Councillors resign over imposition of Fiaz and party ignoring antisemitism complaints
The spate of resignations in Newham Labour party has continued this week with two serving councillors quitting the borough council’s Labour group.
Cllr Patrick Murphy has resigned the whip, blaming the party’s decision to impose Rokhsana Fiaz despite concerns raised by around a third or more of the borough’s Labour councillors about allegations of bullying.
Shortly after Murphy quit Cllr Rev Quintin Peppiatt also resigned the whip, citing the party’s failure to respond to complaints of antisemitism made by him and a colleague more than twelve months ago. A press release concerning his resignation states that:
Cllr Peppiatt has been on the Newham Council for twenty five years. He served as Cabinet member for Children and Young People Services for fifteen years.
He has stated as his reasons for resigning the Labour whip being the failure of the Labour party to investigate his complaint of anti-semltism made over a year ago before this week’s selection of Rokshana Fiaz as the Labour candidate for the mayor of Newham.
He is also a strong supporter of the ‘Save the City Farm Campaign’ challenging the recent decision by the Mayor to close down the Newham City Farm. He wishes to continue to campaign for reinstatement of the farm with local parents and children.
So much for Keir Starmer’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy.
Newham had already recently seen a string of resignations of elected party officers, including the chair of both the borough’s constituency Labour party (CLP) groups, the resignation of branch chairs and the resignation of at least one equalities officer. All of these resigned their membership of the party as well as their elected positions, in protest at the racism of the new regime and Keir Starmer’s Stalinist war on party democracy.
However, Cllrs Peppiatt and Murphy said they had simply resigned the Labour whip on the council. In petty fashion – and despite the complaints of the Labour right when fellow right-wingers lost their membership for resigning, the party regime appears to be insisting that resigning the whip means resignation or expulsion from the party altogether.
Newham is just one part of London – and England as a whole – that has seen resignations in protest and a general reluctance of those who remain to stand for election as party officers or even as council candidates, such is the disgust and embarrassment of many members to be identified with Keir Starmer, his conduct and his lack of political vision and courage.
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