Controversial Wallasey MP faces member vote on whether she will have to fight to remain candidate
Wallasey MP Angela Eagle will face a trigger ballot, with the constituency’s executive meeting on Friday to agree the process on a vote to decide whether she will have to fight a selection battle to remain as the constituency’s candidate at the next election. A notice issued to members reads:
Wallasey CLP Exec members are invited to a meeting on Friday 11th February. There’ll just be one item on the agenda, the Wallasey CLP Trigger Ballot. A Regional Officer will run through the process with us and we’ll agree on a timetable.
The process is set out in a Procedures document which you can download here.
Our Affiliate bodies who will be able to participate in the process are Community, CWU, GMB, Unison, Unite, USDAW, Co-operative Party, Jewish Labour Movement, Labour Campaign for International Development, Labour Movement for Europe, Labour Party Irish Society, and Socialist Health Association.
The meeting will be on Zoom. Here’s the link.
Wallasey CLP Exec Meeting, Friday 11th February @ 7.30pm
Eagle must gain at least 50% of the member and affiliate votes to be automatically selected. Keir Starmer’s supporters on Labour’s national executive forced through rule changes to the trigger process. Under previous rules, only one in three needed to vote for a selection contest.
Ms Eagle has a turbulent recent history with her ‘CLP’, notably the ‘Brickgate’ fiasco when left members were accused of throwing a brick through her office window because of her opposition to Jeremy Corbyn – the window was not in her office, nor was there a brick and the path by the window is a notorious one for trouble from nearby pubs. The Labour report leaked last year on the conduct of right-wing party staffers confirmed that members had been ‘stitched up’ to protect the MP, with the CLP suspended for many months because of the false claims:
Emilie Oldknow and GLU staff discussed keeping Angela Eagle MP’s CLP suspended, at Eagle’s request, in order to give her team more time to organise against left-wing members before the AGM. [page 31]
Wallasey CLP was also suspended in July 2016. A year later, on 7 July 2017 Oldknow emailed Sam Matthews, the Head of Disputes, and Stolliday asking for an update on the situation…
Oldknow noted that the local MP Angela Eagle felt that, if the CLP’s suspension was lifted in the coming months, this would “not give her time to organise etc.”
Matthews responded with an update, and noted:
“I have every sympathy for the fact that Angela is still in a difficult situation as they are properly organised in her constituency – my worry is that based on track record, no matter how much time we give Angela (in practice Imran) to “organise”, so little work will go into it that we’ll end up getting asked to extend it further and further. At the moment, Imran [an Eagle staffer at the time] wants the suspension to remain in place until at least November, but I would be really worried about turning up to Disputes in October and having to report that Wallasey was still suspended because they haven’t held an AGM yet.I would also be worried about them having the ammunition of going to
conference without a date being set for the AGM at the very least – I think that risks feeding an unhelpful narrative.”This was an open discussion between senior GLU and GSO staff and Labour Party Executive Directors about ensuring that Angela Eagle and her allies were able to win at the AGM and other votes at the CLP, and about how they had been “giv[ing] Angela (in practice Imran)” “time” to “organise” to win those votes against the local Labour left.
It is telling that no-one appears to have had any hesitancy about openly discussing the factional role they were playing with other Labour HQ staff. [page 114]
Almost none of the media that had enthusiastically spread the smears against local members ever published a retraction or correction.
Eagle can no doubt bank on the support of right dominated affiliates such as the the Co-op party, Jewish Labour Movement, LCID, LPIS, LME, Usdaw and Community – but given her history with the CLP there is likely to be a motivated base of members keen to replace her. Unite and the CWU are less likely to support and there is a question mark over Unison, which now has a left-dominated exec despite its entrenched right-wing management.
Unlike in many CLPs, where the mass exodus of left members disgusted with Keir Starmer and his allies and often with interference from regional offices has meant the right retaking control of CLP structures, the left has retained its ascendancy in Wallasey – and last year defeated an attempt to have members congratulate Eagle on her damehood.
But if the party allows democracy to proceed – by no means a given under this regime – and members turn out, Angela Eagle faces a tense time.
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BRILLIANT 🔆🔆🔆 And it’s only Wednesday
🎉🔺🧵🎉🔺🧵🎉🔺🧵
No chance she’ll get deselected. Too many left wingers have left or been kicked out. Shame really, would love to see her parachute fail to open!
Pablo what is crucial here is the affiliates rather than CLP’s branches. I wonder how many GMB’s branches are affiliated to this CLP. Just by itself GMB could outnumber the CLP’s branches.
Hence, it would come down as to whatever Unite, CWU and Unison branches agree to trigger her and how many branches each trade union has affiliated to Wallasey CLP.
Also worth noticing that when it comes to trade unions is the Political Officer and the Political Panel of each trade union that decide the position for all its branches.
I seriously doubt that Unite will trigger her if for example GMB is prepared to endorse her. Thus, I would be very surprised if she loses the trigger ballot. This is why Open Selections are important and why Trade Union aren’t enamoured by Open Selections as it takes power away from them and into the hands of the CLPs membership that would use OMOV rather than branches.
Maria – The vote is an adjusted one. 50% each for affiliates and members. The seperate % results for both members and affiliates are each divided by 2 and then these figures are added together to give the final result.
Hope she’s bricking it.
Oh, you!!
https://c.tenor.com/mn1cWNTf8fwAAAAC/john-candy-movies.gif
Duffy’s revenge is decades overdue.
Wirral I know what you mean but for the benefit of other contributors can you please expand a bit on your comment about Mr Duffy, the man who should have been Wallasey’s MP but who was ousted in her favour
Thanks, yeah, just busy atm, but will post a link soon!
Thanks
I am delighted about this. Wirral in it together who now posts on this site posted full information about Angela Eagle’s despicable behaviour over Brickgate on his own site at the time. How that woman has the nerve to walk about Wallasey never mind represent the people in Parliament is a mystery to me.
She is a total disgrace and the sooner the good people of Wallasey ( a constituency she was parachuted into by Blair) get rid of her the better.
Having read Wirral and Toffees posts and links I see it was Kinnock who parachuted Angela Eagle into Wallasey not Blair)
https://media3.giphy.com/media/xT1R9IKsYuIv4m6zx6/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47rjus61rahbjspzwr1b9bgdvotbewye281d42m30c&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
Do one illeagle, you feckin parasitical, pathological LIAR!!!
Go on – SOD OFF!!
Unfortunately, even if there is a huge vote in favour of the “trigger ballot”, it will make minimal difference.
All that will happen is that the LP will impose a shortlist of the usual cardboard cutouts.
If I lived in Wallasey I would prefer anybody as my MP to the Awful Angela except perhaps Jess Phillips and Neil Coyle – they are just slightly more awful
In years to come, there’s a very good chance that many Wallasey schoolchildren and adults will be contracting leukaemia and other life-threatening illnesses. Thanks to the Dame’s negligence / provision of recklessly inadequate public health advice:
https://wirralinittogether.blog/2021/09/10/our-childrens-school-is-failing-to-inform-us-what-type-of-covid-test-we-may-be-volunteering-our-children-for-twice-a-week-on-into-the-future-if-theyre-still-chinese-imported-rapid-lateral-flow-t/
Steve, you’ve misunderstood the letter.
This is only the first stage of the process. The meeting on Friday is to (s)elect a Procedures Secretary (to run the Trigger Ballot process) and to agree the timetable when wards & the branches of affiliated organisations will be asked to meet & determine how their ward/branch will cast their vote in the trigger ballot. The most important issue will be the deadline for the return of the ballots.
Why there not even one article on Sqwawkbox about Dave Nellists’s TUSC challenge in the Erdington Bye Election?
Nellist remains an inspiring star and deserves wide support from all good socialists.
Lol Duffy link 1
https://wirralinittogether.blog/2021/07/04/lol-duffy-ploughed-the-fields-sowed-the-seeds-watered-the-crop-then-dame-angela-eagle-stepped-in-to-reap-the-harvest/
Lol Duffy link 2
https://wirralinittogether.blog/2021/07/14/private-eye-reminds-us-of-angela-eagles-highly-dubious-origins-2/
Thanks Wirral
Great link. Cheers Wirral.
LOL Ahha !!! Pass me that Brick! Please. 🙂
FAO @Smartboy (And others interested)
Lol Duffy ran for the seat in 1987 on an openly sociallst platform and came within (IIRC) 300 votes of winning the seat. That was despite the rat known as Frankenfield (From the neighbouring constituency of Birkenhead) actively telling voters he would never endorse Duffy (Who worked at the Birkenhead shipbuilders, Cammell Laird) because of Duffy’s leanings.
Illeagle was then parachuted in for the ’92 election after the work was more or less done to secure the seat, and has done the sum total of feck-all except to tell us she’d be voting against tuition fees – Right up to the moment the vote was taken, when she voted for them – and to vote against mersey tunnel toll increases…Right up to when the vote was taken, when she voted for them, too.
Oh, and did sod-all for the poor folks who were robbed by wirral council for care charges…And were then told the money they were repaid would be subject to a windfall tax.
Although illeagle has spent more time whinging in HoC about being a
lesbianvictim, than doing anything for the benefit of constituents like me.Can’t go quick enough for most (local) people I know. But I get the feeling skwawky will be writing about this zoom meeting late Friday night/ Early Saturday monrning…😗🎶🎶
Ooops! I forgot about the blank votes that saw illeagle illeagly selected for the seat in the first place…
Thanks Toffee
I’m half expecting Akehurst to be given control over this.
Lol Duffy link 3
https://wirralinittogether.blog/2019/10/30/its-no-trigger-ballot-in-wallasey-corbyn-backstabber-angelaeagle-is-likely-to-prevail-as-the-unwanted-mp/
Don’t forget that this is a two stage process. It is those who are challenging her that have to get an adjusted vote of 50%+ she doesn’t have to achieve a threshold to avoid being triggered. If those challenging her manage to get past the fairly high threshold of the trigger ballot this will then trigger the deciding ballot which will be an all members OMOV. Remember Margaret Hodge got triggered (as were several others) when Corbyn was in office but the left failed to get its vote out for the all important OMOV stage.
I think you meant jiggered not triggered in your fascist Labour party Steve H Hall centrist Dad and other well known aliases.Trying to make it all sound like the rules matter anymore questions the sanity of those that listen to your propogada and likewise the sanity of those that pay good money to your lot of theives liars and paedophile enablers…and I havnt even got into Assange corbyn williamson and your pill 💊popping front bench and sniffers on the NEC…Maybe another partytime beer swilling contest will soon be legal in a few days.in the “office” liquid lunch?…disgusted from mekong
Joseph – How sad, all you’ve got left is yet more empty rhetoric.
Steve H fascist dad The posters younger and smarter than me can supply the facts.I will supply the justified passion and anger at being jerked around for forty years by a bunch of parasites and fraudsters.And I know their are many more whove been treated in a abominable way far more than anything I could even imagine.What your tirsome game is about is control and greed and that will be the death of the Labour party.
If there is any chance of Wirral selecting a left-winger, won’t the LP machine simply suspend the CLP and impose a candidate.
amnon – I have my doubts that the NEC will step in as you claim. It should be borne in mind that unlike the last administration who infuriated CLPs by suspending the trigger ballot processes until it was too late and the imposition of candidates from HQ was unavoidable the current Starmer administration has proceeded with the trigger ballot processes in plenty of time to avoid this happening again.
https://labourlist.org/2021/11/exclusive-labour-plans-to-hold-mp-trigger-ballots-from-november-to-june/
Here’s a poem Wot I wrote when Ms E was going for the Leadership – the Hawk is Eagle and the Canary is the Labour Leftie members (before many left).
‘The Hawk on the Canary landed.
Playing the Chameleon’s part.
And whispered “I come to heal you.’
But failed to remove the heart.
Then the Canary turned back into a Lion.’
Oh and demand a public count!
What’s to stop the CLP triggering the imposed candidate
If Wallasey is that well organised, unions, members and supporters then bring back Lol Duffy if he’s still up for it and run as the Socialist Labour party candidate
Get JC to campaign and hold a national rally in the constituency
Again, off topic for this thread – but only slightly because ultimately corruption is the underlying context.
Of which former diplomat Craig Murray once again cuts through the bullshit to provide some of the links in the Starmer/Saville argument and the closing of ranks by the Establishment.
Not least of which is the fact that “Alison Levitt, the lawyer appointed by Keir Starmer to produce the report which “cleared” him of involvement in the decision not to prosecute Jimmy Savile, is married to Lord Carlile, friend of two serial paedophiles, Greville Janner and Cyril Smith.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2022/02/how-the-establishment-functions-the-real-dark-web/
Despite solid evidence in police position substantiating the allegations against Janner which might well have produced a successful prosecution a prominent QC, Alex Carlile , used Parliamentary privilege to not only defend Janner but also smear the reputation of at least one of those submitting the allegations.
As Murray sublimely puts it:
“Alex Carlile may well have had no idea Janner was a paedophile. After all, he shared a cramped parliamentary office with Cyril Smith for many years, and apparently never realised that Smith was a prolific paedophile. Possibly Alex Carlile is simply a particularly unobservant man.”
In an even sharper rapier thrust Murray skewers Starmer just as effectively:
“It is however unfortunate that Starmer chose to appoint as the legal eagle to exonerate him over Jimmy Savile, the wife of the stalwart parliamentary defender of Britain’s second most prominent paedophile. I presume that Starmer never noticed that either, just as he did not notice the decision by his office and the staff under him not to prosecute Savile.”
The idea that someone as dangerous to the preservation of the principles and practice of justice and due process as Starmer in any way represents a preferable alternative to the current incumbent buffoon occupying number 10 Downing street speaks volumes about the dire non-choice on offer.
If this were France they would be wheeling the guillotines out.
For anyone with anything approaching a moral compass non of the above is the only sane and rationale option in any election until this systemic rot is cleared out of the stable and completely eradicated.
When it comes to kids or graft, the great and the good are or rather we’re too busy with something or other. This nice dollops has moved two jobs to the distance. It doesn’t matter which partyleader, pervert, monster is in charge. They are all guilty and capitalism and its lover corruption are always guilty. What do you want when you have everything and your views and opinions of your brothers and sisters are a fag paper away from the plantation owners? There’s always something more rare and precious, more exclusive, vile and unimaginable.
As my old Grandad would say, you have all heard it before, hanging is too good for them.
Off topic too but half way through the brilliant ‘Why We Can’t Afford the Rich’ by Andrew Sayer and came across a superb quote in this from James Meek (2012) which I think perfectly sums up life after 40 Years of Tory, New Labour, Tory/Lib Dem, Tory (now supported by Right Wing Labour) Neo-Liberalism.
“We are a human revenue stream; we are made tenants in our own land, defined by the string of private fees we pay to exist here.”
Is this what they have done to us?
The kleptocracy have simply privatised profits and socialised losses, heads you lose tails i win
You can hope that things will change in the Labour party,but remember the old saying on continuing to repeat the same mistakes are the actions of a lunatic…Whichever way you spin it the Labour party are a fascist endeavour !Eagles selection will be rigged once again as I presume it always has been…?
Well folks the institute for fiscal responsibility(capitalists stooge)as just announced to our alleged government and Opposition that the country(them)will need to choose between tax rises and the welfare state which includes the state pension and all so called benefits.No suprise with a compliant Opposition and people like the eagles rubbing their dirty hands in sheer delight
The provsion of welfare state cuts in pensions and benefits will be the key move for the neo liberal alliance including the Labour party.but the goal is scrapping of all welfare permanently.and sooner than I expected.
The racking up of the attacks against the working-class and just one of many measures pushed in the the virus panick.including draconian laws against all the people.They are now testing the water to see how comotose weve become.We need real left wing firebrands back like Dave Nellist,ken Livingstone,Degsy George and all those backstabed by the Labour party..We are entering a new era of oppression and.Dump this Labour party and get behind just a few that I have named who are good old fashioned scrappers that are needed in a dirty war of survival.
Hopefully UNITE will pull the rest of its funding from Labour and form a coalition with TUSC. Then we’ll be going in the right direction.
If UNITE wanted to exert pressure, at the moment, they would urge all of their branches affiliated to CLPs to vote for full selections in the current round of Trigger Ballots (except for those MPs who didn’t abstain this week).
How’s Degys company doing?
Joseph Perhaps we could just fund a Fairer Social Security system (see The Plan for this – Social Security Commission, 2022) with a 20% Wealth Tax (will bring in £69b) and fund more with a Financial Transaction Tax (£250b)?
Oh by the way the £20 a week extra Universal Credit payment (now sadly cut) brought £6 billion to Local Pounds as these citizens spent the money in local shops!
Perhaps the Institute For Fiscal Studies is restricted in its critical thinking as it perhaps looks through a Neo-Liberal capitalist lens?
It’s ‘The Plan: For A Fairer Social Security System’ by The Commission For Social Security. A lot of good ideas including treating claimants with respect (ie after the Tories and others dehumanise them with terms like skivers we re-humanise them as citizens) and involve them in coming up with a fairer system.
As the upper class welfare state for the rich flourishes and the dominant Right Wing Narrative on welfare is rarely challenged until now!
Solidarity with citizens who are claimants and those citizens Disabled by society!
I see that Johnson has sent Truss to Russia.
That’s a crafty move. I guess the deal is that he will only bring her back if Russian troops pull back from the border area.
Very interesting assessment of British strengths on the front Goldbach…
IT must be getting out of control when the nucluer option of Truss is being used to frighten the Russian Bear…Thats a terrible sight to see the uncontrollable hag coming at you at full belt.God save mother Russia !
Her knowledge of geography and history is so bad I’m not convinced she’s in the right country.
Don’t Trusses support penises? Or is that a load of bollocks?X
They are actually used to support hernias.
However, Truss is a great supporter of Johnson, so …………………….
Wish I’d known that. Ta.
In other news – an interesting report from Coventry.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-60326688
A spokesperson for the LP has said “We would have hoped that Unite would have got the message that the Labour Party is under new management,”
Not good at introspection, are they? The whole point of what Sharon Graham has said is that UNITE clearly has got the message and doesn’t like it.
The Labour Party clearly think it’s all over….
It is now…..
When Sharon Graham ran for the leadership I wasnt convinced about her although I realised she was a true union person.
I am so pleased to say there was far more about this lady and I am extremely impressed with all shes doing.and we are lucky to have such a canny and professional approach to defending the workers rights and conditions.I hope she removes all funding and theyve been cautioned.that is the punishment for treachery against organised Labour.
Christ, why does Keir keep using the phrase “Under New Management” as a verbal battering ram? He’s been leader for nearly two years now…there’s no reason for him to keep acting as if the key to winning an election is treating his predecessor as a disgrace and being obsessed with repudiating everything his predecessor stood for.
The 2017/2019 policies weren’t an embarassment and they weren’t unpopular…and the 2010/2015 results prove Labour wouldn’t have done any better on “Stay The Course” Blairite policies.
kenburch – These are the reasons the voters gave
https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/inlineimage/2019-12-23/Why%20did%20people%20not%20vote%20labour.jpg
“Labour Party under new management” yes we know – Neo-Liberal Capitalist Grovellers!
The Western politicians are like political children over Russia etc as they bellow Cold War rhetoric probably to boost their military industrial complexes then ‘Truss the Twit’ squeaks that Russia should tone the Cold War rhetoric down!
Whilst I have little time for Putin’s regime many can understand that they have legitimate concerns.
Would be good to pull the rug from under the West’s lightweight politicians by scrapping NATO and having a WAP (World Peace Alliance) which ever country joins, Wot no enemies?
Working people of no country are our enemies.
Diverse Working People of the World Unite!
Yes, that phrase “Labour Party under new management” is very revealing. The function of those at the head of an organisation is to LEAD. [When they say “management” they clearly mean “control”]. Management is relatively easy. Leadership, at least for the current shower, seems to be not on the agenda.
The working class has always been diverse. We have never needed con men and dubious intellectuals to define us. Why do we bow before the pig shit that the bugger boys club, the Guardian and film makers to lead us to a mad paradise.
Perfect alexanderscottish.
In the highly unlikely event Eagle is deselected New New Labour will impose another equally right-wing candidate, pointless
Chris – It is only unlikely if ‘the left’ don’t have the numbers to deselect her.
Why do you persist in putting the term ‘the left’ in scare quotes, as if there’s either no actual Left at all or as if it’s a myth to imply that the Left have an issue with Keir? Also, why do you ssem to assume that, if there is a Left, it is too trivially small to matter?
You can’t really do “we all know what I’m talking about here” posts if nobody DOES know what you’re talking about- and the fact is, nobody DOES.
kenburch – I put it in quotes because I believe that you and your comrades are unrepresentative of the left. If it touches a nerve then that is just tough.