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Breaking: Labour HQ staff back right-winger Coyne – as Beckett says Unite will withdraw funding if rightwards lurch goes on

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169 Comments on Breaking: Labour HQ staff back right-winger Coyne – as Beckett says Unite will withdraw funding if rightwards lurch goes on

Right-wing HQ staff nominate disgraced right-winger

Labour HQ staff have in the last few minutes voted to nominate right-winger Gerard Coyne to be the next general secretary of the giant Unite union. 60% of staff who voted opted for Coyne, who was sacked by the union over data breaches and misconduct during his 2017 bid to replace Len McCluskey.

On the same day, left favourite Howard Beckett – who smashed through the nominations threshold on Tuesday, with almost half the nominations phase remaining – tweeted a warning to Keir Starmer that if he wins the election and Labour continues its mad lurch to the right, Unite will withdraw its funding from the Westminster party.

Beckett’s campaign has stunned rivals. It’s not hard to see why.

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169 comments

  1. The funding for the Labour party is already in dire straits and the staff are effectively on borrowed time anyhow.How long will it take the right wing thickos of the PLP to understand that the knights agenda is to destroy the Labour party?

    Reply

  2. Is there any evidence that Beckett speaks for ordinary working class people? No I don’t think so. Any further obsession with trendy metropolitan elite causes like Palestine, more immigration, weirdo wokery of all descriptions serves only to alienate ordinary working class people of all ethnicities and religions. That’s why the Tories with the biggest shyster ever as PM are gaining loads of votes. Get stuck into policies which build more houses, reduce taxes on ordinary working class people, improve educational opportunities. That will get Labour elected.

    Reply

    1. Fuck off. Beckett supports the working class. You just can’t stand it because he’s political and doesn’t just see the union as a wage negotiating funder for right wing NuLabour.

      Reply

      1. Why can’t you just respond with evidence not abuse? I wonder why. Perhaps that is why ordinary working class voters get turned off left wing labour when they come across responses like yours.

      2. Depends on what exactly you are asking for, if you want an intimate log of specific people individually, no probably not, but then I doubt you’ll find that on Turner, Graham or indeed Coyne!
        Why don’t you send us something of Turner that you want similar evidence of, from Beckett? That might narrow down a broad question.
        https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/05/04/fire-m04.html

      6. My God, I can’t engage with your bullshit. “trendy metropolitan elite causes like Palestine, more immigration” Are you kidding me or just writing shit that appeals to Tommy Robinson sound alikes? How would you like it if the Romans ancestors suddenly turned up in England and demanded our land? And as for immigration, two things enable it: neoliberalism (which NuLabour supports) and regime change wars (which NuLabour also supports). Without them immigration wouldn’t be a problem.
        Also is there any evidence Beckett to doesn’t speak for working people? No, the proof is in his every statement and action. You don’t speak for “ordinary working class voters”.

    2. Excellent whataboutery!
      So you are basically calling for a programme from the left, which means Beckett.

      Reply

    3. Anyone who perceives the denial of Palestinian human rights by a racist regime based upon settler colonisation as a trendy metropolitan elite’s sole cause has no idea of what working class solidarity and brotherhood means.
      Socialism is for the many not the few who profit from exploitation. If you believe the interests of working people lie within the bastions of prejudice greed and unfettered capitslism you are mistaken and confused. Reject socialism, it is your right to do so of course, but all the options you suggest are necesssry would be socialist policy. Labour lost because they were attacked from within by the right wing who propagated the smears sgainst Corbyn and enabled the Tories to win.
      When the Labour leader is fought against by his own Party apparatus who could not accept the democratic will of its own members defeat is inevitable.
      The attacks upon socialism have continued with Starmer continuing to purge the left.

      Reply

      1. What is your understanding of The Working Class, What does Working Class mean?

    4. You think we don’t get your pathetic attempt to introduce culture war into the debate? You standing brave and strong for the elderly white working class. You are a traitor to the working class trying to divide for your rulers.

      Reply

      1. The Roman’s? Getting a bit biblical aren’t we? Jewish tribes were amongst the many who lived in the area of what now could be called greater Palestine for thousands of years so they did not just ‘turn up’. You can’t deny your obsession with the middle east and I’m sure you won’t fall into the trap of espousing all things Palestinian as a cute cover for naked anti semitism, you are much too sensible for that. What about Peterborough or Paisley instead of Palestine? Try thinking not just repeating trendy slogans which is where Jeremy came unstuck.

      2. What is your understanding of The Working Class, What does Working Class mean?

      4. Don’t like a bit of swearing but all right on labelling people metropolitan, wierdo wokery, antisemites.

      5. What these CNUTS who abuse Antisemitism so freely, cheaply and easily, with no moral connection to the term, do not understand is that it BLOODY CUTS! EVERY FUCKING TIME! And it fucking cuts deep!

      6. Plain Citizen, yes the Jewish tribes did live in that area millennia ago and so did non Jews, both of whose decendents still live there. Who DIDN’T live there are the Zionists from Europe who against the wishes of many European Jews and practically all indigenous Palestinian Jews decided it would be a good idea to colonise the place and eject anyone including in many cases, Jews who objected to Zionism.

        Unfortunately, or more correctly disastrously, the Labour Party now has a Leader who aligns himself with the racists and seeks to expell anyone, including Jews who are anti-racist.

        If you are a member of the LP I expect you will be safe, you make all the right noises to appeal to Starmer, Rayner and all the other Zionists who now run the Party.

      7. Plain citizen, the Jews were not the first people to colonise Palestine. A useful book to read and understand is James Mitcheners the source, Arab tribes and wondering Turks were the original settlers and they prayed to craven images.

      8. Re Steve Hilling’s post. Another good book to read:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invention_of_the_Jewish_People
        “Sand argues that it is likely that the ancestry of most contemporary Jews stems mainly from outside the Land of Israel and that a “nation-race” of Jews with a common origin never existed, and that just as most Christians and Muslims are the progeny of converted people, not of the first Christians and Muslims, Jews are also descended from converts. According to Sand, Judaism was originally, like its two cousins, a proselytising religion, and mass conversions to Judaism occurred among the Khazars in the Caucasus, Berber tribes in North Africa, and in the Himyarite Kingdom of the Arabian Peninsula.”

    5. Good grief! I don’t know where to start, with that load of boll*cks, so I won’t waste my time.

      Really. Good grief!

      Reply

    6. How dare you
      Trendy left wing causes like palestine
      Apartheid has ALWAYS BEEN A CAUSE ANYONE WITH A SOUL WOULD DEEM WORTHY OF RESISTANCE

      Reply

      1. The Lancashire cotton workers’ support for the Union side in the American Civil War during the ‘Cotton Famine’ is worth recalling too.

        We can remind ‘Plain Citizen’ that Zionism was at first, and for many years, a secular nationalist movement of European Jews. Sephardic Jews living in Palestine were not part of this.

        There is some evidence that Palestinians are descendants of Jews who converted to Islam and Christianity.

    7. As far as Cardiff and South East Wales Unite Community Branch is concerned, nearly everyone of our membership is working class, Howard Beckett does speak for us, and in a way you have zero notion about – suffice to say, Wales Unite has overwhelmingly endorse Beckett for Leader, so, either Wales has now become awfully middleclass, or you are posting in bad faith – and, I know its the latter, as nearly every Unite member I know is genuinely working class, hence membership of Unite.

      Reply

    8. Well, let’s see he is a socialist something no one will ever consider calling the members of this cult of new Labour 2.0. He respects the Labour party and socialists like JC unlike this cult and now this cult is panicking because he has put them on notice if he wins he will withdraw funding for these scumbags. So Good!

      That sure sounds alongside his respect for workers and he has helped many strikes and struggles with the bosses of many companies all things working-class people respect, unlike these cult members who only offer rehashed Tory-lite BS and we don’t care about the working class. So I have to ask paid shill or just cult member? Because your sure as heck, not someone who will respect working-class people with this sort of comment!

      Reply

    9. Oops not left wing cause, but “TRENDY METROPOLITAN ELITE” causes
      I’m a working class northerner, and my heart aches for all people who are unsafe or in need
      Labour SHOULD fight for fair humane treatment for all
      This attitude is what is wrong with our world

      Reply

      1. EXACTLY!
        I have given up on the Establishment division tools of Classes and Left/Right and everything in-between. As I see it, there are THE PEOPLE and there are THE Elites/Establishment/Machine/1% and of THE PEOPLE there are Two types:

        THE PEOPLE who work/stand/speak for and with THE PEOPLE against THE Elites/Establishment/Machine/1% for the benefit of THE PEOPLE.
        OR
        THE PEOPLE who work/stand/speak for and with THE Elites/Establishment/Machine/1% against THE PEOPLE for the benefit of THEMSELVES & THE Elites/Establishment/Machine/1%.

        Many wealthy people work just as hard to help finding solutions for the Poor and the Impoverished and on the same level, sleeves up, as those they help.
        I am not talking about the Billionaires or Mega Millionaires they are THE Elites/Establishment/Machine/1%!
        When we take the words “Working Class” in 2021 it does not make sense, we have Paupers on the rise again probably soon to be Peasants and we have Hi-Way Maintenance/Rig Workers/Plumbers/etc who are extremely wealthy and still Blue Collar “Working Class” but then someone who accumulated a £Million has a house kids in Uni, Works in an Office, as a GP, as a Lawyer, etc we label as Upper/Middle Class, but they have nowhere near the wealth of the pre-mentioned “Working Class”!
        We are all just PEOPLE, some get lucky some don’t and then we all push up the daisies in exactly the same way No Class division there!

      2. skellyknelly – I agree with the gist of what you’ve said. Besides owt else Labour would be on a hiding to nothing if they couldn’t attract a substantial proportion of ABC1 voters who now constitute the majority of the electorate. Percentage wise C2DE workers are a diminishing entity.

      3. I think people leant lessons since GE2019,
        C2DE = Murdoch/Blair’s People or The Sun.
        ABC1 = Campbell/Mandelson’s People or The Sun in Lambskin aka The Guardian.
        They are just louder as we saw for the 2nd Referendum/Remain Bandwagon with TV Types and all the Pomp and Glitz of a Ball. Ask yourself If Jeremy accepted Conference 2018 and 2019 Confirmatory Vote and wrote it into the Party Brexit Policy, what was the need for the Mass Bandwagon and 6/12/100 Million Signature Petition?
        All that noise for what exactly a Confirmatory Vote was written into the Policy.
        That also answers the silence of C2DE, until Galloway went mad and jumped on the Vote Leave, ‘Corbyn doesn’t understand the Working Class’ bandwagon with Farage! Again many learnt from that, lots of fingers got burnt, by now, I’m sure
        Anyway! Let’s just see what happens and deal with it then!

      4. First rule of the working class is you stick together like shit to a woolly blanket
        2nd rule is you don’t shit on your own doorstep
        3rd rule is you never forget where you come from
        4th rule is no one is better than you and you are no better than anyone else
        5th rule stand and fight

      5. Doug – Unfortunately they stuck together and voted Tory at the last GE.

      6. SteveH
        We know War Mongrel, Mushy Peas, Temporary Embarrassment all voteTory, which is why we want them out of the Labour party

      7. Doug – 19GE – It’s bad both in terms of percentage and actual numbers

        ABC1 Vote 57% of the electorate
        33% Conservative
        33% Labour

        C2DE Vote 43% of the electorate
        48% Conservative
        33% Labour

      8. I think we need them out of ‘Labour’, we simply cannot expect a Party for THE PEOPLE whilst we have a Parasite Party: Thatcher’s Neolabour Tory Party within, the UK Labour Party PLP may just be 5/10% of ‘Labour’ but PLPs are not The UK Labour Party, THE PEOPLE are! Of course we need PLPs in HoC to be the voice of THE PEOPLE, that will never come from The Neolabour Tories!
        If The Fuhrer allows Democratic Socialist Candidates to stand for GE24 more than likely we’ll win some seats back from The Conservative Tories pushing that 5/10% up a fair bit, where we have Neolabour Tory Candidates, I can only recommend, vote them out, that is what I am doing anyway, 2019 we had HOPE & CHOICE, 2024 we have nothing, just the Gloom of TORY or TORY!
        THE PEOPLE fucked up 2017/2019 being led by The Remain Bandwagon, Leave Bandwagon, Fake Antisemitism Hysteria, Internal Sabotage, MSM, MSSM, etc, etc, etc!
        Well! Shit Happened! We have to move on and Plan The New Strategy for moving forward. We can follow Chris, Jeremy, Laura’s P&S, etc and discuss possible solutions, but it’s been, coming on 2 years and the chatter should be action by now.
        We can’t Condemn The Neolabour Tories away, all we have is our vote and a lot of people, shook up and waking up with a thud, since 2019.
        2015 to 2020 was easy in this one sense, we had a vision, we had Manifestos, we had HOPE, now we have nothing, only a far bigger battle to fight.
        What are we to do!?
        Vote “Labour” for the Corporate Brand’s Sake and like Blair just End up with prolonging the Blair/Thatcher Neoliberal Tory Austerity Program? Except this time we have The Dark Night Sir Fuhrer and his hate for Free Speech and Love for Apartheid!
        Whatever we do we need to centralise our point of ‘attack’ and get on with it.
        For now let’s hopefully get Beckett in as GS and see what happens, we might see the spark ignited once again!
        We also somehow need to bring The People of The Sun out of The MSM Trap!
        https://www.reddit.com/r/UKpoliticalmemes/comments/n3s0kp/boycott_all_msm/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      9. https://youtu.be/OPPAfhamioc
        Lowkey for LOTO and PM?
        I think he has been more productively active FOR THE PEOPLE in those 15 min than ALL 190/200 Neolabour Tories put together in their entire careers!

      10. ABC1…Are you talking about human beings Steve H centrist Dad?because if we are then my classification of you and your misfits would be too much to repeat without resorting to foul language that doesn’t add anything to an opinion or rarely a description of a fellow human being.

      11. Joseph – I’m sorry, I presumed that an ex councillor like yourself would be familiar with these commonly used classifications. Here’s a refresher for you.

        A – Upper middle class Higher managerial roles, administrative or professional
        B – Middle middle class Intermediate managerial roles, administrative or professional
        C1 – Lower middle class Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial roles, administrative or professional
        C2 – Skilled working class Skilled manual workers
        D – Working class Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
        E – Non working State pensioners, casual and lowest grade workers, unemployed with state benefits only.

      12. There is often some confusion when people talk about class. Some people talk about social class (A,B, C1 etc). Whether this was a deliberate ploy by those who first devised such classifications, or whether it is a failure to understand the realities, I do not know, but it hss certainly become a ploy. Others, including me, will talk about Ruling Class, Middle Class and Working Class.
        The A, B, C system is a nonsense because it excludes the Ruling Class and the great majority of the Middle Class.
        Ruling Class = Those who live by what they own
        Working Class = Those who live by selling their labour (physical and mental) + the (poor) unemployed
        Middle Class = The rest – the self employed and those senior managers who can confidently become part of the owning class by the time they retire.
        This tactic of splitting of the Working Class into “Social Classes” is, I believe, part of the divide and rule strategy, and is a very effective ploy.

      14. SteveH – “goldbach – Thanks for your constructive input.”
        Thank you. I’d welcome constructive input from you occasionally.

      15. goldbach – I’m impressed that it only took you just over a day to come up with that superb riposte

      16. Sorry about the delay. I was in hospital. The NHS was providing me with some constructive input.

    10. …trendy metropolitan elite causes like Palestine…

      You’re well out of order for this comment Plain Citizen.

      Reply

      1. Plain Citizen

        It’s been decades long, this “trend”, in the Labour party, you ignorant bigot. The only reason you’re annoyed is cos it’s all over the MSM, who never gave a shit before their “trendy” infatuation with BLM, so maybe you should direct your comment there…

    12. Plain Citizen said ‘elite causes like Palestine’ This is how we know you are not a Socialist, not that I recall you ever having said you are.

      Racism is not an elite cause and racism is the basis upon which Israel was built so as to eliminate Palestine and Palestinians. If you think that fighting against racism wherever it is found is an elite cause then not only are you not a Socialist, you are not even a decent human being.

      Reply

    13. The most moronic definition of the Red Wall is it consists entirely of a working class that doesnt exist anymore and apparently we let them down
      So the answer is to vote for Warwick Hunt, Tory toff, liar and charlatan, who by all accounts hasn’t got a pot to piss in
      So how long will it take Baby Trump to sell out the fucking scabs who voted for him
      Can’t wait

      Reply

      1. Doug
        Johnson’s already announced the money set aside for the “levelling up” agenda has been put on hold.
        His reason for this, money needs to be prioritised to other government expenditure. Apparently the money will be going to the NHS.
        I’m sorry but you’d have to be a complete fool to believe this. There was either no levelling up plan, just hollow promises to attract voters in the north.
        Or Johnson has cleverly said it is going to the NHS so the public won’t complain because they’d be embarrassed to do so. We all know this is b******s the moneys going to his rich mates.

    14. I almost missed this enlightening comment: “reduce taxes on ordinary working class people”. It has taken 40 years of propaganda from Murdoch’s S*n to promote self interest above all else and you wish to embed that dogma within the Labour party? Even though taxes don’t pay for government spending, they are an integral part of economic stability and the low tax era has resulted in austerity and abandonment of the social contract.
      We need fair taxation, not low taxation.

      Reply

    15. it’s not as though Labour can’t do internationalist solidarity AND fight for ordinary working folks. Also, I seriously doubt most ordinary working folks believe everything the Israeli government does to Palestinians is justified.

      Reply

    16. Doing the one, building houses and improve education etc, does not prevent supporting the other worthwhile and necessary policies does it, you knuckle dragging racist moron. As for reducing taxes on “ordinary working class people” like the rest of your nasty little post other than building houses and improving education, it could come from the pages of the Sun, which is about the level your mind functions at, you nasty little man. There is a case for taking the very lowest paid out of the PAYE system altogether, but there is an even better one for improving their pay.

      Reply

      1. JT You like to use epithets like ‘racist’ when you run out of logic and evidence to support your ranting but it doesn’t impress. You don’t care about ordinary working people or you would want to better their lives by increasing the amount of disposable income they have by reducing their tax burden. What is the point of increasing wages if a large proportion is just snatched away in tax and NI? It alienates people from supporting a system that uses money wisely to help members of society who need it and pays for vital public services. If you are against that you are the knuckle dragging moron socialism doesn’t need.

      2. Where to start. Taxation has only become a dirty word in the last 40 years because the rich didn’t want to pay their share, you are acting as their doorman. Unless we return to some semblance of fair taxation government will never replace cut services or build houses or bring education back from the private sector. Even though the pandemic has demolished the lie that taxes fund spending, people are still not convinced that government infrastructure projects foster economic growth. So taxation funds government spending and unless everyone according to needs, pays their share, we carry on with the outsourcing horror show that poor people put up with today.

  3. Labour Party’s staff backs Coyne. Who is surprised? I am not.
    I hope that it puts a stop to the narrative that Turner is Starmer’s favourite. But since Starmer knows that Coyne has little chances at getting pass the threshold, he is pretending to back Turner in the hope that by debilitating Turner it stop him from winning.
    From a Labour’s perspective Starmer has already debilitated Beckett by suspending him from Labour Party’s membership.
    I cannot see Beckett winning once it comes to the members vote. Let’s us not forget that Tories are winning seats in LAs and Constituencies in the red wall.
    Do I believe the majority of industrial and retired member branches will back Bennett? Somehow I don’t see it. It would be good it the Skwawkbox could provide us with the break down of branches that have so far nominated each candidate:
    1-Industrial
    2-retired
    3-community
    Taking into account that the biggest branches are industrial and most membership belong to these branches. Community are the smaller branches and the lower number of members in total.

    Reply

      1. BackofBeyond: I don’t know, providing that Coyne doesn’t get the 173 nominations that he gets, I can live with Beckett, Turner or Graham as General Secretaries. Although, I would like Turner to win.
        I fear that Beckett would prove to be a disappointment to many of these that are now supporting him. Always chasing the headlines with fiery speeches and promising things no idea how is he going to deliver them. That his supporters lap it up without critically analysing how Beckett is going to deliver in what he is promising them.
        For example where is the detail on his plan to take Boris in front of a British Court for the deaths of over 150K British people from Covid-19?
        What is Beckett pursuing exactly with the headline in the Skwawkbox, where is the detail as the strategy of Beckett will take Boris to face the music in from a British Court of law? Would he be pursuing Johnson for manslaughter? For criminal negligence? For what exactly?
        I don’t doubt Beckett’s commitment to take Boris Johnson through the Courts but, does anyone with a bit of pragmatism believes that Beckett is going to be successful?
        Which British Court is going to pass a judgement declaring Boris Johnson guilty of anything? Boris is the PM and have Parliamentary immunity and we are in the presence of a World pandemic.
        The only thing Beckett will achieve is to waste Unite members affiliation fees and generate MSM negative headlines against Unite. In terms it would make negotiations with employers more difficult as we would not longer be credible negotiators
        So experienced Trade Unionist interested in protecting employment and fighting for better conditions aren’t going to back Beckett. Thus, I don’t see that majority of industrial and retired members voting for him.
        The danger is with three left candidates competing for the vote, with both Beckett and Turner weakened for different reasons and Sharon Graham thrown in the mix, Coyne could win if we aren’t careful.
        Coyne winning would be a disaster. Thus, if by any chance Coyne wins the necessary 173 nominations we need a single left candidate to ensure that we can beat Coyne.
        We need to learn the lesson from Unison recent election very quickly, put egos aside and agree on one candidate and it cannot be Beckett. Otherwise, Coyne could win as many members would be put off from backing Beckett.

  4. It would appear Labours candidate is going to be the law and order candidate, a usually Conservative choice of policy. Leadbeater may hope nobody asks about other Labour polices or says they are confidential that should ensure her defeat.
    Jo Cox built he career on causes she believed in, one of which was Palestine freedom, she was very critical of the Israeli government and the Apartheid system Israel had built regarding the way Israeli children were treated differently by the courts and prison system as Palestinian children, she also supported BDS. In fact Jo Cox would have been expelled by the Labour party had she been alive today. Is Leadbeater going to cynically us Jo Cox’s name whilst denigrating everything she believed in? She needs to speak in support of her sisters deeply held opinions or go down as a despicable opportunist and Starmer sycophant.

    ‘Ms Leadbeater and the national party are understood to be working on a hyper-local campaign that focuses on crime and anti-social behaviour. Unlike the Hartlepool campaign there won’t be as many national party messages delivered on the doorstep’.https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/dan-jarvis-batley-and-spen-byelection

    Reply

      3. You sound as if you believe she’d admit it was wrong to back the white helmets were she alive Harry. Given that no one else has moved an inch, I doubt it.

    2. The reason national party messages (policies? Ideas? Values?) are absent is because there arent any…

      Reply

    3. Harry – Kim is not a facsimile of her sister.
      She needs to speak out in support of her own deeply held opinions. I doubt that her sister would have wanted her to be anything but her own person.

      Reply

      1. SteveH, I agree, and if she supports Starmers ‘I am a Zionist without qualification’ views on Israel, let her tell her constituents that and watch both her and Starmer go down in flames. I suspect she will stay quite on his polices and milk Jo’s name cynically for all its worth.

      2. Harry – I can’t see her gaining many votes from standing on an anti Israel platform, The voters of Batley will be far more concerned about social deprivation, investment and jobs, Palestine is a very peripheral issue for most of the electorate

      3. SteveH No reply button on your last comment. But in the town, where Muslims make up 41% of the population, the day after the main protest, Brabins’ sentiment in her maiden speech is echoed by some living in the area with most locals describing the community as friendly and cohesive and saying they do not want trouble.
        https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/26/its-about-raising-awareness-muslims-in-batley-on-school-protest 41% wow! Sure they all love Israel.

      4. She could have started by meeting the party’s minimum 5 year membership requirement, and not just a couple of weeks.

      5. Rita – Well for starters no rules have been broken. If you consult the rule book you’ll find there is an opt out, the same opt out that Jeremy Corbyn used to allow Selma Yaqoob to be in the contest to be Labour’s candidate for Midlands Mayor. Selma had not only not been a member long enough but had been the leader of another political party and had stood against Labour in Bradford where she ran a controversial campaign against Naz Shah.

      6. Not only is there a large BAME contingent SteveH, but the whole electorate has been ignored for years and George Galloway will take some Labour votes. Starmer should be worried especially as his foreign policy clashes with the wishes of many of the locals. In this case I think his unconditional Zionism might cost him dear.

      7. lundiel – I don’t think the people of Batley and Spen are stupid enough to vote for a joke candidate like Galloway and enable a (Islamophobic) Tory victory.
        We’ll both have our answers in a little over a months time.

      8. SteveH – “I can’t see her gaining many votes from standing on an anti Israel platform, The voters of Batley will be far more concerned about social deprivation, investment and jobs, Palestine is a very peripheral issue for most of the electorate.”
        The implication here is that you would be happy for a candidate to renounce support for oppressed peoples around the world simply for electoral gain. We have had the odd disagreement in comments sections but, if this was your position, I think it is completely reprehensible.

      9. goldbach – Don’t be silly, I have implied nothing of the sort.

      10. I take it, from this comment, that you view yourself as a disinterested observer, one who simply comments or highlights “interesting” information, but is putting forward, or implying, no views at all. This may be the case. However, if it is the case, why bother?
        And surely, by characterising the criticism of Israel’s recent actions as being “anti Israel”, you are spinning the nonsense that has been used against people like Michael Rosen, Andrew Feinstein, etc. etc. – and, therefore, expressing a view.
        Here’s a challenge – how about stating your position on what has been going on in Israel and the occupied territories over the past decades, and elicit a fulsome apology from me.

    4. Hi cox was married to and managed by “dispicable oportunist and Gordon Brown advisor mr Cox and his support is still their in Leadbatter.The important news is that Keir Starmers flanker that might have saved his leadership as just hit a severe blow to the Labour leader by the entry of George Galloway who will probably help Labour to hang on by loosing another red wall seat and forcing out the Cuckoo Sir Keir Rodney Starmer the knight from Surrey.No doubt another middle class looser will replace knight,but at least the witchunt thats killing Labour will slow down..Another right wing leader before conference?

      Reply

    5. Looks like Starmer’s unconditional Zionism is going to be tested. The Israeli lobby are up in arms about Leadbeater.

      Reply

    6. Harry Law
      Have you read the latest Skwawkbox? There’s already complaints by some that Kim has been photographed at a meeting she attended with Palestinian supporters.

      Reply

  5. Sharon Graham and Howard Beckett are the only two candidates who will consider defunding right wing Labour and calling for Starmer to resign if he loses Batley and Spen.

    Reply

    1. This is heroic gauntlet-throwing-down by Beckett (and Graham). The guy’s a fucking star and we need him leading the Labour party, never mind Unite!

      Reply

  6. As we now know, everything is up for grabs, and now once again, so are your medical records, you have until 23rd of June to act –
    ‘Let us tell you about the massive new GP data grab the Government would rather you didn’t hear about…
    The countdown has already begun. The Government’s plan is to copy your entire GP medical history – including all the most sensitive parts – and make it available for third parties to apply for and buy access. Even though Matt Hancock Directed it to happen he’s not going to tell anyone about it. Neither will Boris.

    Details are still a bit sketchy; critical documents like the programme’s Data Protection Impact Assessment aren’t written published yet, and some of wha’s being said to patients seems… contradictory. The promise that “you can opt out at any time”, for example, doesn’t fit with the fact that once your data has been copied, it will never be deleted.

    We will provide more information as it emerges, but for now…

    If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard about this, it’s because they haven’t told you! The Government are playing the odds that you, your family and your friends and colleagues won’t have noticed some information they buried on a website, or the handful of tweets they’ve made.
    https://medconfidential.org/news/
    (and how to opt out) please circulate.

    Reply

  7. The Labour Party no longer exists, it’s not even Labour any more it’s just ‘A Party’ !

    Reply

    2. The ‘New Labour’ label avoided the term ‘party’. I have little doubt that this was deliberate as Blair and Co. were distancing themselves from, and at the same time eviscerating and controlling, the ‘Labour Party’ as such.

      Reply

  9. BoxOfSkwawk, I don’t believe LP staffers have to be members of the Party. When Labour advertised vacancies, I don’t believe it puts as a condition that you are a Party member.
    However, I believe that the majority are since vacancies aren’t openly published in news papers but rather in the Party website only.
    Hence, basically people apply for jobs because they are told that a vacancy exist so, to get employed by the Party is very much related to whom you know within the Party hierarchy.
    We learned recently that the Campaign Unit has been closed. This unit was started while Corbyn was leader and was staffed by Corbynistas. Hence, no really surprised the present GS closed this unit.

    Reply

    1. @Maria: Do other political parties staff their London & regional offices with people who haven’t necessarily got the interests of their employers at heart?

      I am aware of political decisions being made by staffers at regional office level & found it very hard to understand the practice.

      Reply

    2. Maria. 30 years ago the Labour party were taken to an Industrial tribunal on a complaint of racial discrimination, for asking applicants for the job of LP Researcher whereby they must be a LP member for at least 12 months, a friend of mine who lived in Northern Ireland applied and was turned down since nobody from NI could comply with that requirement, because nobody resident in NI could be a member of the LP since there were no constituency Labour parties in NI for them to join, The Industrial tribunal found the LP to be guilty of Racial discrimination [indirect] residents in NI now have a Province wide constituency section [just one, which is still discriminatory] membership of over 2,000 members.

      Reply

      1. Thank you for explaining Harry, so here is the reason why vacancies aren’t reserved for Labour Party members. Still the LP establishment makes sure that only LP members of the “right feather” are employed. Corbyn’s period represent only a very brief hiatus.

      2. Harry Law there is a very good reason the Labour party doesn’t run candidates in N Ireland(occupied Ireland)and that reason is obvious so I wont bother explaining the obvious….!

  10. LP Staffers can include the odd intensely loathsome individual or two (as leaked reports ‘melt into air’ as soon as a billionaire-lackey becomes leader prove ), but the bit about a Beckett-lead UNITE not giving is membership’s money to a right-leaning Labour Party – FANTASTIC

    FECKITVOTEBECKETT – Yes Indeed!

    Reply

  11. This Scam is so bloody blatant that it’s Pitiful! I think we should REALLY Piss on The Fuehrer’s Batteries!!! And Gang together to Campaign hard for Coyne, let’s get him past the Post if he’s not going to do it himself!
    😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 Geeezas!!! I can hear the Scream from the Midlands! 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
    Even if he is past the post everyone who would vote for him would be warned off by The Fuhrer and The Establishment!

    Reply

  12. I heard Turner & Beckett speak and Howard walked it in my opinion. Steve’s a decent class bloke and his skills as an Asst GS will still be valuable but I got the feeling that Starmer & co see him as being malleable? Graham with her focus on the workplace only ignores the fact that all areas of political policy impact on Unite members and their families lives – housing, education, welfare, social care, the environment etc etc etc but Graham’s attitude seems to be once you clock off you are on your own but NO WORKPLACE IS AN ISLAND! I liked when Howard said: “Do you remember the dream that many of us had with Jeremy Corbyn” (which was taken from us by the Labour Right) “I will keep it alive.” Howard is inclusive, holistic and a political heavyweight, building a strike fund of £50m to give strikers £350 a week to an extent gives workers a better chance in capital v Labour confrontations. Having organisers to support and recruit precarious workers is a fight back against the Tory/bosses Neo-Liberal drive for cheap Labour. The voting of the working class Unite Community in my area was: Beckett 18, Turner 3, Graham 1. So 81% of that working class branch generally agreed with my working class thinking.

    Reply

    1. Hopefully the turnout will exceed the previous apathetic 12.2%. Len’s ‘mandate’ amounts to less than 6% of Unite’s membership.
      It would be better for all concerned if Unite’s GenSec had a meaningful mandate.

      Reply

      1. I think people had a huge wakeup call since GE2019. So many more people are Political since, I want to say 60% but I will be modest and say 40% turnout, what do you reckon?

      2. skellyknelly – nearer 20% if they are lucky.
        You should bear in mind that the turnout for Unite’s executive elections last summer was <9%.

      4. As the Corbyn-effect showed, participation in elections increases when choices seem relevant and desirable…. I’d expect someone like Howard Beckett to increase turnout and bag a better share of that increased vote.

      6. Doesn’t matter about the turnout knobhead.

        Don’t vote, can’t complain.

        And you most definitely cannot count non voters as on YOUR side like you did with the referendum result and your pathetic 37% whinging.

      7. Toffee – Doesn’t matter about the turnout knobhead.
        It does if you wish to claim you have a mandate

        Don’t vote, can’t complain.
        You constantly complain about the outcome of various party elections. When was the last time you voted in a Labour Party internal election.

        And you most definitely cannot count non voters as on YOUR side like you did with the referendum result and your pathetic 37% whinging
        I’m not

      8. You constantly complain about the outcome of various party elections

        Proof?

        No, thought not. Any ‘complaints’ about stammers ‘victory’ is how he engineered and shithoused his way into bringing about an election in the first bleedin’ place.

        Oh, and you with your imbecilic: ‘but stammer got a bigger share of the vote than corbyn’ bollocks.

        Added to your 70% that you thought was enough on its own to romp an election, because you’re an idiot. (Where was YOUR vote on it?? That’s right… You didn’t even get one, Mr Democratic)

        As for your ‘mandate’ claptrap, if a single entity wins enough of the vote – regardless of turnout – then of course they have a mandate you colossal moron.

        The toerags in 2010 didn’t. That’s the only time I’ve complained about ‘mandates’.

        Stammer has a mandate to provide an effective, discernible opposition, but has NEVER ONCE done so, so I WILL complain about that because regardless of my ineligibility to have made him YOUR party’s kleader because it’s MY vote determines if he’ll make pm or not

        (And you’ll get your end away before I ever vote stammerism labour)

    2. Bazza, no a chance that Steve Turner is malleable. He has been around for the last 40 years and he has stood the line. Beckett is good at speeches like the barrister he is but, he would more likely to do a U turn, because his mouth will inevitable land him into trouble.
      I believe Beckett downfall is his propensity to seek the headline, to open his mouth without thinking and we already have proof that when under pressure Beckett backs down..

      Reply

      1. Turner might be a “steady hand” Maria, the trouble is we are way past the time for a steady hand on the tiller, the bloody ship is on the rocks. We need people who are going to ruffle feathers, people who will challenge the status quo at every turn, people who will send up the flares so everybody knows we are on the rocks. It seems to me Beckett is closer to fitting that job description than Turner.

    3. Bazza key word “Unite Community” what about the industrial and the retired members branches? These branches are where the vote is.
      Beckett is promising the moon to Community branches: seats on Unite EC. The only problem is that in order to do that changes to Unite Constitution have to be agreed at Conference and the only ones with votes are delegates of industrial branches.
      Retired members branches have a voice but cannot vote. They don’t have representation at Unite EC either. I doubt retired members branches are going to be as easily fooled as the Community branches appear to be.

      Reply

      1. Maria…don’t you know that the Labour party love 💘 voting for millionaires and millionaire lawyers?Ex Bus conductor and building labourer,militant and donkeys years supporting the working-class movement dont cut it with our Labour party members.?

    4. Bazza it was the same at my Unite community branch branch Beckett 8 Graham 5 some had to leave because of other commitments & it went on far too long off the top of my head we had 23 to start with so ten must have left the meeting no votes for Coyne and none for Turner. Hubby’s Unite EMS meeting is on 2nd June he’s going to vote for Beckett.

      Reply

  14. Not one unite member of my branch voted for Coyle there was dead silence when they asked for someone to speak for him, a deathly silence which which was deafening..

    Reply

    1. …….and yet Coyne got over 40% of the vote last time when he was up against Len. You may not like it but it is undeniable that he has a significant level of support from Unite’s members.

      Reply

      1. Yes, wee steven. All built on shithouse tactics… and coyne stll lost.

        You gonna give us all a gallic shrug and say ‘bit he’s was entitled to challenge the result’ if he uses the same shithouse tactics as last time and loses? :

        Still championing yesterdays nobodies…

      2. Toffee – I simply pointed out that Coyne had a large level of support. I wasn’t commenting on Coyne’s tactics or politics or expressing any support for him.
        I do however think that Unite’s membership should be given the opportunity to vote for him should they wish to do so.

      3. SteveH I though you may have mellowed since I had my break, could I please ask how many nominations has Coyne received? just curious genuine question, thanks

      5. How many years ago was it SteveH? Look I know you’re Right Wing, but please refrain from guessing what I like & don’t like, my husbands union Unite EMS is holding their zoom nomination meeting beginning of June & he will be nominating Howard Beckett.

      7. lundiel – Members who are entitled to have their voice heard.

    2. Key point… Beckett (and Graham, I believe) are the two who have said they will cut/withdraw funding if the party continue with their right wing agenda.

      THAT is what every unite member and (socialist) labour party member still paying dues (for whatever reason) should be bearing in mind on an individual level.

      As I’ve said before; getting shut of stammer is only part of the oroblem. It’s a known fact that a decapitated cockroach will die of starvation, NOT of decapitation.

      Good to see you back, Hilary 👍

      Reply

      1. Thanks Toffee yeah back part time lol,,😊 I got a survey from Unite after answering all the questions empty box bottom of page for any further comments, I wrote yeah stop funding the RW LP.

      2. Well Beckett’s certainly taking that on board, to his credit.

        stammer thinks he and his tribe can get by on donations from the wealthy – let him g’wed then.

        No subscription without representation.

      3. Toffee, Steve Turner is on the record agreeing to cut the funding to the Labour Party too unless Starmer keeps to Corbyn’s policies.

    4. Well said, and welcome back Hilary. I hope you are suitably refreshed and renewed from your “time out”.

      Reply

      1. Why is it that jerry Swain ,one of the facilitators inside of the unite construction formly ucatt is able to have survived the blacklisting scandal that errupted over a decade ago.All 3left wing candidates excluding the scab coyle need to answer for how the union could tolerate a senior level officer that helped all the large construction companies to compile a list of so called “troublmakers” and blacklist them.How can any union condone such treachery against decent hardworking members of a union and help the employer?The unite union will be a powerful voice for the working-class movement and ordinary people,why has that disgusting creature along with a few other collaberators been allowed inside the union under the stewardship of all the candidates and the G.Secretary himself.?

      2. I am thanks john xx
        I’m trying not to get stressed up about things that are happening beyond my control, easier said than done.
        I feel more energised about politics since the Unite nominations for Gen Sec & Howard Beckett’s campaign, he’s saying & doing all the right things that I honestly believe Socialism is about & what a union is about, he comes across that he cares about everyone not just the workforce & he’s also political and won’t step back from a fight with the media and speaks with passion & best of all he’s put Starmer on notice, can’t get any better than that.
        I haven’t felt as enthused since Jeremy stood down.

      3. Joy to see your posts hilary🎉🎉🎉 See my reply to you below. On long threads i start from the end and read upwards … not sure why 😄😄😄

    5. Good to see you here again Hilary, I knew you would eventually get back into the fray with us 🙂

      Reply

  15. Joseph okeefe’ Since you will not explain here are the facts…. The Republic of Ireland claimed sovereignty over the whole Island of Ireland and its territorial waters in their 1937 constitution [articles 2 and 3] The Good Friday Agreement [GFA] between the UK and Irish government [including Sinn Fein] recognised that the people of Northern Ireland have the right to self determination when the Republic changed its constitution from a ‘claim’ to an ‘aspiration’ and confirmed that there can be no constitutional change in NI without the majority agreeing to it.
    The result of the Irish Republics referendum in 1999 was 94.39% for constitutional change to 5.6% no change. This complemented the 1973 border poll in Northern Ireland which was 98.8% to remain part of the UK to 1.2% for a united Ireland. on a 58% turnout [Sinn Fein told their supporters to boycott the poll]. The GFA could not have happened without the Irish Republic and Sinn Fein recognising that the people of Northern Ireland have the right to self determination. When a majority in NI vote for a United Ireland, just as when a majority of Scots vote for an independent Scotland, negotiations between all parties concerned can take place in order to bring it [Irish unity and/or Scottish independence] about in an amicable way. All perfectly democratic, with no need for violence.
    One of the largest democratic deficits in Northern Ireland is the fact that the political parties that govern the Province Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem will not challenge the local sectarian parties, all 18 seats are up for grabs, if Corbyn’s Labour Party contested those 18 seats Prime Minister T May might not have needed the help of the sectarian DUP to prop up her minority government. On another note, Opinion polls over the years have indicated that at least half the Catholic population do not want a united Ireland. All that is now required is for the Labour party to give all the people of Northern Ireland Catholic and Protestant alike the elementary right to vote for the party that governs or aspires to govern them, otherwise 1.8 million people in NI effectively have no vote.

    Reply

    1. I struggled to understand what point you were trying to make Harry. Your claim about opinion polls and the Catholics of the North is absolute bollocks by the way. There was a minority of the Catholic population who were not looking for a united Ireland that is true, but your “at least half” is like I said complete bollocks. That minority, and it always was very much a minority has shrunk to the point where it is probably no longer relevant. The interesting change is among the Protestant connected section of the population. There the admittedly small percentage who agree with a united Ireland has been increasing in the last few years, and will no doubt have increased following the DUP knuckle draggers have behaved over the EU vote, which in case you have forgotten, was a solid vote to stay in the EU.

      Reply

    2. Harry Law….A united Ireland is there for the taking,and the Labour party saw that the island of Ireland would be united and rightly so..I notice a few commentators on here ignore the obvious as you do.Why would the Labour party with a one time socialists background wish to meddle in a colonial situation that will inevitably sort itself out as a member of a united Ireland.I thought I wouldn’t have to explain to you a socialist?,but obviously I was wrong.

      Reply

      1. Joseph okeefe, “A united Ireland is there for the taking,and the Labour party saw that the island of Ireland would be united and rightly so” You omitted to say only with the consent of the majority in the Province, a referendum is the only way. Northern Ireland, with the consent of Sinn fein as has the rest of Ireland been given the right to self determination, the same as Wales and Scotland. What you appear to be advocating is, don’t bother with what both parts of Ireland want including Sinn Fein, just unite Ireland at the point of British bayonets if thats what it takes, the British government at the height of its imperial grandeur could not do that. If you agree that nobody in Northern Ireland should be able to vote for the parties that govern them, you are telling both Catholics and Protestants your votes not only don’t matter but that they never will matter. That is totally undemocratic. Joseph you are rejecting Sinn Fein policy and rejecting what the Republic of Ireland by a large majority also want.

      2. Harry Law,when I said ” A United Ireland there for the taking “I was saying the obvious that the majority will have the choice of a united Ireland and that is very much in the court of public opinion across the whole of Ireland.The Labour party saw this demographic situation arising many years ago and kept out of the situation in Occupied Ireland and that must be a credit to the Labour party for being so farsighted.I do not mention violence and I am afraid that you misinterpreted my comments although I will add to that it never seems to worry the colonial masters when dealing with the natives does it.Many behind the scenes discussions are taking place in Ireland regarding financing land rights and the subsidising of a mainly created colonial mistake the “Plantation of Ulster” Talks will be long and difficult but a agreement if the majority Catholic population of Ireland wish to take on the burden of a minority protestant population trapped in a time warp and bitter over being ignored and abandoned by successive British governments.Be patiant Harry all will be resolved in a couple of decades if the majority of the majority decide.

      3. Joseph, “I was saying the obvious that the majority will have the choice of a united Ireland and that is very much in the court of public opinion across the whole of Ireland.The Labour party saw this demographic situation arising many years ago and kept out of the situation in Occupied Ireland and that must be a credit to the Labour party for being so farsighted” By demographic you mean a sectarian head count, when Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland, ipso facto a united Ireland, in fact Catholics probably outnumber Protestants now. No Joseph, at present all we have in NI are sectarian politics which are so divisive.
        A 2011 survey by ‘Northern Ireland Life and Times’ found that 52% of Northern Irish Catholic respondents favoured union with Great Britain over a united Ireland. This is despite the fact that most Catholics who vote do so for political parties that are Nationalist.
        According to another 2015 opinion poll taken in NI, 70% expressed a long-term preference of the maintenance of Northern Ireland’s membership of the United Kingdom (either directly ruled or with devolved government), while 14% express a preference for membership of a united Ireland. This discrepancy can be explained by the overwhelming preference among Protestants to remain a part of the UK (93%), while Catholic preferences are spread across a number of solutions to the constitutional question including remaining a part of the UK (47%), a united Ireland (32%), Northern Ireland becoming an independent state (4%), and those who “don’t know” (16%).
        All that is now required is for the Labour party to give all the people of Northern Ireland Catholic and Protestant alike the elementary right to vote for the party that governs or aspires to govern them, otherwise 1.8 million people in NI effectively have no vote.

      4. This will shock you Joseph, Martin McGuinness said when Paisley died, he had lost a friend.
        Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness react to news of Ian Paisley’s death, both sing his praises.

      5. Harry Law are you being serious about embedding the British Labour party in Ulster after all the troubles.ITs took you four comments to get that little gem from you.Are you a Lawyer by chance because that suggestion that Britain extend their colonial rule by extending our wonderful democracy to them.?ITs about has daft as recommending Likud to the Palestinians.IN 1968I with many other young people fought for the right for Catholics to vote and it was considered a novel and revolutionary act.You are now suggesting that Britain extend their colonial rule in Ireland….Crazy and certainly a recipe for real violence revolution and anarchy.Harry go away the think of anything but that ridiculous suggestions.Have a good evening you will feel better in the morning sunshine 🌞.

      6. Joseph..IN 1968I with many other young people fought for the right for Catholics to vote and it was considered a novel and revolutionary act. What you do not understand is that the right to vote in 1968 extended only to the local government franchise whereby business owners etc had two votes, in fact more Protestants than Catholics were de franchised with this system of voting, which was used in every other part of the UK and not abolished till approx 1948. What I am saying is nobody resident in Northern Ireland has the vote, just think about it, if the UK is governed by either Labour or Conservative parties and you or I cannot vote for them, we effectively have no vote, neither Sinn Fein or the DUP with a maximum of 18 seats can form a UK government, they can only hope to form part of a government after a hung parliamentary election. That system of sectarian tribal politics based on a sectarian head count is the problem, class based politics is the way forward, you sound like you are more a Nationalist than a Socialist. My solution is not to embed [as you say] the LP into Northern Ireland but to give the electorate a choice. At present it is you who wishes to ban anyone Catholic or Protestant from joining the party. That is profoundly undemocratic, even Corbyn recognised that when he visited Belfast as party leader.

      7. Joseph, We in Liverpool experienced the scourge of sectarianism when politicians in Catholic and Protestant constituencies appealed to their own faith groups in order to get elected, those constituencies effected were Exchange, Scotland constituency and others where Catholic Irish tended to settle after the influx into Liverpool after the Irish famine, relations between the Irish and the native Liverpudlians were explosive and were close to a civil war, this is all well documented. In fact Liverpool had Protestant and Catholic MP’s the Catholic electorate voted for the centre party and returned Catholic MP’s in Exchange and Scotland constituencies for very many years until Bessie Braddock [an atheist] beat the Catholic candidate in Exchange in the 1950’s on a manifesto of ‘more homes not Priests’. The Protestant party numbered only 6 councillors but its influence was felt throughout the city, Scotland constituency was lost to the Labour man and Protestant Frank Marsden in 1971 after being represented since the 1920’s by Catholic MP’s. After he was elected Barry Porter the defeated candidate said now Liverpool can return to ordinary class based politics after rejecting sectarianism.

    4. Harry Law youve just described why your idea of a second political plantation of Ulster by the British political party’s.You say I sound more like a nationalist than a socialist?.I think that following the traditional Labour position on Ireland doesn’t make me a nationalist and it only shows my sympathy for the working-class Catholics that are mainly socialist leaning and Sinn Fein supporters like myself.Wanting a united Ireland doesn’t mean you get to question my identity politics and it’s fairly obvious that you and your type of colonialist are part of the problem not the solution with your sarcastic barmy plans to give the nationalist community more of British democracy.You are the one that needs political education,not me and especially about Liverpool,and whilst we are on about lessons its part of Catholic tradition at the time of death not to criticise the recent dead as both gerry Adams and Martin did in offering condolence on the death of the old bigot ian paisley.

      Reply

      1. Joseph. Sinn Fein and the UK Labour party positions, and the vast majority of the people of both parts of Ireland are clear, all support the Good Friday agreement, which is, there can be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the UK without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland. Your position is you want a United Ireland, that’s fine so long as it is achieved with the consent of the majority through a referendum. Your reference to the Palestinians and Likud is wrong, Palestinians in Israel can vote for Likud [their government] whereas citizens of Northern Ireland [all of them, both Catholic and Protestant] cannot vote for or against their government, which is also fine by you, no, that is Apartheid, treating one part of the UK differently from the other parts is discrimination [the most important civil right] which is again alright by you. The people of the whole of Ireland including Sinn Fein support the Good Friday agreement which is all based on consent. Joseph you are out of step with the whole of Ireland.

  17. Foxglove, a team of lawyers is preparing to take the government on over the grab of NHS patient records data, and are also asking the public to show massive opposition (as we did when ‘Care Data was defeated 5 years ago) by also signing this petition.
    https://www.foxglove.org.uk/nhs-data
    Please circulate.

    Reply

  18. From the BBC
    ‘Mr Galloway, who was expelled from Labour in 2003, said he is standing as a candidate for his Workers Party of Britain in the poll on 1 July.

    Posting on social media, the politician said he was “standing against” [Labour leader] Sir Keir Starmer.

    “If [he] loses this by-election, it’s curtains,” he added.’

    Reply

    1. Carlene, yes he is standing. I hope he runs a vigorous campaign against Starmer. He should FOCUS on Starmer’s lamentable failure to provide opposition. He should focus on not more than three LOCAL and national TANGIBLE issues.

      I hope he realises that bombast is not as wise a use energy as he appears to think. It can be tiresome… light blocked out by heat… substance lost. Passion yes. Excessive sustained high volume NO!

      Focus! Focus!! Focus!!!

      GET STARMER GONE ‼️‼️‼️

      He should show that any parachuted tool of Starmer & Co supports problems remaining just as they are and that’s EXACTLY why Starmer REFUSES to oppose Johnson’s Tories by DELIBERATE actions and inactions. Starmer with Mandelson and creature are DETERMINED to protect the status quo.
      📛☢️📛☢️📛☢️

      Reply

  19. Advice needed please…
    At my Unite zoom nomination meeting we had to have video turned on & we had to hold our hands up for who we wanted as GS when candidates names were called out.
    Hubby’s nomination Unite EMS meeting is on the 2nd June is also on zoom. I’m going to hospital on the 1st June to have a heart monitor implant, if for any reason hubby can’t make it, is there anyway to record his vote, he’s already written to his branch sec stating this & that he would like confirmation of receipt of email which he didn’t get. He was hoping they may accept an absentee vote under the circumstances as not too sure of the rules. He probably will be able to make it asking for just in case.. thanks!
    Any advice will be most welcome.
    Thanks everyone for the welcome back ❤️

    Reply

    2. hillary772013 You should indeed put request in writing ie email to Sec and cc others ASAP and get written confirmation. Since even in General Elections and Company Shareholder AGMs etc proxy voting is allowed, I can’t see why not. But WARNING – If your branch is controlled by the Right Wing, they will as ever make and break rules to suit them, with the cover “Region has advised X, Y, Z” Where X,Y,Z are any irregularity they find convenient.

      Quite odd that your voting is by video count. Hmmm, anonyvoter IT voting has its risks, but so does show of hands.

      HOWEVER Re your heart loop recorder. I’m so glad your cardiology team has recommended it. You say it is on the 1st June, so you will be home that very day🎉

      The total duration from the start of your appointment to your leaving for home will be about three hours… if so much. Despite the marvellous tech involved, it is quite swift and simple. Incredible what we can do now! You will be more than able to attend your meeting even if it was that very day 1st June.

      I am delighted that you are getting the treatmeant ie 24 hr monitoring you deserve. I recall that when you revealed some of your concerns, i urged that you chase the Cardiology Electrics consultant or registrar. The Reveal LINQ heart monitor is their department, so you may have taken my advice or they came to the same conclusions. PS Rejoice that they consider you worth the expense. And the good people on Skwawkbox.org can rejoice with you
      ❤️💐❤️💐❤️💐

      Reply

      1. Aw! Signpost thanks for the reassurance the cardiology specialist said they want to avoid giving me an ablation because of other medical problems, I’m scared to death cos they have put a DNAR on me they’ve put me on some nasty pills Amiodarone & changed my blood thinners so now I can’t go out in the sun, without the highest factor sunblock even on cloudy days, I forgot yesterday & felt the sun burning my neck put it on my face & neck but the forgot to put it on the back tbh I thought it was just a precautionary measure it’s a little bit sore today doh! my own fault.
        Signpost do you know if I have to stop the Apixaban blood thinner it’s on par with warfarin but not as nasty so they tell me. On the hospital admission form they gave me a number to ring if I’m taking blood thinners but been trying to speak to someone for three days just get a recoded message that goes round in a loop.
        Thank You so much for the welcome back ❤️

      2. Dear Hilary, try different numbers and times of day to get them. It will be on the prep letter they sent. I expect it will advise a TEMPORARY pause to thinners like Warfarin a day or so before. Dissolvable Aspirin up to 75 mg is ok. They gave you the number to phone because of course the tiny incision … not more than a few mm could bleed. That’s all. Try calling their pharmacy for reassurance.

        You and your husband should INSIST they remove the DNAR at once. Cardiology would not have invested in a loop recorder for you if they thought you so poorly as to have a DNAR.

        Yes, the ablation is a bit more complicated. But the recorder will give you much peace of mind. It is very impressive. Only very few thousands patients in the UK are given it. Bet as ever your heart will now be on it’s best behaviour as it knows it’s being watched😂😂😂

        But don’t worry. It is a pretty minor procedure though the tech really shows how far we have come in just these last few years.

        Keep calling the hospital. Go to main switchboard and ask them to put you through to Cardiology Electrics HO – House Officer or SHO / Senior House Officer to confirm their procedure re the Apixaban. You could also ask them to put you through to pharmacy. If no joy just ping me again.

        Oh, why do you call the Amipdarone “nasty”? Re the sunscreen – Very good thing+++. Please use it.

        You may remember i suffered a bereavement last August. I’m only now “getting over it”… not really. BUT that sun worshiping dear relative got skin cancer which spread to the lungs… I always warned “please wear a hat and long sleeves in the garden”… but we all do feel invincible. Gardening, sailing, walking AND napping in the sun… not good.

        But don’t worry about the procedure. You will be amazed at how quick it is.
        ❤️💐❤️💐❤️💐

      3. hilary see my post above. Don’t know what’s happening, my reply went above instead of here.💐💐💐

    3. hilary772013 see my reply below. You will be home that very day 1st June. Your appointment will last max three hours and you will be VERY fine to walk, talk, eat, cook, vote at Unite zoom meetings. Glad they have decided to fit the loop recorder.
      Happy posting and voting
      ❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉

      Reply

      1. Signpost you’ve let the cat out of the bag now and I think that you may find yourself very busy with questions on treatments?Now about one of the khmer locals on our commune,I have sent him in a ambulance to phenom Penh for a Kidney stone removal,?…yes I know signpost back to politics..!

      2. 😂😂🤣 Yes dear joseph, but i took the risk because i did not want dear hilary worrying unnecessarily. EVERYTHING has moved on tremendously from when you were in East Surrey… in fact even in the last five years. The same tech involved in what hilary is having will be very soon used for many treatments including dealing with Jet Lag!!!

        But the really marvellous general improvements re surgery include tiny incisions, speed, swift healing, reduced incidence of infection, considerably less pain, no need for general anaesthetic… could go on but i won’t😂😂😂 Keep well out there Joseph. We’re starting a heatwave here. Oh ps just as well i did not take my telescope outdoors. There was no sign of the Lunar eclipse here. Many parts of the world enjoyed the spectacle. All we had here was the spectacle of all the failings Starmer could and should have opposed. Cummings put on record what wise readers of Skwawkbox.org read from the very start of the pandemic as it made it’s way from China, then Italy etc and ONLY then these isles. Johnson had no excuse. Starmer had even less of an excuse. But instead of opposing the deadly government he carried out instructions to oppose all that is TRUE to Labour. He said and did “give FULL support to the government” while doing maximum destruction to the Labour Party.
        📛🥀📛🥀📛🥀

      3. Me dad had a pacemaker fitted two years ago at fazakerley hospital. Took about 45-50:minutes. Altogether from prep to discharge took about 4- 4.5 hours. It was done under a local and the surgeon had a good gab with me dad while it was going on, apparently.

        There was a delay because of a previous patient had gotten complications but the surgeon assured us that was a <1% chance of that happening.

        What set me at ease when me dad went in was that building work was going on outside the ward/theatre. The sound of machinery, saws and hammering made me chuckle while the procedure was going on at the same time.

        Anyway Hilary, depending on if the procedure is the same – and I'd imagine it is – then you'll be in and out the same day. The only difference is you'll have a little matchbox sized lump by your collarbone where the monitor is! X

      4. Toffee, a pacemaker is completely different to what hilary will be having. There should be no matchbox sized lump hilary. The Reveal loop recorder is tiny and thin. The actual duration of it going just under the skin is literally ONE second! Yes one. Not my usual abundant typos. 1 second. Most of the duration of your appointment from the time you are called, to your leaving for home by foot and fit enough to do exactly as you did before, is ID check, observations eg BP, pulse, temp and prep for the MINOR procedure. There will be no need for a cardiologist present. It will be done by a specialised technician.

        PS they should give you a Covid-19 test BEFORE you go to the hospital. When you phone, ask about the Covid-19 test.

        Phone today Saturday or tomorrow. There are fewer staff but it may actually be easier to speak to someone.

        Fret not. Everything will be explained. The dressing afterwards will be MUCH bigger than the incision site of about four millimetres… a finger tip. So don’t be alarmed. By the time you leave, i would be surprised if you had any significant pain. Any slight lump you feel will be a little padded dressing. Hope this helps. ❤️💐❤️💐❤️

      5. Thank You! so much Signpost, went for my drive in covid test this morning, glad to hear it will be quick I’m not worried now about the size of it thanks to you but whether or not I’ll be able to see them doing it, daft isn’t it. I’ve had quite a few ops but all been under general anaesthetic didn’t know what to expect with a local one xx
        Thanks again for all the reassurances you’re a ⭐️ will let you know how I get on

        Sorry Joseph for hijacking a political post x

        Thanks Toffee glad everything went okay for your dad x

      6. hilary rest assured, you need not watch😂 Don’t think of it as “an operation”. There will be no need for anaesthetist, surgeon nor even a House Officer. The procedure is normally done by a Highly Specialised Cardiac Physiologist with an assistant. There will also be a nurse. The equipment etc you will see is just the normal stuff to ensure all is sterile. Even more ideal is that in times of Covid-19, there will now be one fewer need to go to hospital / GP / Clinic etc. SUPER glad u had the test today!!! Intended to remind you to pursue that as your procedure will not be done without a negative result. You may get that result tonight or tomorrow morning!

        Don’t you worry about a thing. Get there early on the 2nd. Ask questions about the portable equipment they will give to you. I know that Southampton Hospital was using a mobile App, but you may be given something like a modern version of a land line telephone to plug in by your bedside. Don’t be afraid to ask questions re how it works and the little bit you need to do if necessary. You may get a little fob like a car key fob. And you WILL be given an ID card with their 24hr phone number and serial number etc of your device. The ID is for eg to show personnel at security arches in airports etc.

        Apologies to others for communicating this stuff here but it may help others to not worry. Think of it as a benefit of a COLLECTIVE. A positive HELPFUL community🌹 🌹🌹

        It’s a MINOR procedure with Marvellous MAJOR benefits. Thank goodness for the NHS!!! In the USA it would cost you a fortune. The Americans ENVY the care we give here free at the point of delivery. Of course Privatisation by stealth has accelerated as if on super steroids under Blue Tories. Starmer refuses to squeak about this national crime because the dull saboteur is DETERMINED not to upset vested interest. Max Headroom’s priority? OVER reassure gluttonous pigs that their tool is ZERO threat to their plunder.

        “The Pigs of Plunder” – they will sell anything! Hawkers hawking – “Old wives for sale”. They will sell their children and mothers too, that lot to which SIR Starmer FIRMLY belongs. We must NEVER forget that.

        But to end with joy hilary, the recorder will be rolled out to more people eventually. Saves you trips to the hospital. Hospitals ironically are sadly hotbeds of infection. I heard a marvellous 101 year old super articulate darling woman say this AM that while in A&E she “chatted as you do to other people”. She was able to detect that someone obviously had Covid-19. So she made sure she got out of there ASAP after her treatmeant THE NEXT DAY😂😂😂 Wise wonderful woman🌟🌟🌟

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