Left-wing Cynon Valley MP Beth Winter faces a fight today to defeat a party-rigged selection process to retain her candidacy against right-wing Starmeroid Gerald Jones, as the online hustings in the truncated selection process – the only opportunity the party has allowed in its attempts to disadvantage her in the Labour selection contest for the soon-to-be created Upper Cynon and Merthyr Tydfil seat.
While the usual period for parliamentary selections is six to twelve weeks, the Welsh executive – which has slavishly followed the dictates of Keir Starmer – voted narrowly to shorten this contest to just a couple of weeks, subsequently extended only slightly, and to rule out any in-person hustings. As Winter’s constituency party has fewer members than Jones’s, this reduced the amount of time for other members in the new constituency to get to know her and short contests are a common tactic used by the right to prevent left-wing candidates gaining traction.
While Ms Winter joined other ‘Socialist Campaign Group’ members in withdrawing her signature from a Stop the War letter on Ukraine under Keir Starmer’s threat of deselection, she has refused to toe his pro-war, anti-democratic, anti-worker line on other matters and has defied him to stand on picket lines with striking workers – a principled stand that cost her a front-bench position for ignoring Starmer to vote against Tory legislation to make it harder for British troops and agents to be prosecuted for torture and other war crimes.
As a result, Winter has the support of unions such as the CWU, UCU, FBU, Merthyr Tydfil trades council and of the better union leaders like Mick Lynch and Mark Serwotka. Her team say they believe they can win, but there can be little doubt that the entire process has been set up to favour the right-wing Jones, who was an enthusiastic participant in the anti-Corbyn smear campaign and even reportedly supported right-winger Ruth Smeeth in her false antisemitism accusations against Black activist Marc Wadsworth.
The vote closes at noon on Tuesday. Solidarity with Beth Winter as she fights Starmer’s unprincipled and anti-democratic purge of left MPs.
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The Labour right has engineer that only women lists no longer apply arguing that half of Labour MPs are women.
It makes easier for the leadership to remove socialist women when competing with a right wing Labour MP.
Good luck but why bother? Go independent
NVLA, I hope that if Winters loses, she immediately states her resolve of standing as an independent socialist.
She would need to start campaigning straight away as an independent, to stand a chance of keeping the seat.
An aside:
Here’s Anatol Lieven, in Responsible Statecraft, suggesting that it would be best to have a referendum in Mitrovice on reuniting with Serbia.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/06/02/ethnic-conflict-in-kosovo-cutting-the-gordian-knot/
Certain female Labour MPs only became candidates because of “women-only” lists, and the best example of that is Lisa Nandy.
Incidentally, those of us who follow her progress “at distance” will have noticed that her Centre for Towns think-tank has disappeared from the scene, although often mentioned by her friends in the media, as if it gives her otherwise much needed credibility.
In the final analysis, Starmer’s Stalinist, right wing reconstruction of the PLP will prove disasterous for the future of what remains of Labour as a national party.
Breaking News
“Left-leaning Welsh Labour MP [Beth Winter] says process ‘unfair’ after losing selection bid
A left-leaning Welsh Labour MP has said the democratic process has been undermined after losing the selection contest for a new seat.
Beth Winter claimed she will be “taking advice and soundings” on her next steps after Gerald Jones was announced as the candidate for Merthyr Tydfil and Upper Cynon.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/national/23573918.left-leaning-welsh-labour-mp-says-process-unfair-losing-selection-bid/