Last-second decision to revoke invitation to speak on campaign shames party already mired in disgrace – Stoke MP denies involvement
The Labour party ‘no-platformed’ the decades-long campaign to get justice for miners brutally assaulted by police during the miners’ strike in the 1980s. Miner John Dunn was scheduled to speak at a Stoke Labour meeting, but the invitation was revoked just before the Zoom meeting was about to start.
However, a local right-wing MP has denied being the cause of the u-turn.
Dunn posted to his Facebook page:
URGENT – ORGREAVE TRUTH & JUSTICE CAMPAIGN NO PLATFORMED!!
Last night I was booked to speak at Stoke West Labour Party, on behalf of the campaign.
I spent some time, as I always do, preparing my speech, only to find that minutes before I was due to join the meeting I HAD BEEN NO PLATFORMED.I was not even informed by the branch of their decision.
Luckily it was via Zoom, imagine the humiliation had I turned up in person, only to be thrown out.
Since our inception as a campaign, we have never been treated SO DISGUSTINGLY!We are usually welcomed with open arms throughout the movement, and, to find a section of the LP prepared to no platform us, especially as we were a key part of the party’s manifesto, is APPALLING, to say the least.
I am informed it was ex MP Gareth Snell, who objected and persuaded the branch to bar us.
Comrade Snell was elected as MP in 2017, his campaign was marred by allegations of misogyny, after his various comments on Twitter regarding women on TV.“Gareth Snell has apologised after a tweet from 2011 surfaced in which he said Coronation Street’s Deirdre Barlow should be given a “good slap”.
According to the Evening Standard – “In other posts he described panellists on ITV’s Loose Women as “squabbling sour-faced ladies”, called presenter Janet Street-Porter a “polished turd” and said a “speccy blonde girl” on BBC’s The Apprentice should “piss off”.”
He also claimed Jeremy Corbyn was “an IRA supporting friend of Hamas”.
Incredible that such an upright member of the Labour Party wants to suppress the truth about the rabid police attack upon peaceful pickets, don’t you think?
Such disgusting treatment, within the Labour Party, can only be viewed as a DELIBERATE ATTACK UPON OTJC.
WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!
WE WILL NOT ACCEPT BEING NO PLATFORMED!We ask fellow comrades, and the wider movement to support us against the likes of Snell and their attacks.
In the responses to Dunn’s post, Snell wrote:
I’m afraid you’ve been misled. I’ve spoken to Jim Bradbury – who it seems was the only person to speak to you – and he assures me that he did not relay the version of events you have incorrectly published.
As there were only 10 people in the meeting, I am unsure how you have reached this untrue and incorrect conclusion.
Your suspension from the Labour Party was raised, I’m told, by Cllr Andy Platt at an earlier meeting of the Branch Exec at which I was not present.
Although Andy Platt says this was a misunderstanding on the part of the branch secretary at the time.
While it was raised at the beginning of the meeting about how we progress with the meeting, it was a collective agreement by branch exec members and coordinators including Andy Polshaw, Lee Polshaw, Jim Bradbury that as you are suspended from the Labour Party, it would not be appropriate for you to address a Labour Party meeting.There was no dissent to this position.
In fact, I specifically made the point that as I was not the chair of the branch – only subbing as Vice Chair due to our Chair being away – it was not a decision I could or should make.
As it happens, I did say I would have been uncomfortable chairing any Labour Party meeting being addressed by any member who is suspended and I had offered to the branch secretary in an earlier phone call to hand over the chair of the meeting to someone else.
The collective decision of the Stoke West Branch was, therefore, on this occasion to act with caution.
So I am sorry if you have been wrongly led to believe that I ‘no platform’ed you but it’s simply untrue and wasn’t something I had the power to do.I would be grateful for you correcting the inaccuracies in your post.
Dunn was expelled by the Labour party for an incident in which he confronted right-wing then-challenger for the party leadership, Owen Smith.
In 2015, the Independent Police Complaints Commission found that there was ‘evidence of excessive violence by police officers, a false narrative from police exaggerating violence by miners, perjury by officers giving evidence to prosecute the arrested men, and an apparent cover-up of that perjury by senior officers’.
However, successive governments have denied the miners and their families a full enquiry.
Regardless of the mechanics of last night’s decision, it shames a party already mired in disgrace under Keir Starmer, who was ready to help the Tories pass laws to give police immunity for violence and even rape and murder.
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And, p.s. SIR Keith Rodney Starmer, ALSO had a birthday party with TWO cakes‼️
and RAYNER was there‼️‼️
Sir Keith’s lot r claiming their original denial was an honest mistake… hmmm.
Keith’s front bencher’s alleged words were vulgar, not ‘sleep with.’
That’s Mandelson & George Bush Jr’s poodle Weapons of Mass Destruction LIAR BLAIR creature’s tool, Sir Keifor you‼️‼️‼️
People must also ask, WHY are Keith and his lot so SILENT re outrageous Covid-19 corruption / chumocracy / £MILLIONS … over two hundred million to one Peer’s firm, yet SILENCE from Keith. Why? ? ? Because as posted here EARLY O’CLOCK Sir Keith & Co’s priorities are: 1️⃣- PURGE Labour’s purpose and 2️⃣- Get their turn at SNOUTS in TROUGHS and passes for REVOLVING DOORS to vulture corporations. That is all. They will be more rapacious than the parasites opposite them.
We would be criminal to enable them. Find Socialist Worker Party, Independents, new parties … even Greens tactically. But DONT let Sir Keith & Co take us for gullible foot-soldiers.
🌃🌓🕹🌃🌓🕹🌃🌓🕹
What more do people need to know ? ? ?
It is our duty to “wake up everyday thinking of new ways to undermine” Sir Liar Keith Blair Mandelson parasites🔺🔺🔺
I agree! And at least to dissuade as many people as we can from voting for any(?) Labour candidate at the May 5 local authority elections. It doesn’t please me, but needs must.
Does this all mean that the labour party “tell lies” officially?….OH deary me and our deputy Raynure apart from spreading muck about Corbyn also likes to attend a “Knees up” in Durham along with mr cool hand Keir and fellow partygoers.Naturally Constable plod was on hand to ensure that the correct distancing from Angela and Keir was observed.Maybe keir doesn’t know about the miners having been busy at the time forming a socialist party in Oxted on the green like one does for a young working class lad 👦from Surrey.?Isnt it about time that the clown knight realises that you can’t kid a kidder when bullshiting the media and a drowning Tory leader.
Well said
Starmer has purged 3 leftwing councillors from his (and my) local council. So I am going to spoil my vote thus: NONE OF THE ABOVE. STARMER OUT!
don’t spoil it Elaine. use it effectively to STOP STARMER (ie Keith). Spread the word.
The Party of Betrayal is now completely Finished and about time to. Time to move on people and join The Workers Party of Britain. You;’ll find no sodding right wing of poison in our party.
It seems that “Partygate” isn’t confined to the Tories now…………..
Maybe Rayner couldn’t remember because she had been too “tired and emotional”.
Further evidence of what would be under a smarmerist government.
Thank feck it won’t happen.
I STAND WITH JOHN DUNN.
I do not recognise this Labour Party…what appalling news.
so do I. Solidarity, John.
Orgreave totally exposed police thuggery and a shamesless and vicious abuse of power against proud decent men by a vile power obsessed government. The Miners wanted to do a dirty and dangerous job underground mining coal rather than endure unemployment and the poverty and deprivation that went with it. Remember their slogan “Coal not Dole”? For this they were flayed alive by the Tories the BBC and the MSM. They were also betrayed by Neil Kinnock who in effect supported Thatcher’ in her determination to destroy the NUM . Is anybody surprised therefore that John Dunn was no platformed by Starmers Labour. Solidarity John.
As an aside I would say it horrified me that Orgreave is now represented by a Tory but on reflection given that Gareth Snell was the Labour candidate that doesn’t surprise me either.
Solidarity with miner John Dunn and his quest to publicise the brutality imposed in the ’80s by police officers on striking miners. His Orgrave Peace & Justice Campaign is an important public service.
Ex-MP Gareth Craig Snell, on the other hand, resembles a pile of steaming shite in many regards. Formerly the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 2017 to 2019 and a member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, the former MP is a neoliberal of very little brain and confused by the similarity of the words (again!).
“Orgrave Peace and Justice Campaign” just sounds too darned-similar to thecorbynproject.com’s “Peace & Justice Project”, doesn’t it? I mean, what’s a not-very-bright RW labourite to do? It’s an easy mistake for a pile of still-steaming excretia to make!
Solidarity with Dierdre Barlow as well!
This is both crass and rude. A fair-minded position to adopt would have been to honour the invitation, acknowledging that the individual was suspended from the party but that they were speaking as a representative of the Orgreave campaign. This would not have challenged the legitimacy of the individual’s suspension one way or the other and demonstrated that the party was capable of listening to those beyond a cabal of true believers.
The ONLY way, in my opinion, is to BREAK the habit. Swinging from BLUE to RED waving parasites, CRUSHES change. Yes, the blue lot r evil corrupt greedy liars, and perverted too. But so are Mandelson’s lot. They’ve not hidden it.
We ENABLE injustice and almost sharp danger by being blinded by LABELS / red rosettes etc. Keith’s lot have repeated openly over and over that they want to destroy “the left”. If they’re that brazen now, just think how much more dangerous they’ll be with any more power. Just think. We will be well and truly stuffed.
Use stealth, coordination, organisation, to vote tactically. Get together with others to find alternatives to give your votes.
Find candidates from The Socialist Worker, Communist Party, Workers Party, Independents, new parties… even the Green’s … even WITH GREAT CARE of research, Limp Dims holding your noses if necessary. Yes, Limp Dims r well known to be untrustworthy like Clegg, but we have an emergency situation.
We MUST STOP parasites‼️ URGENT this is. Mandelson & WMD Blair controlled Sir Keith will, without batting an eyelid, introduce the most acidic laws to crush not just us but workers in general‼️ They will crush attempts to get fair pay; crush attempts to stop outsourcing and rampant privatisation; crush attempts to get equality under the law, eg EQUAL prosecution and fines for the 1% as the 99%. NB, Durham police r failing to charge Sir Keith’s Covid-19 gatherings and Johnson’s lot getting £50.00 fines DESPITE even students being fined £10,000.00. Ditto small business owners who were fined £10,
We are in SERIOUS danger if Mandelson & WMD Blair get any closer to power via their tool Sir Keith Starmer. We need to stop they while we assemble a TRUE choice for “the many”
🌓👁🗨‼️🌓👁🗨‼️🌓👁🗨‼️
OF COURSE – owners who were fined £10,000.00
Solidarity with the Orgreave comrades.
A noted lack of posting from the resident smarmerite… Can’t think why! 😗🎵
Maybe too concerned with a victim of harassment from a labour MP, rather than victims of an abominable stitch-up, perpetrated by thatcher and the old bill.
Mind you, it doesn’t show any concern for victims of CSA, or even victims of keef’s purge as well as his lawbreaking 😒