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Breaking: McDonald resigns after Starmer ordered him to argue AGAINST £15/hr min wage

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald has resigned from the shadow Cabinet with a withering letter to Keir Starmer telling the Labour ‘leader’ that the final straw was Starmer ordering him to argue against a national minimum wage of £15 per hour and statutory sick pay at minimum wage level.

McDonald recently rebelled against Starmer over NHS pay and Starmer’s latest betrayal of low-paid workers was just too much for the principled northerner, who immediately resigned from his position as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights and Protections:

But McDonald didn’t stop there, taking Starmer to task for his war on the left and his full set of broken campaign promises in just eighteen months of his tenure.

Starmer is now left to search for an MP who believes his feeble £10 an hour – a pay cut by the time it could ever come into force – is adequate.

Tragically for this country, he will find no shortage among the unworthy ragtag on the Labour right – but voters in the so-called heartlands will be watching to see who puts a pay bump and a bigger office above their interests.

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70 comments

  1. Have consistently said McDonald’d be the dark horse in a leadership contest….

      1. The state of you, gobshite.

        Yer arse is flappin’ because the fat lady’s in the wings 🤫🤫🤫

      2. Steve H Hall…..you must be proud of yourselves this conference?Good night at least I can sleep with a clear conscience…can you?

      3. Joseph – Yes, so do I. I also find it much easier to regulate my sleep in this latitude.

  2. Hes on is way out then….Will it be AS scam or just racist…or will Evans newly emboldened by his victory at the Conference feels its time to be a little bit more creative and take off the gloves.?

  3. Well done and Solidarity to Andy McDonald, his stand gives me hope that perhaps behind close doors the members of the SCG and some Trade Unions are talking and perhaps soon will be able to form a principle Socialist Democratic Party backed by the Trade Unions.
    I cannot wait to apply for a membership of a decent political Party and leave Starmer fascist style leadership in the gutter where it belongs right now.

    1. Maria Vazquez
      No
      The RW will force Temporary Embarrassment to step down, the rest of them will be tearing each other apart to jump into his grave
      The only issue for us is who stands
      SteveH
      Wave goodbye to the gruesome twosome

      1. Doug so its continues of the problem,with gestures not any interest in finding a solution?…. maybe you should enter your dog in the leadership election criteria beingc No Socialists allowed “.ITs the new rule didnt you know?…temporary embarrassment” ? Whats temporary about the Labour party takeover in the leadership,general secretary,and the majority of the PLP minus a dozen.and a substantial number of the members?.. The country needs help now not in another half a century of stay and contemplate.our navel….The partys over !…maybe take the dog 🐕for a walk.Doug the Labour socialist group need encouragement to leave the Labour party.not twiddle there thumbs.and wait for the inevitable.Time is short for a new working-class party.

      1. George – I’m all for a bit of balance, thanks for the link.

      1. So bastard what? Hurry up and croak you boring little two-hat

    1. And the liar ellman’s returning to the party.

      They’re welcome to it.😒

      1. She may be just confused Toffee. Her memory is very poor. You will probably recall that she attended an event in Westminster Hall (I think) which was attended or possibly partly organised by Jeremy Corbyn. The late Hajo Meyer, a Jewish Concentration Camp survivor and peace activist was one of the guest speakers. There were also speakers who addressed issues like the Slave Trade. When these people spoke they were met with shouts of “boring ” from audience members who Ellman referred to as “yobs” Hajo who was 85 at the time was also heckled by the same yobs who objected to his referring to his experience under the Nazis and comparing it with what he had seen happen to Palestinians. Ellman was outraged by the treatment of this elderly Jewish man and even wrote an article for Tribune in which she criticised the yobs.
        Roll on a couple of years. Hajo is dead and both he and Jeremy faced false accusations of antisemitism. Ellman stated that she was shocked that Jeremy should have attended an event at which Hajo demonstrated his antisemitism and roundly condemned both of them. No mention was made of the fact that Hajo Meyer was Jewish and had been persecuted by the Nazis. Luckily her Tribune article was unearthed so her attendance at the same event she chastised Jeremy for attending was exposed. She had forgotten about it!
        Oh yes Toffee bad memory or not Ellman will fit perfectly well into Starmers Labour

  4. Much respect to Andy McDonald

    On a related matter, which is indicative of a massive problem with politics in this country- so many mps (of all parties) have concurrent employment earning vast salaries and quite often after leaving parliament go on to the same usually connected to ministerial or shadow ministerial role.

    Also they pass laws (or fail to do so) for their own benefit, particularly regarding legislation on housing and landlords.

    I get really pissed off, that when mps do something morally reprehensible like hoarding money in off-shore tax havens (panama papers) we hear “he/she did nothing illegal” but they get to make the laws and decide what is or isn’t legal!

  5. I’d also like to put on record my thanks to @toryFibs for tweeting, and @Skwawkbox for retweeting, Andy McDonald’s resignation letter for all to read.

  6. Andy McDonald, you rock. And you are far, far too good for the Labour Party.

    We are coming to a stage where socialists have to face the fact that the Labour Party can never again be a vehicle for progressive change. As hard as the road will undoubtedly be, we have to start again with a new party of and for working people. This will be particularly ardous in a first-past-the-post system. Don’t condemn me out of hand for saying this – certainly throughout the Corbyn years I thought that my first conviction that Labour was a busted flush unfit for anything but the dustbin of history was wrong – now, sadly, I have to admit that I, and those who thought like me were right.

    The good thing is that most of the unions (with Unison as a possible exception) are getting sick of bankrolling a party that is scarcely distinguishable from the Tories. They may well be coming round to the idea that their money could be better used in a new party. Ceretainly Sharon Graham, the new general secretary of Unite has indicated that she will not finance the Labour Party if it does not deliver for her members and working people in general. Other union chiefs are feeling similarly. Even in Unison, the right has stolen a march on the majority who want guarantees of fair pay, job stability and a fair society.

    The Labour Party is rotten from top to bottom. We have to face facts. The longer we deny this doubtlessly unwelcome fact, the longer we will suffer from zero political representation

    1. To those who think a new party is the answer, get yourselves down to your local bookies and ask for a price on your chances of entering number 10
      As close to zero as it is possible to get
      Please stop

      1. Sorry Doug, I disagree. Long term I think a new party is essential to stop the leak of people for whom politics doesn’t do anything. A new Socialist party wouldn’t work. However, a new green Socialist party will. People accept we have to change the way we live. Measuring success or failure with GDP won’t work, people know resources are running out. The way forward is a mix of green Socialist policies.

      2. Iundiel
        That’s a different proposition, a merger with the Green party, synergy creates a bigger and better entity, which would clean up under FPTP
        Not a snowballs for a new party
        Regards

      3. The LW needs to own the fact that they would simply face the same level of infiltration and sabotage in a new party
        Take ownership of why we are where we are, how you gonna sort it out and make sure it doesn’t happen again, that’s a practical exercise
        Time to clean up your mess and get our party back
        Regards Comrades

      4. Fairly easy to counter. We all know their alligience is to Israel before Britain. Just make it a rule of entry that your alligience is to Britain and no other country.

      5. Not merger with the green party, it’s too connected to rejoining the EU and has loads of neoliberal supporters along with a fair number of green fascists and eugenicists.

      6. Doug what are the chances now? Aren’t zero too? in 1922 under FPTP the Labour Party defeated the Liberal Party despite the popularity of its leader Lloyd George, it could be done again if we manage to secure Trade Union funding.
        Do you realised that with a threshold of 20% for nominations even when the position of leader is vacant members don’t stand a chance of voting for anyone except a candidate from the right of the Party?
        Do we really wish to win an election with another Blair as leader?
        Blair apart from going to war in Iraq started PFI that signalled to road to privatisation for the NHS, didn’t care about building public housing, didn’t repel anti-trade union legislation. In fact inequality rose under Blair’s government.
        After 30 years as member, I am leaving the Party because I see no prospects of ever having another decent leader heading the Labour Party and more importantly I refuse to financially support a Party that is turning fascist before my very eyes.

      7. lundiel
        There allegiance is to money and power, greed and fear is all they understand
        They buy and sell politicians and parties

      8. Maria
        The Ken Loach video tells me to stay and vote them out at every level, the last Labour party accounts tell me we are being played, they are not skint by any means, they want us to leave
        The Unions, Socialist MP’s, members and supporters are overwhelmingly against the RW, we have the numbers and the demographics
        It really is only a matter of time before the gruesome twosome are history
        Regards

    2. Labour have voted against a motion that would have committed the party to changing the voting system for UK general elections to a form of PR.

      In a card vote 79.51% of CLP delegates backed the motion, but 95.03% of the Unions voted against PR.

    3. Redveg – Absolutely agree with you and some unions could come with us.
      We could get left wing democratic socialists in every constituency together and pick socialist fighters for the 2024 GE which could be under new boundaries (the election may come earlier and The Sunday Times was arguing Johnson’s Cabinet changes were with an election in mind?)
      And we could soon have hundreds of thousands of members quite soon, we were all at the Corbyn rallies and those masses are still out there.
      We seem to be waiting for a big hitter but perhaps a small union could start it?
      Need a national website and constituencies where you sign up but those in existing parties should not be allowed ie Socialist Party, SWP we don’t want vanguardists.
      Could be funded quickly by crowdfunding.
      We just need a trusted group and we are away trying to keep the Dream we had under Corbyn alive!
      And as for what they were wanting Andy to do – Labour the Party of Working People – My Arse!

      1. I hope that you aren’t thinking about the very honourable SPGB, whose history of action started at the beginning of the 20 century?

    4. Quite right, Redveg. What a star, giving Keir some of his own medicine!

      Respect to you, Andy!

    5. You’ve got love the t.u tops. Once they get a platinum American Express card in their Germans then all change.

  7. Ian Murray on ch4 news, calling McDonald’s resignation: ‘deliberate sabotage… Resigned on grounds that were very unclear why

    What a arselickin’ little pissant. You related to him wee fella?

    1. Also on C4 news, John Spellman v Len McLusky was very entertaining. Game, set & match to Len!

      1. Just watched it on +1 Didn’t see it first time around.

        What a little fart spellar is: ‘2017 was a disaster’

        What a plum.

        As for the rest of them: ‘ellman for McDonald? Were happy with that.’

        Yeah. You’ll have to send her to scabsville (Notts or the West country, for example) to get the arl bastard elected again, because there’s no fucking way she’d be elected in a merseyside seat, the lying arl bitch.

      2. Sorry, yeah, SpellAR, not Spellman. I think I was still seeing red from the thought of Louise “did I mention I’m Jewish” Ellman being welcomed back into the party!

        And talking of Rachel Reeves, lundiel, ever noticed how she and Starmer both share a nasal blockage problem that makes them instant comedy fodder? I’m sure someone on Harley St could do them a two-for-one deal!

  8. Louise Ellman and other authors of vexatious claims of anti semitism, look forward to it becoming a hate crime and you are all prosecuted and gabled
    Time to book your flights back to the mother ship, take War Criminal and Mushy Peas with you

    1. Brilliant Lundiel!
      Would make a good BREAKING NEWS: Snake Starmer Exposed!
      And comrades don’t forget to read Oliver Eagleton re Starmer on Novara Media (2/3/21).
      From this some suggest what a repulsive human being but I couldn’t possibly comment.
      Wouldn’t it be wonderful if just as Starmer got up to speak at Conference all the Left delegates walked out and went home!
      Perhaps to withdraw your Labour and use your power, do not serve the Right Wing Labour elite Masters and Mistresses!
      Let them do their own leafleting, canvassing, telephone canvassing etc.
      Make the Right B’stards Sweat!
      Brothers and sisters they need you more than we need them!
      Kick Right Wing Labour into the dustbin of history!

    1. “They’re not asking for the earth, they’re asking for the basics – £15 an hour…it will be the norm if we have a Labour government.”

      Keir Starmer the lying Llama.

      1. Baz 2001……They know that theres only so many millionaires to go around so its no way jose to public ownership and a system of the people keep the profits after paying a living wage.Thats why this Labour party of the me class millionaire lawyers and accountants and funded by the fat cats and Israeli spooks has to go and the sooner the better for getting into a rebuilding project for a election .

    2. Toffee, sorry your statement needs a correction: Starmer is a lying FASCIST bastard

  9. See paragraphs 7 & 8
    Andy McDonald says
    He joined the Shadow Cabinet because of Starmers pledges to unite the party and maintain the party’s Commitment to socialist policies and then goes on to say those pledges to the members have not been honored.
    That’s pretty damning.

  10. .. it will be the norm if we have a Labourgovernment.”

    Far be it from me to state the obvious…

    1. One of those who’s experienced prolonged racist hate attacks throughout her career, often by members of her own party, yet still commands a huge majority in her constituency.

      1. Diane receives more abuse than all other mps put together, which alone is absolutely disgusting, made worse by failure of some of her high-profile colleagues’ failure to support (such as rees-moggs buddy jess “it’s always me me me” philips.

        She is loved by her constituents, achieving majorities greater than total votes other mps manage! Jeremy Corbyn manages the same.

  11. Not forgetting The Leaked Labour Party Report – 12 Apr 2020.

    The abuse of Diane featured prominently, in that.

    #TheFordeInquiryReport

  12. Right Wing Barbarian Speller “2017 was a disaster” (?) Hmmn.
    May in a shock to the elite lost her majority & had 2 struggle on depending on the DUP after bunging them billions!
    We were prevented getting over the line by Right Wing Labour MPs slagging Corbyn off in public for years.
    And some key Right Wing members of staff undermining Corbyn (and Abbot) plus directing resources to Right Wing Labour candidates (at the expense of Pro- Corbyn candidates who actually got bigger majorities than the Right) and all this is shown in The Forde Report.

    1. Another one of those dreadful Labour MPs who helped the Trump administration to bury the INF nuclear missile treaty and thus put all of our lives at risk.

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