out.
But I will take on an individual Barbarian Right Wing Labour MP in my city and the whole of the right wing barbarians globally.
Diverse working people of the World unite!
The latest Survation/LabourList poll has been published today and has produced some intriguing results.
“Asked about their “top issue or policy when it comes to choosing who to vote for in the Labour leadership contest”, respondents were most likely to indicate that “credibility as a potential Prime Minister” was a priority.
34% picked the credibility option, while 14% picked “maintaining current Labour platform”, 12% “anti-austerity policies”, 11% “uniting the party” and a further 11% “winning back traditional Labour voters”.
Breaking the results down by leadership preference, the credibility answer was chosen by 53% of Starmer supporters but only 5% of Long-Bailey backers, who instead said they prioritised continuity and anti-austerity policies.
https://labourlist.org/2020/02/exclusive-members-expect-starmer-to-shift-party-to-centre-new-poll-shows/
there is a link to the full polling data at the bottom of the page.
“ Methodology: The survey was conducted online invitations to complete surveys were via E Mail to Labour list members “. Labour list supports Progress, founded 1996 as a pressure group for New Labour. Sources Labour list and Wikipedia.
brianbotou – Your use of the word ‘members’ is a little misleading. All that is required is that you register for a daily update and you too will get an invite to take part in their surveys. LabourList has for many years run it’s own readership surveys but has very recently decided to partner with Survation to improve the quality of their polling. The results of this particular poll broadly agree with the results of other recently published polling.
LabourList gets the majority of its funding from Unite and Unison and appears to welcome contributions from right across the Labour political spectrum.
Hmm, until last February Labour list had a comments column. It was a very well used section that had very vigorous debates by many factions within the Labour Party and many contributions from non party supporters.
Frequently, it had articles which were slanted to the right wing of the party. Eg Luke Akehurst, occasionally it tried to maintain a semblance of balance by including left wing articles. It soon became apparent, as in the Guardian censored comment sections, that many supporters of the overwhelming democratic elected Labour leader were outraged by the bias against the left. Hence, why they without debate, without warning closed the comments section.
Now, the common complaint from the left was it supported Progress and the Labour first factions in the Labour Party, which judging by many articles that I read over a number of years, I would concur. It would be interesting to see Skwawkbox run a similar survey using the same readership plus methodology and compare the results. Moreover , as regarding funding from various sources, it does not guarantee that they have control over the editorial policy. By the way I quoted directly from the Labour list site and it used the words “ members”. So who is doing the “ misleading “.
I think the reason the comments facility was withdrawn was because it had become nothing more than an unmanageable cesspit where those on the extremes indulged in attempts to tear lumps out of each other. I thought it was a good decision to close it. Some of the language from all sides was atrocious.
I too doubt that Unite has direct editorial control that would not be a good thing, would it. Unite supports a number of other blogs on the left (including Skwawkbox) but as Len is a quite frequent contributor to LabourList’s columns (along with many other union leaders) it is a reasonable assumption that he approves of the general editorial direction.
The editorial policy has evolved over the years and as I said above they appear to accept articles from right across Labour.
Of course the respective readerships of LabourList and Skwawkbox would produce different results. It would be difficult to argue that the general profile of Skwawkbox readers doesn’t represent a much narrower faction than the readership of LabourList does.
Well, that is one view, unfortunately, the rationale that the editor of the time does not stand up to scrutiny. Moreover, it was apparent to the majority of left wing contributions to the comments section that there was an ongoing bias against the left and by definition the overwhelming majority of the party that elected a left wing leader.
Moreover, the same analogy could be made to the Guardian comments section, which as Off Guardian, Media Lens and many other left leaning social media sites have exposed, actually censors comments that as Chomsky said “ are vigorously debated in a very narrow band and thus no further”. Yet, the majority of the comments, for example prior to the 2017 GE supported Jeremy Corbyn, despite the best efforts by Progress, Labour First and others to dissuade Labour members from supporting Labour by sowing seeds of dissent, misinformation and downright lies.
By closing down debate, Labour list, limited an outlet to discuss. It was interesting that LL suddenly developed this sensitivity about debate after JC defeated the Tsunami of propaganda externally and internally against him and the democratic Labour Party after he was successful, against the prognosis of the establishment, and not prior to the 2017 GE when their was very little to differentiate between it in terms of language.
Well, just to recall, the unions in general thwarted the attempts to permit the introduction of the SNP method of selecting potential parliamentary candidates. It seems you have either, accidentally or intentionally missed my point that Labour list, like the Guardian, gives a veneer of balance.
However, when tallied up, there are by a long way far more articles slanted to Progress, Labour First and the myriad of small wing factions than the overwhelming majority on left in the democratic socialist Labour Party. The survey if conducted by the vast majority who supported for, and voted for a democratic socialist Labour Party, would I venture have a different result than one from a narrow band from Labour list.
Oh FFS it wasn’t a debate it had descended into nothing more than a factional slanging match that served no useful purpose. It definitely didn’t fit with JC’s mantra of a kinder politics.
If you choose to ignore the polls like Karie Murphy proudly did then that is entirely up-to you. We will all see how accurate they were on April 4th. You are more than welcome to say ‘I told you so’ should you be proved right.
If you choose to ignore the polls like Karie Murphy proudly did then that is entirely up-to you.
Karie Murphy, and WHO ELSE ignored polls, steve?
Don’t go all coy on us, now.
So, who else ignored polls, hmm? And, more’s the point, who ignored the polls taken by the country as a whole?
And WHO decided there shouldn’t even be a vote taken to introduce a 2nd ref/remain option as policy?
‘Mon steve, let’s hear it…
Video – An in depth Australian report on what is happening in Julian Assange’s extradition proceedings.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/assange-forced-into-glass-box-in-extradition-hearing-in-london/video/91b278bfe16f6ffa7a87ecbd6b9a48b8
Steve H, the notion that the overwhelming majority of the Democratic Socialist Labour Party are a faction alongside Progress, Labour list and the whole plethora of “ moderates, centrists “ and Blairites, whose numbers in total are still a long way from the majority who voted for and still support JC, is a form of cognitive dissonance.
Secondly, the idea that it descended into a purely “ slanging match” is but one skewed slant on a what was a very vigorous debating platform.
Moreover, the kinder gentler form of politics didn’t seem to resonate either with the majority of the PLP or those malcontents within the party who couldn’t or wouldn’t except democratic decisions. Besides of course the fabricated AS witch-hunt by the same malcontents.
Again, I see you are trying to extrapolate points that I didn’t say. I stated that Labourlist constructed a survey via an outside polling company using only Labourlist members. In addition, I demonstrated that LL without debate, without warning closed the comments section on the pretext that they couldn’t regulate the more extreme language, as for example, Skwawkbox does with only a fraction of the resources that LL has.
It’s not a question of “ I told you so” that’s puerile language but pointing out that trying to stifle, and censor debate which LL ultimately did, does not bode well for democracy does it!