Labour sources have told the SKWAWKBOX that the party plans to follow its shameful and widely-condemned exclusion of three local women, including hugely popular Councillor Anna Rothery, from the contest to become its mayoral candidate, with a manoeuvre no less brazen and anti-democratic.
The party aims to parachute in former MEP Theresa Griffin and wants to make her the only candidate in the re-opened selection – effectively imposing her on Liverpool members.
Griffin has previously been backed by ‘Labour to Win’, the right-wing umbrella group run by Labour First. Such links would make her an unpalatable choice to many members.
The hierarchy’s war on the membership and the city continues.
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Stay and fight?
I’m asking those who stayed…Because that shower of pricks STILL haven’t finished; no matter how much they take the piss it’ll NEVER be the last straw until every leftist has either left, or been purged.
Best to do the frank off your own bat than pay to stay, vote for them & prolong/increase your irritation.
Dan anyone confirm this?
It was believed former Merseyside MEP Theresa Griffin would be on the shortlist but she has now ruled herself out.
https://lbndaily.co.uk/frank-mckenna-rules-liverpool-mayor-run/
What now?
DanCanI’ve had it confirmed by a source that I trust that Theresa Griffin has ruled herself out of the contest.
When the party get round to publishing the new list of applicants it is going to be an interesting read, will there be any new surprises?
Or
Get the injunction
At what stage does Unite call it
Would you spend a penny going legal against the party you bankroll
Or
Get rid of the problem
The Toffee
The reality is not if but when the challenge comes
Then the fun will begin, starting with the War Criminal
It can be no less than an anal enema of Red Tories
Until next week…When there’s another injuction to be sought elsewhere…and the week after that, and two more, the week after that ad ininitum, ad nauseam.
All paid for by you – With no guarantees they’ll be upheld. If you wanna be the bar council’s/ law society’s pension fund; please go right on ahead.
Better idea is to neither fund, campaign for, or vote for them in any capacity. Only then will they get the message.
That was a reply to your post @1:02pm, Dougal.
I’m sure there’ll be union interest aplenty as to how this pans out…Except from the usual suspect.
Absolutely spot on.
Who saw this coming? I’m sure everyone is shocked and amazed by this news
If Theresa Griffin goes ahead with this despicable manoeuvre she will become an outcast in the city.
I agree Jack T Anyone who stands in these circumstances is a self interested careerist with no sense of decency or democracy. Labour members/ voters should boycott this election If that means another party wins then so be it .It should also be made clear that anyone standing will never get our votes for any office in the future. I see one of the other potential candidates is a local businessman. If he stands people should boycott his businesses and he should be made aware of that.
The party should remember what happened to Sion Simon in the West Midlands. Our members did not vote for this candidate because of his open disdain for Jeremy Corbyn so a Tory Mayor was elected. Most people didn’t care and couldn’t tell the difference anyway.
Smartboy – The question you need to ask yourself is – Will anybody actually notice your boycott.
All ex MEPs are self interested careerists.
Reply to Steve H
If I personally were to boycott the election then no, nobody would notice. But we are many and if we all boycotted it then yes it would be noticed. I’d go further and say that if under Starmer Labour couldn’t get a Labour mayor elected in LIVERPOOL, then his position would be totally untenable. The right wing are playing with fire here ( just like they did in the West Midlands) but as usual they are so wrapped up in themselves and their petty politics that that hasn’t dawned on them yet.
SteveH: You know full well Keir doesn’t have the support of the majority of the rank-and-file for things like this. Nobody but the Tories is cheering him on for stopping Rothery. You know there is no good reason for Starmer to do this, that no centrist can possibly fight for the people of Liverpool-people you can’t fight for without fighting for socialism- and you know this isn’t leading to any gains for Labour in the polls.
Unless you’re just paid to defend what Keir is doing, why would you? What possible redeeming value could you see in Keir stripping Labour both of all vestiges of internal party democracy and all of its core values?
What part of “there are no votes to be gained from lowering the party to Blairism again” do you not understand?
kenburch – We can both make all the assumptions we want to but as neither of us actually know (yet) why the original selection process was halted then neither of is in a position to say whether the NEC/Region’s decision on this is right or wrong.
…and yes I agree decision making should be more transparent, accountable and open at all levels of the party.
Chris Mooney..I assume you were being sarcastic when you say “Who saw this coming” ? This is the Labour party,for unemployed lawyers and barristers social security benefits.Have some sympathy for these class warriors will you.!,ITs a jungle out there don’t you know?
Simple answer to this is to not vote for her. I believe the Labour group are considering voting to do away with the position of mayor altogether. That stops the party having their “chosen one” being mayor. It stinks to high heaven that the region has behaved this way, I’d stop taking instructions from the region and hold them in contempt. They only have power if you acquiesced to their rules.
The Liverpool Labour group have already agreed to holding a referendum in 2023 on whether to retain the mayoral system.
They plan to let the people of Liverpool decide for themselves how they want to be governed.
Then they had no valid reason to deny the people of Liverpool Labour the right to choose a candidate of their own preference. I assume you’ll concede the point that this imposed antisocialist outsider has no chance of winning and would be worthless in the job.
If you mean the North West Regional Office, what can I say?
Weaver Vale is a marginal and was Tory until 2017. In 2017 we were the 17th marginal on the list and needed to win in order for Corbyn to form a government. Our 2017 GE campaign was actively sabotaged by a prominent member of our campaign committee and an ex employee of NWRO. I contacted the Regional Director to ask what we could do. Her answer was words to the effect that, “we can’t force members to campaign”. I was not talking about members, but members of the CLP executive, elected to campaign for Labour representation. I have many emails which show the animosity shown toward our campaign.
The North West Labour admin are as bad as the rest of the party.
Hardly a Skwawkbox “exclusive” The speculation abour Ms Grffin has been up on the Liverpool Echo’s website since last night. The Echo article also mentions other possible “celeb” contenders. See https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-labour-mayoral-selection-options-19902933
David Walsh. I clicked on your link to potential celebrity Liverpool Mayors and was surprised to see Sir Keir hadn’t given the green light to Kelvin McKenzie.
Minkin, in ‘The Blair Ascendancy’, reports that one of the first names put forward (no mention as by who) for the Labour candidate for the first election for London mayor was Richard Branson. Nothing came of it but it was the shape of things to come.
At least we won’t have to wait very long to find out who has put themselves forward.
I know of at least three party members who reportedly have been told they cannot put themselves forward.
Do you not see the Elephant in the room SteveH? It’s also called anti-democratic sectarianism and the people who brought it here (and nurture it) are the Labour right. You shoud go to specsavers
As I said above, we’ll soon know who the runners and riders are.
qwertboi – Whilst the anecdotal stuff from the 3 members is useful background unless we know why they were ineligible then we are no further forward. Have you asked them why they were ‘rejected’.
Steve, fuck off to Labour first. your snide comment are surplus to requirements/
steve hilling – What was snide about my comment, aren’t you also curious about why their applications were rejected.
Theresa Griffin’s selection as Liverpool mayoral candidate would be a game changer. A maassive game changer akin to a declaration of war by the Labour right.
Stay and fight or leave and whinge?
Quertboi did you mean stay and whinge,or leave and fight?..Those that leave do not support a mutated monstrosity and pay for the privilege of letting loose another right wing party on the working-class…think about it and understand that no real socialist will be allowed inside the Labour party especially if they make a nuisance by speaking and organising..So don’t write off the idea of leaving being a form of weakness,its just a matter of whos funding the right and who isn’t…thats us comrade.
Isn’t it interesting how all these working class Tories look the same wear similar style clothes and talk the same twisted talk! All I hear from them is the frontstabbers code.
Are you a knifeist? Next you’ll be wanting civility and courtesy and respect. Thin edge of the wedge.
We must recruit a truly representative set of candidates for future elections. Labour must be at the forefront of championing diversity…
Our greatest campaigning asset is our network of committed staff, members and activists…
The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.
Starmer’s own words from his leadership campaign, as reported on Zelo Street (emphasis Tim Fenton’s):
https://zelo-street.blogspot.com/2021/02/labours-liverpool-louse-up.html
As the article goes on to point out Ken Livingstone stood as an Independent (and of course won) when Blair tried to impose Frank Dobson on the electorate. Perhaps Anna Rothery should consider doing the same, as I’m sure the good people of Liverpool won’t be too happy about these shenanigans.
PW – Here’s the original
“4. Make the selections for Labour candidates more democratic and end NEC impositions of candidates
Local Party members should select their candidates for every election. The NEC should not impose candidates on local parties. More widely, we must improve our selection process. The current system is impenetrable with too much reliance on who people know rather than what they can do. It costs too much and takes too much time, effectively ruling out potentially excellent candidates. We must make sure that our selection and accountability processes improve the interactions between candidates and local parties and help promote good relationships within our party.
https://keirstarmer.com/plans/reformandunite/
Another *ahem* promise the megalomaniacal slime’s openly reneged on.
And still not a murmur of criticism from you…It’s almost as if you’re in denial, wee fella.
And your point is, SteveH?
PW – To make people aware of the original source material so they can read it in its original context and make up their own minds.
Do you have a problem with this?
I do not approve of the high handed actions of SKS. Even if he thinks Rothery and co are useless crackpots espousing an economic and social philosophy unpalatable to mainstream working class voters there must be some awareness of local democracy and natural justice. SKS is in danger of promoting so called ‘democratic centralism’ the favoured system of the Soviets and E. Germany. Rightly criticised by their own populations and the west. Obviously Sir Kier ‘Stalin’ Starmer has learnt a thing or two about managing political opponents out of the way. Next the ‘show trials’ we must assume.
What makes you think Starmer is managing any of this?
I suspect, he’s, just, a passenger, like the rest of us.
What makes you think Starmer is managing any of this?
I’d say his reticence and acquiesence might give us a pointer; wouldn’t you, George?
Very true. I have no time for him, but as wretched and duplicitous as the knight is, it is the collective known as the Parliamentary Labour Party that I distrust and dislike more. As an anonymous poster over at ‘All That Is Solid’ said earlier today: “Labour has reverted to type under the influence of a totally unchanged PLP, to a model which lost Scotland and the North. The problem is no longer LOTO, but the entrenched PLP and the party structure and processes it manipulates. It is fundamentally undemocratic, root and branch, as we’ve seen since the failure of litigation to compel Tom Watson to honour his promise to members on voting rights…”
qwertboi – It is disappointing that all the promises to democratise the party and create a members led movement culminated in ‘trigger ballots’.
Yes George, I really don’t think Starmer has the nous to be orchestrating all we see happening. There are other minds at work in the shadows directing this. David Shayler the former MI5 operative, said he understood from former colleagues that Blair was recruited at University and sent into the Labour party, I will leave it there.
Looks like labour are going to loose Liverpool then!
Although the arrest of the previous incumbent is bound to have a negative impact I doubt that Labour will lose. Labour had a 39% point lead on the Tories in the last election.
Here’s a thought, suppose they do manage to get rid of the majority of the Lefties, the Corbynistas, the Corbynites etc, etc, what happens then?
Where do they get their votes from, to make up the shortfall? Their canvassers, for Labour, come election time? I believe they could, quite comfortably, lose a third of their voter base(just, a guesstimate, Steve H).
They’ve been trying to woo Tories pis*ed-off with Johnson et al., but haven’t had much success, so far.
Add to that the Socialists who will never vote for Starmer, or his troglodytes, and Socialists standing in direct opposition, taking votes from Labour, directly from the ballot box. Where do they get their votes from? Perhaps, they’re much more optimistic about their futures, than I am.
We could be in for a long hard Tory decade, again. But listen, don’t worry about it. Blair, Mandelson, Starmer, Evans – the vast majority of the Southside staff – will be alright. They’ll be looked after.
Phew, eh?
George – Where were all these Corbynista votes at the 19GE.
Corbyn supporters voted, leave supporters didn’t.. .and we know what Starmer is.
In the 1990’s it was always said of dissenting voices “where will they go”.
Well 2019 showed you where “they” could go and it was straight to the Tories. Why vote for the tribute act when you can elect the real MacCoy?
Nemtona – I’m struggling to see this as a positive for Corbyn.
They’ll make a pact with the SNP. Krankie’s just as desperate as Starmer
I think with all their experience of Liverpool politics do Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman qualify for shortlisting, after all there is nothing like a Dame? smirk.
Keith Starmer deserves the highest honour the establishment can bestow on him. In less than a year he’s destroyed the party and lost more than 100,000 members and ensured a Tory government for a decade to come.
Is the membership now lower than the 440,000 it stood at before the 19GE. Have you got a credible link to these membership figures..
Yup, it’s all going to plan. No, the destruction is quicker than they hoped.
Personally I think Starmer and the PLP would prefer a Tory mayor in Liverpool than a socialist one.
The only hope i can see is the if the unions can apply a bit of pressure, but I won’t bet the house on it.
The Sickly UK Tory Mark II Starmer Party has vomited up a candidate for Mayor of Liverpool whom every self-respecting Scouser has irrefutable grounds for despising … to a man, woman and child.
Why, what have you got against her?
An array of Socialist principles, stacked a mile high.
That you can’t remember?
She’s a centrist and nobody in Liverpool Labour either supports her or wants their mayoral candidate to be a nonsocialist. She’s not anti-austerity and there’s no difference between a Labour politician who isn’t anti-austerity and a Tory. What more do you need? And why do you keep acting like this is a mystery when we all know the whole story?
Also…can you please stop acting as though Starmer standing down would put Corbyn himself back in the job? There’s no possibility of that and therefore no point in your continual “Corbyn was worse” refrain.
Starmer doesn’t deserve your loyalty. He’s unsalvageable. And he’s going to lead Labour to defeat in May. That’s the only thing that can happen when you drive the Left out of the poor-that leaves no one to campaign for Labour candidates(hardly anyone on the right wing of the party ever does) and no one who feels any enthusiasm for the party anymore. Labour can’t win as ann enthusiasm-free zone.
Tel Aviv has nodded its approval.
I wonder who’ll be the first lefty accused of bullying, intimidation and putting a brick through would-be Mayor Griffin’s office window…?
It will probably be her campaign manager, the window will be on the other side of the building, and all her interviewed supporters will be expected to be on the verge of tears as they put across their agreed story of what happened.
Story will be the emphasised aspect of the whole farago!
Except in the Guardian……..
It’s pretty obvious why Starmer and his right wing backers don’t want Anna Rothery. She is a threat not only to Starmer but to every right wing Labour MP on Merseyside and beyond. From a platform of significance she will put them to shame by saying what they should be saying about the Tory Party and the lack of democracy in the Labour Party.
Guardian seems to think some people have a plan…
“But the Guardian understands that senior Labour figures in the city are now discussing calling a vote at next Wednesday’s full council meeting on scrapping the mayoralty before the local elections in May.
They believe they would win the vote, knowing that the main opposition councillors from the Liberal Democrats have long campaigned to scrap the role. There is nothing the national Labour party could do to stop them.”
Heh heh heh.
David – I’m struggling to see what you find amusing about denying the people of Liverpool the opportunity to be able to decide for themselves how they are governed.
“They think they could still hold a referendum in 2023 to decide on how the city should be governed in the long term.”
“The council is not obliged to consult voters on the matter. The position was created in 2012 after councillors voted it through, bypassing the referendum process adopted by other cites.”
Fucking hilarious that you see denial of democracy everywhere except in Mistress Starmer, the punk bitch dominatrix whose whip you apparently can’t resist.
David – “The council is not obliged to consult voters on the matter.”
Is that really a good enough excuse to deny the people of Liverpool the right to vote.
How will it effect that city’s future finances if they abandon the directly elected mayor model of governance.
The irony of your comment utterly eludes you, doesn’t it? Why do you think the proposed 2023 vote means the deselection of Rothery doesn’t matter?
kenburch – Where did I say that?
Stop making stuff up.
SteveH: why else would you keep bringing up the mayoral repeal vote when it’s completely irrelevant to this discussion? Why do you see that proposal as a response to anything?
Is there a reason you can’t just admit Starmer is wrong on this?
kenchurch – More to the point, why can’t you just admit you were wrong. I haven’t initiated any of the threads referring to the ‘mayoral repeal vote’ on this page so I’m guessing that there are others who also think it is relevant. The real mystery here is why you don’t.
Please stop referring to these people as “centrist”. Call them what they are – right wing.
Is this true?
It was believed former Merseyside MEP Theresa Griffin would be on the shortlist but she has now ruled herself out.
https://lbndaily.co.uk/frank-mckenna-rules-liverpool-mayor-run/
Just means they’ll find another quasi-Tory to impose. Can you at least agree, SteveH, that there was no possible justification for deselecting Rothery? That there’s o good reason to nonminate a nonsocialist as the Labour candidate in a socialist city?
kenburch – I’ll be more than happy to decide when we know why the original process was halted, until then I don;t intend to waste my time speculating.