Right-wingers hammered in Socialist Health Association elections said to be aiming to disaffiliate SHA on pretext after organisation condemned Starmer and sidekick Streeting for appalling health policy
The Labour right is angling to kick the Socialist Health Association (SHA) out of the party after the faction was crushed in the SHA’s internal elections – and in revenge for the SHA’s resounding condemnation of Labour’s privatisation-friendly health policy.
The right-wing slate had tried to boycott the elections claiming, presumably after seeing how poor their chances were, that the election was set up against them – but left it too late and the vote went ahead, with the right losing by a ratio of roughly six to one. As one wag put it, it must have been quite some fix to achieve that kind of ratio.
The previous SHA exec last month issued a scathing condemnation of Keir Starmer and his health spokesman Wes Streeting’s plan to extend the use of private healthcare in the NHS, the contempt the pair have shown for the health policy unanimously voted for by Labour members at last year’s party conference and the pair’s readiness to accept large donations from donors with private health interests – a position now resoundingly re-endorsed by SHA members:
At the 2022 Labour Party Conference, the Health Composite Motion moved by the Socialist Health Association (“SHA”) stated that Labour would adopt “a position of outright opposition to and commit to vote against any and all forms of privatisation of the NHS” and “commit to returning all privatised portions of the NHS to public control upon forming a Government”. It also banned Labour MPs from accepting donations from private companies interested in outsourcing NHS functions. See Conference Arrangements Committee Report 4, page 12.
The SHA’s motion was endorsed by a compositing process involving rank and file members, local constituency parties, trade unions, and the shadow frontbench. The Labour Conference passed it unanimously.
The NHS is at breaking point after 12 years of Tory privatisation and outsourcing. It is therefore beyond disappointing that Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting has come out in favour of using private providers to bring down NHS waiting lists.
That is not the position democratically agreed at Labour Conference. And it is simply wrong, for the following reasons.
- It is simply wrong to say that the private sector has greater capacity to clear NHS backlogs. The people working in the private healthcare sector are, by and large, the same doctors and nurses who work in the NHS, and with the exception of the overseas health workers, the vast majority of them were trained in the NHS. Every hour of staff time devoted to private healthcare is an hour of staff time taken away from public healthcare for those who need it most.
- It is simply wrong to say that the private sector is more “efficient”. One example of this is that the Institute for Public Policy Research has found that Tony Blair’s Private Finance Initiatives cost the NHS almost £80 billion for only £13 billion of investment. The only party which benefits ‘efficiently’ from private finance is big finance – not patients.
- It is shameful that the Shadow Cabinet has failed to stand shoulder to shoulder with health unions in demanding fair pay and conditions for their members. The BMA has calculated that junior doctors have suffered a real pay cut of 26.1% since 2008 – meaning an exodus of qualified doctors driven out of the public sector just when patients need them most. Staff working conditions are patient treatment conditions.
The impetus for Labour’s ban on accepting donations from private companies interested in outsourcing NHS functions was a report that, in 2022, Wes Streeting accepted a £15,000 donation from hedge fund manager John Armitage. Mr Armitage’s fund owns shares worth more than half a billion dollars in UnitedHealth. UnitedHealth is America’s largest health insurer. It has spent millions of dollars lobbying US politicians against healthcare reform through seven different lobbying forms. This includes lobbying against the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would guarantee supplies to insulin to diabetics who depend on it to survive. It is one of the largest profiteers from NHS outsourcing and one of the biggest potential beneficiaries of future privatisation.
It is therefore also beyond disappointing to see that Wes Streeting has accepted a further £60,000 from MPM Connect. Wes Streeting and the other recipients funds from MPM Connect (including Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Mayor Dan Jarvis) should urgently confirm just what MPM Connect does; the terms under which they accepted a total of £340,000 from MPM Connect; just what MPM Connect expects in return; and whether its “investments in the employment sector” include further NHS outsourcing.
Accepting donations from private companies interested in NHS outsourcing creates an apparent conflict of interest, and undermines public confidence in Labour’s commitment to rebuilding a publicly owned and provided NHS.
We call on Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting to commit to the policy democratically agreed by the Labour Party – preventing further privatisation and immediately returning all privatised parts of the NHS to public ownership and control.
Mark Ladbrooke
SHA Chair
Harry Stratton
SHA SecretaryEsther Giles
SHA Treasurer
In apparent revenge, Skwawkbox understands that the Labour right – which now dominates the party’s national executive, is planning to table a move to expel or disaffiliate the SHA from the party, on the pretext that the result was somehow rigged despite the massive majority for the left slate, along with the membership status of one or more of the SHA’s elected officers.
The gross hypocrisy of this excuse cannot be overstated. The right-wing ‘Jewish Labour movement’ – of which many of the SHA right-wingers are strong supporters – was not disaffiliated by the party even though it retained members and officers who were actively, openly and officially campaigning against Labour and for the CUK ‘funny tinge’ party in UK elections, an act that is supposed to result in automatic expulsion and lengthy ineligibility to rejoin.
But it seems the right is so desperate to eradicate any left strongholds in the party – and to cover up the betrayal of the NHS by what passes for Labour’s ‘leadership’ – that it will resort to even the most grotesque and shameless lengths to achieve it.
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Starmer taking the title of world’s biggest snowflake. “No-one is allowed to criticise me! Or I’ll take my ball away!” Pathetic.
Or world’s biggest liability. His/Sunak’s fawning over Zelensky during today’s PR stunt has just shifted the MSM propaganda up a gear so we can be in no doubt, if the US Empire is going down, he’s quite prepared to take us all with it. PMQs today was horrific and the enthusiasm shown to Zelensky’s “fighter jets now” fait accompli demand made my blood run cold.
These maniacs are going to get us all killed.
Starmer clearly has his orders from the Trllateral Commission – the political arm of American foreign policy to run the world for its sole advsantage.
That why he slavishly supports NATO …. the military arm of American foreign policy in Europe.
Starmer is the only member of the House of Commons to be a member of the Trilateral Commission.
Check it out on Wikipedia.
johnsco1- If the trilateral commission is such a big deal can you explain why despite more than ample opportunity not one person challenged Keir about it throughout the many leadership hustings and why nothing of substance has been published about it for several decades.
I just hope to see how the BBC and the rest of the MSM respond to the collapse of Elensky’s government ( they made illegal the use of the capital “Z” as it is a Russian symbol in this conflict) after the Russians make their push. Having “almost run out of missiles and ammunition” countless times in this conflict, I am surprised they are still fighting.
If they are supported by Boris Johnson, there must be something funny about this Ukraine situation. Unlike Boris, we need to be honest about it.
Two Cheeks
He was not challenged for the simple reason he promised to be a good Socialist, how’s that going
The man is a 50 faced lying cheating scumbag
If you were a democrat and not a Hitler apologist, you would support the leadership election being cancelled and replaced with Keith v Jeremy winner takes all, in other words if JC were to win then all Red Tories have to go forth and multiply
The One Nation Tory party needs you
Doug – I’m not surprised that you’ve yet again felt the need to prop up your rather naive contribution with childish insults
He was not challenged for the simple reason he promised to be a good Socialist, how’s that going
The man is a 50 faced lying cheating scumbag
Or in other words despite it not being a secret nobody thought it was of any consequence. 🤔
If you were a democrat and not a Hitler apologist, you would support the leadership election being cancelled and replaced with Keith v Jeremy winner takes all, in other words if JC were to win then all Red Tories have to go forth and multiply
Yet more pointless childish posturing from yourself, we both know that is never going to happen. We don’t even know whether JC will stand at the next election, he’s still doing what he does best. However, having said that have you forgotten that in the run up to the 19GE two thirds of the electorate were expressing a distaste for Jeremy and that during the 2020 leadership there was a poll that asked Labour Party members ‘Who would you vote for if Jeremy Corbyn was on the ballot paper alongside Keir. Lisa and Little Becky’
RLB’s vote collapsed, JC got <⅓ of the vote and Keir still won with an overall majority. Why would Labour members (are you one?) vote to be behind in the polls again?
The One Nation Tory party needs you
They’ve obviously got you already. You’re the ToryBoy campaigning against the Labour Party and for another Conservative government. Are you a good socialist?
Fair point johnsco1.
There was quite a lengthy thorough piece on Starmer’s involvement and the Trilateral Commission’s history on Labour Heartlands site a couple of years ago – entitled
‘Sir Keir Starmer: The Trilateral Commission and Jeffrey Epstein’. See link
https://labourheartlands.com/sir-keir-starmer-the-establishment-candidate-the-labour-leadership-race-and-the-trilateral-commission/
Bernie – Thanks for confirming my point, the article you link to is relying on the questionable credibility of stuff that was published 40 years ago. As I said above ‘nothing of substance has been published about it for several decades’. One has to wonder why. 🤔
Fair Point timfrom.
Unfortunately anyone that points this out inevitably gets smeared as a Putin apologist by those neoliberal idiots who never said a word about Blair going on riding holidays and exchanging gifts with Putin.
They don’t really want us to enquire whether any of the sums in Peter Mandelson’s accounts is Russian Oligarch money. We are not really supposed to notice who over many years has been accepting the hospitality of Lebdev and Abramovitich.
Shameless!
Just to be clear the Trilateral Commission which Starmer joined, was founded in 1973 (accounting for the decades of its back-history).
So Labour Heartlands have done a very good job in unearthing its historic back-story, Keir Starmer’s joining of it and links to Jeffery Epstein (and to be clear, there is also photographic evidence of Starmer’s alliance with Mandelson and his association with Epstein).
Remember Starmer was born in 1962 – 11 years before the Trilateral Commission’s founding – so only joined its as an adult, once it was well and truly up and flourishing as an organisation.
They’d hardly be records of his membership of an organisation and collaboration with people that did not exist. See link.
https://labourheartlands.com/sir-keir-starmer-the-establishment-candidate-the-labour-leadership-race-and-the-trilateral-commission/
Expel the Socialist Health Association ….. ???
I defy the bastards to do it.
Come on then.
Let’s stop running away from a fight we can win and take them on.
As for Streeting …
He makes a turd look respectable.
timfrom – What made my blood run cold was when Putin, a corrupt dictator, perused his delusional imperialist wet dream ambitions by invading Ukraine.
What is it that as a self professed socialist you admire about a fascist dictator like Putin?
What do socialists like yourself have in common with Putin?
Steve H……..”what makes my blood run cold”…is the casual way you dismiss the contempt you and your Labour party have for the National Health service that the Labour party gave to the people’ of Britain …..absolute BTeam,
I would have thought that any decent human being would have found that his/her blood ran cold when seeing the images of anti-coup demonstrators, who had taken refuge in the Trades Union Building in Odessa in 2014, being burned to death by the mob supporting the unconstitutional transfer of power. Anyone who can’t acknowledge the event is so low that s/he not worth debating with.
1) He stands up for his people
2) He stands up to NATO
3) The Putin Derangement Syndrome he inspires in posturing Liberals like YOU! (I kinda liked Trump for the same reasons).
What is it you like about Biden, one corrupt dictator with delusional imperialist wet dreams, arming another, using a third corrupt actual fascist dictator as a proxy? Nothing very Leader Of The Free World about THAT!
Thank you timfrom. I now understand that posturing liberals is what is meant by “virtue signalling”.
timfrom – Putin has a long history corruption and persecution. The only people who Putin stands up for are his fellow oligarchs.
Two Cheeks
Are there any food banks in Russia, do they have period poverty, starving children, parents unable to wash their children’s clothes, public services run into the ground, councils going bankrupt, our Democracy utterly corrupted by two Tory parties
Astronomical inequality, trillions given to the Rich, for what
Now can you answer my previous question
Who is the most corrupt country in the world, just ahead of Ukraine
How many War crimes have been committed by the Nazis against the Russians and Ukrainians
I was taught it was the 27 million Russians who tore the guts out of the Nazis, we owe them everything
Doug – Two Cheeks You really should grow up a bit.
Are there any food banks in Russia, do they have period poverty, starving children, parents unable to wash their children’s clothes, public services run into the ground, councils going bankrupt, our Democracy utterly corrupted by two Tory parties
Like you, I don’t know about poverty in Russia. However it is undeniable that Putin’s war is responsible for millions of children going hungry worldwide.
As for the 2 Tory Parties neither of them is doing very well in the polls
Astronomical inequality, trillions given to the Rich, for what
Yes there is astronomical inequality in Russia. It is shameful how Putin and his oligarch cronies have enriched themselves on the backs of the Russian people.
Now can you answer my previous question
Who is the most corrupt country in the world, just ahead of Ukraine
I’m struggling to see the point you are so desperate to make?
In the ‘Corruption Perceptions Index’ (CPI) Ukraine is at position 116 out of 180 whilst Putin’s Russia is trailing way behind at position 137. Please feel free to check it out for yourself.
How many War crimes have been committed by the Nazis against the Russians and Ukrainians
You’ll have consult the WW2 records for that info, I’m not going to do it for you. Thankfully in this conflict international bodies are collecting the evidence of war crimes so hopefully both sides will be held to account for any war crimes.
I was taught it was the 27 million Russians who tore the guts out of the Nazis, we owe them everything
I’m surprised you haven’t appreciated that the defeat of Hitler was facilitated and made possible through the grand alliance of the UK, USA and Russia. Have you forgotten the $180,000,000,000+ (today’s money) of wartime aid that was provided to Russia by the west and the many brave sailors who manned the Arctic convoys delivering war aid to Russia (many of who lost their supporting Russia’s fight against Hitler lives)
“perused”? ……………. are we having to get used to using another word as meaning something that it doesn’t mean?
goldbach- Thanks for pointing out my typo. I obviously meant to say pursued but you knew that already. 😏
Goldbach,
Re your comment above @ 11.31: You got it. Better late than never!
The problem with the SHA, as I found on becoming a member, was their then adoption of the IHRA definitions of antisemitism, in full and without reservation. For me, that is far from a socialist perspective of the issue which I duly pointed out in my immediate resignation.
So bear in mind, when they criticise Starmer & co, they still align in other ways unacceptable to many of us.
I would not be surprised if the NEC moves to disaffiliate the HSA, if would be a mistake but, in what now passes for a Socialist Democratic Party, their isn’t room for socialist.
I would be willing to donate towards an advert on from page in the Guardian and the Mirror, stating something along the lines
” We are/were Labour Party members in favour of a publicly own NHS. It is with sadness and almost regret that we have to urge the public not to vote for the Labour Party”
Many members of the HSA are Dr, nurses and other health related profession; such an advert will be amplify by the Tories controlled MSM stating that doctors and nurses don’t support Labour. I don’t see Starmer winning the GE after such and advert.
The JLM was Corbyn’s kryptonite, the SHA could very well be Starmer’s. The right needs to understand that some of us on the left are advanced learners; everything that the right teached us on their tactics against Corbyn, some of us on the left can do better than them. We are just warming up.
Maria
We know no one will vote for Red Tories, the War Criminal lost 5 million votes
There is not a snowballs chance of them winning a majority
Doug – The polls clearly and consistently show that they are more than willing to vote for the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer. Today’s opinion poll gives Labour a 26% point lead.
The latest MRP poll is very encouraging
“SNP ‘would overtake Tories in snap Westminster election’
The exclusive, large-scale MRP poll of 28,000 people found that if there were an imminent general election the Tories would be left with fewer seats than the SNP. Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, would be the Leader of the Opposition.
The figures, from pollsters Find Out Now and experts Electoral Calculus, report Labour winning 49 per cent of the vote and the Tories down to 23 per cent.
MRP polling means results in individual seats can be calculated. The polling forecast that Labour would gain 306 seats, taking its total number of MPs to a record 509 out of 650 seats available.
The SNP is the next largest party in the Commons, with 50 MPs, while the Conservatives would be in third place with just 45, down from 365 at the 2019 election.
The Liberal Democrats would more than double their number of MPs from 11 to 23. Plaid Cymru and the Greens are unchanged at four MPs and one respectively.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/02/08/snap-election-would-leave-tories-westminsters-third-party/
Given that you have nothing to offer by the way of a credible alternative you should be celebrating the upcoming Labour victory,
The JLM was Corbyn’s kryptonite, the SHA could very well be Starmer’s.
Would it though, Maria? As I pointed out above, they accepted the IHRA definitions without reservation. I’ve no idea how far are they might be aligned, or at least in sympathy, with the JLM in Labour’s antisemitism purges.
PW – the problem with the IHRA definition and its acceptance was that
Corbyn along with many others did not understand that the Jewish Community
(along with most others) had many divisions. It helps if – like me
– you are a person of faith for an immediate analogy comes to mind
of Northern Ireland with the Religious split and its manifestation
Nationalists vs Unionists. . However even I was puzzled for a
while.
(Corbyn spoke of the Jewish Community split
as “Jewish Politics” in one of his statements but of
course it is more than that .. )
This split is a matter for the Jewish Community and certainly
not for Gentiles and it is not proper for them to no-platform one
side – as they have done with JVL and others who do not agree
with JLM.
Michael Crick interviewed some Orthodox Jews who expressed
this opinion – saying that Isreal was an Apartheid State followed
by another interview with some Labour Bod saying this opinion
was Antisemitic! I’ve not got a link ..
Incidentally Michael Crick was on the “Not the Andrew Marr Show”
criticising Starmer over his authoritarianism – here is a link:
Reply to Holby
Your posts has highlighted the big lie – the real scam – that tens of thousands of British Jews who deplore the Israeli government’s abuse of Paletinians are Jew haters – antisemites. We are expected to believe that these honest decent Jewish people have taken collective leave of their senses and now have a vicious and abiding hatred of their families and friends solely because their families and friends are Jews
This is total nonsense of course but if anyone dares to say so they’ll be denounced as an antisemite too.
The Zionists have it all sewn up.They just don’t care who they hurt, whose reputation they trash as long as Israel’s international srtanding is protected.
I am puzzled. I have twice tried to comment here and the comments have never appeared.
Each comment included only one link. Could it be that links to articles that appear on Substack are not accepted? If so, why?
This may get around the problem.
Use google and type “Seymour Hersh substack” and then search.
The second link it finds is entitled “Seymour Hersh reveals how the US blew up Nord Stream 2”.
Those of my generation will recall Seymour Hersh as being an excellent investigative journalist who, amongst other services to the truth, brought the My Lai massacre to public attention. He’s still at it and still has sources that he can rely on.
SHA’s statement on Wes Streeting’s NHS proposals and acceptance of donations from John Armitage and MPM Connect
Yes, Labour’s outsourcing policies make it tory-indistinguishable.
SteveH09/02/2023 AT 1:03 AM
timfrom – What made my blood run cold…
Best of a bad bunch…😙🎵
If Starmers Labour kicks our the Socialist Health Assoc ( its name is enough to get the Right’s hackles rising) along with all those who have ever had any positive association with the “proscribed ” organisations , all left wing Jews, all who agree with human rights for all including Palestinians and all socialists who does Keir Starmer think is going to campaign for or vote for his party.
He isn’t stupid enough to think that he’ll pick up enough votes in the likes of Tonbridge Wells to compensate for the votes lost by his vindictive purge against anybody who isn’t a nodding dog. He has no wish to win the next election. His remit in my opinion is to neuter the party – turn it into a Zionist, socialist free zone -which will be allowed to get into government around 2030.
Starmer will be well rewarded for his services to the Trilateral commission and Zionism -will probably be appointed to the House of Lords , will be co -opted on to the boards of various companies , join the after dinner speech circuit and increase his current wealth of around £7 million by several more millions. I hope it makes him happy and he doesn’t feel he has to hang around the party like a bad smell (like poor old obscenely rich Tony Blair).
Smartboy – Have you seen the latest polls?
https://skwawkbox.org/2023/02/08/exclusive-labour-right-look-to-kick-out-sha-over-criticism-of-streeting-and-crushing-defeat-in-exec-elections/#comment-239704
BREAKING NEWS.
West Lancashire by-election – Labour’s Ashley Dalton secures victory
Ms Dalton secured a majority of 8,321 over Conservative candidate Mike Prendergast, with a 10.52% swing from the Tories to Labour.
Am not sure that he does not want to win the next election – my theory
is that he is incompetent and does not understand politics.
If he had understood politics he would not have advocated Ref2 –
it was a obvious it would be a disastrous policy after the local Elections
in May – as the Labour leaders of the Council in the Red Wall seats
pointed out .. The policy was also hopelessly formulated and ended up
as a mess.
He certainly does not understand what is going on in Northern Ireland –
where the Unionists have been lied to by Johnson about the NI border.
It was obvious to anyone that the only solution was for the UK
to be in the Single Market along with Northern Ireland – but now this
has been ruled out ..
Yes Joseph okeefe
There is an all too familiar attempt to Troll-us off the NHS and Labour Party democracy topic here.
If Russia/Ukraine really was the main topic it might be worth mentioning…
Victoria Nuland, the 2014 coup, the US pumping arms tech into Ukraine, the fact Ukraine has Nazis threatening ethnic-Russians that populate the country’s east.
The Russians had far more to fear than Blair did from Iraq – a country that could scarcely keep its lights on after years of sanctions.
Whether Russia had a Czar, Soviet Polit-Bureau or Oligarch they would have all reacted the same once covid lifted and mobility became possible.
A reply to someone who asked (in principle);
If Boris supports a thing there must be something bad about it.
Well Boris supports anything the public supports –
but he is a stinking hypocrite for a year ago money
from thieving Russian oligarchs was seeping into Tory coffers
– and Boris refused to do anything about it. The Times wrote
about it several times mentioning that the children
off the oligarchs were buying up half of Mayfair even as the tanks
were gathering.
This was pointed out by Corbyn years ago but he was booed by
Tories and not supported by his Labour MPs. The Russian opposition
deputy (in exile) wanted the UK to control this money – stating that
this was an effective measure because it could not be used as
propaganda by Putin.
Corbyn and McDonnell wanted the Magnitski Act to be enacted –
it took the Tories till 2021 to do that ..
Smartboy – there has been a purge of Jewish
LP members who express reservations about
Zionism .. or for other spurious reasons.
I have been following JVL – and found out some
very interesting and informative things from them.
One point – many or most of those who persecute
non-Zionists Jews could not care less about Juda-ism
or the Jewish scriptures. The prophets were not
afraid of criticising those in power in Israel .. and
were very keen on justice.
The Kahanists are in the govt in Israel now – and
it is worth pointing out that the late Kahane (who they follow)
was briefly a member of Knesset but was boycotted by
other members who would walk out when he spoke. His
opinions were obnoxious and he was eventually
branded a Terrorist ..