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Right moves to install new NEC disputes chair who was subject of ‘serious’ complaints

Right-winger Shabana Mahmood to stand down as chair of NEC’s complaints committee – faction set to replace her with close ally of hardliners Spellar and Watson

Skwawkbox’s 2020 headline concerning Gurinder Singh Josan

The Labour right is said to be planning a move this morning to install Labour First right-winger Gurinder Singh Josan as chair of the party’s ‘disputes committee’, the body that under Labour’s latest rules has power to expel members as well as suspend them. Fellow right-winger Shabana Mahmood is set to stand down from the position.

Josan was the subject of ‘serious and unresolved’ complaints to the Unite union alleging that he had bullied a blind party member – and was reported in his local West Midlands borough of Sandwell as having worked with local Tories in an attempt to bring down a Muslim Labour councillor. Blind councillor Ahmed Bostan said at the time that the incident made him feel,

extremely vulnerable, publicly humiliated, very uncomfortable, deeply saddened and under siege

No action appears to have been taken.

Local blogger and critic of Sandwell council Julian Saunders was at one time close to the Labour right. In 2019 he was the victim of an attempt by the right-run local council tried to convict him on charges of harassing the council’s chief executive – but the case spectacularly imploded when he produced video evidence in court showing he had not done or said any of the things of which the council had accused him.

He subsequently claimed, with photos, that a local Tory had brokered meetings between him and Josan where Saunders was asked to write articles damaging the Muslim councillor and that Josan brought him ‘very neat bundles’ of documents for him to use:

Curiously this was all arranged via a Sandwell Tory whom people knew I trusted. He arranged three meetings for me to meet Josan at the Pret a Manger opposite Snow Hill Station and he came along too…

Josan himself is a well-turned out man and on each occasion he brought me very neat bundles of documents, all organised, stapled etc – pictured below – which I was told had been prepared “by the Party.” They all related to (then) Cllr ___________ and I was specifically asked to use them to help bring him down.

Saunders also alleges that Josan desperately tried to prevent the selection of fellow Sikh Preet Kaur Gill as a parliamentary candidate during another Tory-arranged meeting:

The Tory took me to see Gurinder in the office of his sister’s accountancy firm in Smethwick. We had to wait sometime as Josan was ringing all his Sikh political contacts as he was anxious to stop comrade Preet Kaur Gill… getting a parliamentary berth.

According to Labour insiders, the right intended to install Josan as the disputes chair a year ago, but the attempt ultimately did not take place after Skwawkbox published an article recalling details of the allegations.

Gurinder Singh Josan was contacted several times for comment on these issues, including at the time of the first disputes attempt. He declined to comment on the allegations, but expressed delight at the prospect of chairing the committee. It appears that a year later, after a further twelve months purging the left from the party, the right feels emboldened to grant him his wish.

Update: Josan has now been made chair and will oversee Labour’s disciplinary processes.

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26 comments

  1. Thanks for the info. SW.

    “Who watches the watchers”/ who polices the police/ who keeps the Labour party constitutional, honest and true?

    Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    Sure as Hell, not Gurinder Singh Josan

    1. “Who watches the watchers”/ who polices the police/ who keeps the Labour party constitutional, honest and true?
      The X-Lateral Commission!
      There is a Vacancy so big, so international to bypass override and inspects, police, watchdog, etc, etc The Government, The Neoliberal Occupied Parliament, all the Neoliberal Occupied Comms, Orgs, etc, etc, all of the Neoliberal Occupied Law, The Neoliberal Occupied United Nations, etc, etc! The PEOPLE’S Open Sourced Decentralised Governance Commission of Justice and Equality! It appears that slowly slowly people are waking up, more and more are being affected by everything Corbyn warned about and their comfy fluff bubbles are popping left right and centre. It is a sad thing that a human has to be told don’t touch that it will burn, only to grasp hold of it moments later, even more sad that many needs to be told several times don’t touch that…!
      We have the Power, People have The Power to push the STOP FOR PERMANENT CHANGE, we just need to smash the glass!
      WE DON’T NEED TO TAKE THIS SHIT ANY MORE!
      https://youtu.be/y6Wz3i_BYUc

      1. Nah, we’re buggered. We can’t rely on the supposed left in the house to oppose in a coordinated fashion. Have to rely on capitalism to destroy itself. Long and bloody future for the workers. I suppose that something might emerge from the coming wars. Pass the wishbone please.

      2. “the supposed left in the house” all of about 15 UK Labour Party MPs and Exiles that is all there is left in a Sea of Thatcherite Neoliberal TORYISM. Yup we are Buggered, by that ‘we’ I mean everyone bellow the top 5% even if you are Serf to the top 5%, you’re fucked. Unless we take control, but I guess if we ran a Poll: Do you believe it is More Important for (A) The PEOPLE 14+ to be fully involved in and understand Politics OR (B) Is it More important that ALL The PEOPLE 14+ owns the Latest iPhone/GalaxyS/etc?
        I have a feeling it will look something a bit like:
        Politics (A) = 5%
        iPhone (B) = 95%
        However it does not matter how shallow-stupid humanity is right now, at some point their materialist commercialised comfy fluff bubbles will pop, they will come crashing down and take a pew next to the rest of us, the “Undeserving Poor”!
        The coming wars will be the great re-balancer the downtrodden nations will come up and the long overdue “Rulers” will come all the way down to level. If there is one thing that I hope these wars smash to pieces, it is the Corrupt, Biased, Controlled United Nations! Then rebuild in a truly Independent UN.

      3. I’d say this is the closest we’ve been to making some serious change.

        Ignoring the orchestrated downfall of Johnson (why? And why now? Not imposing lockdowns like the other western countries?) there’s one hell of a storm coming. Inflation is up again, and it ain’t gonna stop (anyone remember the early nineties?), fuels of all sorts are going through the roof, which means food is gonna be more expensive. Much more besides this too…(the perfect storm?)

        The next few years are the window of opportunity. This is the time to start pointing out how we’re all wage slaves and debtors. That’s a very powerful lobbying group. Play them at their own game. For example, a national boycott of paying utility bills. We have the power, we just need unity. Left and right are divisory tactics, it’s nothing but top down.

      4. Yup! If people don’t wake up pretty sharpish, most of us will be permanently working and living the Great Big Amazon’s in the Sky while a “lucky” few will be fanning the Feet of the Glorious Rich!
        https://ibb.co/KsM27Np

  2. Another entirely legitimate reason to do the off. Another recreant, crawling browbeater, elevated in status to effectuate the greasy one’s debasements.

    What’s to like?

  3. Apologies for the aside but it is quite remarkable.
    Reports quote Johnson, in reference to the garden party:-
    “Nobody warned me that it was against the rules,” the prime minister said, adding: “I would have remembered that.”
    Now, just remind me who made the rules.

  4. In other news, the lords have defeated the ‘protest’ bill.

    At time of typing, the bbc have had the story on it’s website – well tucked away in the politics section and not on it’s news homepage – for an hour.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60032465#comments

    ..And already the comments section has been closed. It comes as no surprise whatsoever that the overwhelming majority of comments are against the bill…

    It’s about bleedin’ time the licence tax fee was done away with.

    1. Thanks Toffee…. and I bet Sir Waste-of-Space Rodney Starmer will still instruct his MPs NOT to oppose the vile PCSC Bill.

      He’s not a leader of Labour, he’s its anti-leader.

    2. Wouldn’t surprise me to discover that that elliot coburn tory twunt, from patel’s zoom conference t’other day (Amongst others) will have complained to the bbc that they’ve :” Allowed all these leftists (probably not working, too) to ‘infiltrate’ the site, while all hardworking people are busy doing their jobs, instead of lounging around, looking on their taxpayer-paid-for smartphones for something to complain about.”

      Bunch of clicky twunts, all them public school failures.

    3. Well! Well! Well! The Lords and Ladies Killed The Bill!
      I still believe it should be a Public Service like jury, to sit in The House Up Top, but say what we will about Lords they have bailed The PEOPLE out of some extremely dire situations, I am not sure if they saved us more than they pinned us down on the muddy bottom of the River Thames. I bet Psycho Polly is doing her nut somewhere in London all the Staff hiding in cupboards, under beds,…! I wonder if Lawdy Lawds will look at her Nationality Law, Perhaps even have a closer look into why she was sacked by May, by Psycho Polly’s own Law as a First Gen Brit of Refugee Parents and the severity of Treason The entire Family might be off on Air Uganda one fine morning, at 03:30!

      1. The Bill isn’t dead, their Lord and Ladyships only killed off the parts that Patel undemocraticaly inserted into the bill after it left the commons and went to the HoL. These amendments have been killed off, but the rest is still in play and will be returning to the HoC, where the fascist there will pass it, then back to the Lords. It could in theory be passed back and forward in a game of ping pong, until the government uses it’s ultimate power as the primary legislative body to ensure it passes into law.

        Democracy in action?
        https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/policing-bill-elections-bill-what-happens-next/

      2. Come on be fair. She thinks she’s gorgeous as do her mates. She might go away but it won’t be to Uganda. Wasn’t Uganda, along with Patagonia mentioned as a possible site for… you know. It’s in a book.

    4. Toffee, from what I have gathered from real humans where I live, the end of the fee has cross party support.

  5. And, true to form – The beeb have removed my comment which read: ‘Wonder how kuenssberg’s gonna spin this one’?

    Well guess what, impartial bbc? You haven’t had a penny outta me, and aren’t ever gonna get one 🙂

    1. Wah hah hah hah! Mind you we all probably have files in every Government office, in the land, just for commenting on SB Forum! :):):)

    1. and can labourlist (or whoever) let us know how fair and balanced the very experienced right winger was in said disputes?

      I suspect not. Nothing would convince me that he could be an appropriate and fair new chair of Labour’s disputes panel. Nothing… Labour First and Labour to Win.

      1. He’s a sectarian neoliberal of the worst type. An anti-socialist. Consider also who is celebrating his appointment

        “Reacting to Josan’s election, Luke Akehurst said: “This is brilliant news and one of those times when someone gets recognition they deserve for loads of quiet hard work – Gurinder has served on more disputes hearings than any other NEC member since his election in 2020.” – labourlist

  6. So Arsehurts believes in karma. Well when it comes acalling he’ll have nothing to moan about.

  7. Ah! So Josan has served on more disputes panel hearings than anyone else. I was wondering why the mass cull had speeded up.

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