This article was originally published in July 2017, just a month after the general election. Because of the weekend’s leaked report of right-wing staffers undermining the election campaign, it is being reposted.
The ‘Southside’ building on Victoria St, which houses Labour’s HQ
As Private Eye has observed, Labour’s HQ – currently occupied by many who are less than friendly to the idea of the party as a genuine, socialist electoral alternative under Jeremy Corbyn in spite of the vast majority of members’ full support for it – ended up with egg on their faces on the night of 8 June:
Having fallen for their own propaganda of ‘electoral meltdown’ – being far too removed from the grassroots members, any one of whom would have told them differently – the hapless right-wingers apparently prepared what was effectively a would-be coup, ‘changing the locks’ (or rather, deactivating the entry cards) to prevent Jeremy Corbyn’s team from accessing the building.
The sheer arrogance of this is as staggering as the extent to which the party’s bureaucracy (and its right-wing MPs) are out of touch. Even if Labour had done badly in the General Election, there was no obligation for Jeremy Corbyn to stand down – and indeed, having won two election contests overwhelmingly, with a huge majority of members determined that he should not go, there was every expectation that Corbyn would continue to stand firm.
Yet the Blairite relics were convinced they could just lock him and his team out of the building.
The SKWAWKBOX can exclusively confirm that deactivating the door passes was not the limit of right-wing arrogance and idiocy at ‘Southside’ that night. According to a very senior Labour source, the email accounts of Corbyn’s team were also shut down.
There is definitely a need for some deactivations – and some desk-clearing – at Labour’s HQ. But it’s not Corbyn and his support team that should be marched out by security clutching their possessions in a cardboard box.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here for a monthly donation via GoCardless. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Will say it again
For every JC you need a horrible bastard to do the dirty work and cover his back
Keir has a simple choice to keep party together, get rid of high profile traitors, clean out stables
Anyone calling for us to leave on here is plainly part of the latest coup
How about calling for a civil war, we have the numbers and we can just as easily drive them into the sea once and for all
Regards
What mechanism/methods do you propose to use to carry out this(necessary) clean out Doug?
Momentum had it right, put up lists of people on the left to clean up in internal party elections
Ask JVL to coordinate and manage this, fund them to do it, use them as honest brokers
Reinstate whatever powers Blair had to parachute in parliamentary candidates
Discipline and dismissal procedures used to clear out treacherous bastards, force them to jump ship en masse
Kick out JLM Affiliate with JVL reinstate those falsely accused
Over to you Joh
I can’t reply directly to you there is no reply facility with your response Doug.Anyway,I suggest you do a little research into Lansman’s little fiefdom.The bastard always spoke with forked tongue and he has killed Momentum,(pun intended)
John Thatcher
Agree on Lansman
Momentum have moved on, cant see him lasting much longer,
Which union has these Cockwombles as members, they along with Keir have to disown them
The offences committed constitute Gross Misconduct, any still in HQ can be sacked on the spot
Skwawky ask their union for a comment
If no progress, kick union out of party
We want them to leave and form this mythical centrist wet dream of a party
– Keir has a simple choice to keep party together, get rid of high profile traitors, clean out stables –
And if he doesn’t, what then?
– Anyone calling for us to leave on here is plainly part of the latest coup –
Don’t be ridiculous! It could also be said that the opposite is true: that by imploring everyone to stay gives legitimacy to the coup, i.e. no-one’s resigned so it’s ok to carry on as we mean to.
When workers have a grievance and all arbitration has failed, then the only course left is to withdraw their labour. Well the same applies here, except that the last recourse is to leave the party and withdraw your funding and active support. Everyone has choices to make and by leaving doesn’t necessarily imply being part of a coup, it could just as easily imply a fundamental disagreement that cannot be resolved by argument alone.
You talk of civil war, well that’s been going on since JC was elected leader as this document proves. It didn’t do any good at the last 2 elections and won’t in the future. A party divided seldom gets into government in the UK. In 2017 the Tories were very much divided while Labour at least had a semblance of unity, whereas in 2019 the Tories appeared united again while Labour floundered over Brexit. Voters win elections, not members of parties no matter how hard they work at election time.
You also talk about JVL coordinating resistance but they’re not even affiliated nor seen as being important, or else Starmer would have included them in the recent ‘conversation’ with Jewish groups. He chose to ignore them completely along with other fringe groups, which should tell you plenty.
Political parties are merely human constructs and just like humans they are born and they die. Well maybe it’s time for a new party to emerge more suited to the 21st Century than the 20th and without all the unwanted baggage the present Labour Party has accumulated.
PW
I’m only interested in what needs to be done to create herd immunity from Cockwombles in party
Unless you hwve half a dozen unions and 300,000 members you can bring with you to the new party
We have the members and supporters, JC created clear red water and it’s up to us to defend and grow the legacy
Concentrate minds on what needs to done first and that’s electing a clean slate to NEC and putting down motions at conference
I really have no clue about how party works so would appreciate wiser heads guiding this
Well, I wish you luck Doug but don’t be surprised if the NEC elections are rigged in favour of the right wing of the party.
Remember what happened just recently with the sudden suspension of candidates – only Jo Bird managed to get back on the slate in time.
I simply can’t see Starmer, or his backers, allowing the left any chance to mount a challenge – just look at who’s in the shadow cabinet. Says it all for me, I’m afraid.
PW
We have the numbers
Agree they could well employ dirty tricks but that would simply result in a leadership challenge
Team labor concentrated on sending begging emails for donation .not even informing those like myself and many on their mailing list when Jeremy was vising our areas , i sent dozens of emails stating this ,,,never a single response
I’ve just written to my MP;
Dear Harriet Harman MP,
Please find attached the 860-page report ‘The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism, 2014 – 2019’.
This is an extensive internal investigation into the way the Labour Party handled antisemitism complaints. It concluded that factional hostility towards Jeremy Corbyn amongst former senior officials contributed to “a litany of mistakes” that hindered the effective handling of the issue.
I am outraged both at the internal treachery this report has exposed as well as that party lawyers have decided this report will not be submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigation into how the party responded to complaints of antisemitism.
The attached report, which was completed in the last month of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, claims to have found “no evidence” of antisemitism complaints being treated differently to other forms of complaint, or of current or former staff being “motivated by antisemitic intent”.
Instead, the report concludes there was a lack of “robust processes, systems, training, education and effective line management” and found “abundant evidence of a hyper-factional atmosphere prevailing in Party HQ” towards Jeremy Corbyn which “affected the expeditious and resolute handling of disciplinary complaints”.
As well as 10,000 separate emails, the dossier uncovers thousands of private WhatsApp communications between former senior party officials and singles out for criticism some who gave whistleblower evidence to last year’s highly-critical BBC Panorama investigation on antisemitism within Labour.
These include the former General Secretary Lord McNicol and the former acting head of the governance and legal unit, Sam Matthews.
The report claims private communications show senior former staff “openly worked against the aims and objectives of the leadership of the Party, and in the 2017 general election some key staff even appeared to work against the Party’s core objective of winning elections”.
The report says the WhatsApp communications in question, which included some of the most senior figures in the party headquarters and Lord McNicol’s office, were leaked by one of the group’s members.
The examples from chat archives published in the document include:
Conversations in 2017 which appear to show senior staff preparing for Tom Watson to become interim leader in anticipation of Jeremy Corbyn losing the election,
Conversations which it is claimed show senior staff hid information from the leader’s office about digital spending and contact details for MPs and candidates during the election,
Conversations on election night in which the members of the group talk about the need to hide their disappointment that Mr. Corbyn had done better than expected and would be unlikely to resign,
A discussion about whether the grassroots activist network Momentum could be ‘proscribed’ for being a ‘party within a party’,
A discussion about ‘unsuspending’ a former Labour MP who was critical of Jeremy Corbyn so they could stand as a candidate in the 2017 election,
A discussion about how to prevent Corbyn-ally Rebecca Long-Bailey gaining a seat on the party’s governing body in 2017,
Regular references to Corbyn-supporting party staff as “trots”,
Conversations between senior staff in Lord McNicol’s office in which they refer to former director of communications Seamus Milnes as “dracula”, and saying he was “spiteful and evil and we should make sure he is never allowed in our Party if it’s last thing we do”,
Conversations in which the same group refers to Mr. Corbyn’s former chief of staff Karie Murphy as “medusa”, a “crazy woman” and a “bitch face cow” that would “make a good dartboard”,
A discussion in which one of the group members expresses their “hope” that a young pro-Corbyn Labour activist, who they acknowledge had mental health problems, “dies in a fire”.
The investigation also accuses the former General Secretary Lord McNicol, and other senior figures of providing “false and misleading information” to Jeremy Corbyn’s office in relation to the handling of antisemitism complaints, which the report claims meant “the scale of the problem was not appreciated” by the leadership.
I hope you agree with me that it would be disgraceful for any UK political party to degrade democracy so thoroughly let alone the Labour Party which has such a strong tradition of standing for human rights and justice.
Please let me know precisely what you can do to ensure that;
this report is considered by the EHRC investigation,
those traitors, who have so outrageously undermined the party, are swiftly brought to justice.
As you of all people know; justice delayed is justice denied.
Yours sincerely, David Cannon.
Chair of Jewish Network for Palestine
33 Consort Road SE15 2PH
020 7639 6083
IF the LP ever exhibits signs of radicalism again we now know to what extraordinary underhand dirty ops will shred them again. Using Israeli secret money they will work tirelessly to destroy any new growth. Any new Party must forbid acceptance of another countries Spook money.
And if any member ever expresses a single socialist sentiment again they’ll be summarily expelled for bringing the NuBlair Party into disrepute.
Any new party will also have to beware of Quisli-Blairings joining disguised as honest believers in democracy.
Everything will disappear, just like Bex Bai;ley.
Perhaps Andy Burnham will speak out, or Dan Carden; or Richard Burgon…………….’all quiet on the Western Front’? Nothing to see here!
The deactivating of keycards wasn’t just ‘arrogant’, it was full-blown bullying.
The tragedy is that all this was known about in some way or another ever since the 2017 GE yet nothing was done about it.
““total mentalist”, “bitch face cow” and “pube head”, while Diane Abbott is mocked for crying in a toilet. There is also evidence that purports to show a staffer hoping that a named young member with mental health issues “dies in a fire”.”
Why were the above examples of bullying not presented when the likes of Jess Phillips and Faulkner and Straw touring every MSM studio making claims of bullying??? Why were the culprits not exposed and investigated?
Because they only came to light recently when the staff compiling the report looked through thousands of emails etc. But then you probably know that, but you’re ALWAYS looking for ways to criticise the former left leadership no matter how fraudulent your claims are!
And it’s not bullying anyway, as it wasn’t being said to the various individuals they were talking about, or the membership, but just privately amongst themselves.
PLEASE SHARE WITH ALL LEFT CONTACTS & NETWORKS, ON WHATSAPP, TWITTER AND FB
Members should write to NEC members ahead of the crucial meeting next week. The wider variety of emails the better, but a template has been written below that you can use entirely or for reference. Please then send your letter to the following addresses (which can be copy and pasted):
andydaisyfox@hotmail.co.uk; Ian.Murray@fbu.org.uk; keir.starmer@parliament.uk; angela.rayner@parliament.uk; diana.holland@unitetheunion.org; ahendersonlab@gmail.com; jim.mcmahon@parliament.uk; jonathan.reynolds@parliament.uk; jo.stevens@parliament.uk; richard.leonard.msp@parliament.scot; Mick.Antoniw@assembly.wales; lara.mcneill@kcl.ac.uk; labourlink@unison.co.uk; howard.beckett@unitetheunion.org; pauline.mccarthy@bfawu.org; michael.wheeler@usdaw.org.uk; w.nichols@unison.co.uk; akerr@cwu.org; tom.warnett@gmb.org.uk; jayne.taylor@unitetheunion.org; kathy.abubakir@gmbactivist.org.uk; mwhelan@aslef.org.uk; joanne.cairns@usdaw.org.uk; james.asser@newham.gov.uk; johanna.baxter@btinternet.com; hudaelmiNEC@gmail.com; yasminedar.labour@gmail.com; racheljgarnham@gmail.com; gurinder_singh_josan@hotmail.com; jonlansman@me.com; darren.williams.nec@gmail.com; nick.forbes@newcastle.gov.uk; aliceperryuk@gmail.com; george.howarth.mp@parliament.uk; margaret.beckett.mp@parliament.uk; shabana.mahmood.mp@parliament.uk;
To the members of the NEC.
The leaked labour report has caused an incredible amount of damage to the Party. It has shown that while thousands campaigned to get the Tories out, a small but damaging clique of high-level executives sought to undermine their efforts.
Members have now read evidence of officials making “soft decisions” on antimsetism in order to “cause a crisis”; we’ve read how staff sought to rig elections and undermine democratic processes (locally and nationally); and we’ve read how an internal “scorched earth” policy went to great lengths to keep the Conservatives in power.
As members of the Labour Party, we are also disgusted by the reported instances of racism, ableism, bullying, and sexism. We expect this to be a tolerant and open Party – and we are appalled by comments that reference “so-called moderate islam”; by the harassment and targeting of black MPs; by calls to “hang” and “burn” those with different political beliefs; and by the labelling of women as “crazy”, “fat”, “bitch-faced, “smelly cows”.
We welcome the investigation into the report, but hope that the NEC prioritises dealing with the abundant cases of misconduct that are evidenced. We hope that you will consider: How will BAME members feel safe in the Labour Party if whistleblowers of racism are dealt with more harshly than those who are accused of it? How will members engage with the Party if those complicit in our defeat in 2017 are not suspended, but rewarded with new positions? And how will the Jewish community regain its trust in us if no action is taken against those who deliberately mishandled and ignored complaints, stoking fears for factional gain? The integrity of our Party is at stake, and we ask the NEC to bear in mind the frustration and anger of the membership at this time.
We ask the NEC:
– To immediately suspend those who have violated the terms of their membership, pending investigation.
– To proceed with a focus on the report’s contents. The investigation should be focused on alleged behavioural misconduct, and not allow itself to become a factional attack on whistleblowers.
An investigation into an investigation sounds like kicking this treachery into the long grass instead of showing leadership!
Nevertheless, I’d be pleased if Starmer finds out who wrote the treachery exposing report; whoever it is, is a hero!!!