This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[MaxQue]

This seems like a massive overreaction, though I'll admit I'm not an expert on antisemitism in the UK or the UK in general. With that being said, can someone explain to me why the EHRC has elected not to investigate Islamophobia within the Conservatives? It seems to me that that's objectively at least a large problem, if not larger than the antisemitism within Labour, and it seems that there's a vastly different standard being applied to the parties here.

Between Jewish and Mulisms, only one of the two have an influence over institutions.
Between Corbyn and Johnson, only one of the two doesn't adhere to the "liberal" "consensus".

[MaxQue]

Who says that mine is a charitable view? Nothing remotely charitable about it. But we know that things like this have been happening (or claimed to have) for decades, despite* the constant very high turnover of staff in HQ (which, ftr, is underfunded and understaffed even at the best of times, and these are not those), and we know that basic inability to deal with volume is a problem from a recent detailed report that touched on the administrative shortcomings of the organisation.

_{*Or in part because?}

If UK Labour is anything like Canada's NDP, the staffers think they know better than both the members and the MPs, and try to grab as much power as possible. Party staffing should always be kept to the minimum possible.

[MaxQue]

Why would you follow Owen Jones? Regardless of how you feel about his politics, his Twitter timeline is just deeply tedious and self-regarding.

Because he's an erudite voice for the left in Britain and, self-evidently, an important one. Otherwise minor moments like this wouldn't be talked about so much.

Perhaps that's not necessarily a good thing?

It is not, but it is the consequence of Labour doing everything it can to silence left-wing voices since the mid 90's.

[MaxQue]

I’m not sure why it matters but looks like another clean sweep for Labour to win (the pro-Keir faction) at south east region conference.

This follows wins in London and I think the East recently.

Was it an election or an electoral-type event with the Party deciding the results beforehand?

[MaxQue]

You have simply restated a view that most will not agree with.

I do agree with you that the Speaker should have a "symbolic" rather than real constituency - but the argument has been it benefits them to still do some "ordinary" political work.

I'm just not understanding what abuse you could forsee happening, could you give me an example of a situation where the rule would be problematic ?

A party could easily abuse that to get rid of an internal opponent.

[MaxQue]

You have simply restated a view that most will not agree with.

I do agree with you that the Speaker should have a "symbolic" rather than real constituency - but the argument has been it benefits them to still do some "ordinary" political work.

I'm just not understanding what abuse you could forsee happening, could you give me an example of a situation where the rule would be problematic ?

A party could easily abuse that to get rid of an internal opponent.

Well all major parties have rule-books setting up administrative processes required to expel a member of the political party. MPs who feel that they were being purged can apply for judicial review to ensure that the proper administrative procedures and due process were offered to the MP before they were removed. This is well-established legal ground and is precisely what happened here when a party tried to use it in bad faith (and as a result of the attempt have never held a single seat since while the expelled MP was continuously re-elected until 2011)


https://twwst.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/looking-backwards-chiam-see-tongs-legacy-in-the-sdp-part-1/

The problem is that UK courts are of the opinion it's not their role to review internal decisions by political parties.

[MaxQue]

Curse of the 2017 intake- Rosie Duffield is 'considering my future in the party very carefully'.

https://twitter.com/RosieDuffield1/status/1487777220135464960

Would be good riddance actually. She is a one-trick pony focused exclusively on one issue (in which she is at odds with her university-dominated constituency).

[MaxQue]

I suspect that there'll be a lot of "don't let the door hit you on the way out" type reactions...

However, I'm a little conflicted here.  I don't have much time for her position on the issue she's most associated with, but if she's really been the victim of "obsessive harassment" as she claims, then that shouldn't be acceptable (and, frankly, the people responsible aren't helping their cause much).

The party should help her if she is victim of harassment, but there is harassment and there is "those nasty people keep vocally disagreeing with me".

[MaxQue]

I think he was one of the few mps at risk of being deselect in 2019

Yes, and relative to pretty much everyone on that wing, not entirely unsurprisingly. The person I was most surprised about being triggered was Diana Johnson, though I assume that was a local thing.

Iirc it was local and generational; she is from right and always came across as a parliamentarian rather than a constituency MP.

Funnily enough every triggered MP was triggered because of local factors and it was just as likely to be done by the right.

There are also some like Virenda Sharma who I don’t think actually have a faction or ideology.

How(and also why) do you become an MP without one ?

I don’t know Ealing Labour politics but I’m sure that Al or others will be able to tell the story better than I can about how Virenda get selected…

Wasn't it a case of the NEC excluding the frontrunner endorsed by the late MP and only shortlisting Sharma and the candidate the NEC really wanted?

[MaxQue]

A sign of the Times- only four Labour MPs voted against the pro abortion measure today that allows for telemedicine abortion pills. The PLP use to have at least 20-40 antis- they were iirc often from the North-West or Scotland.

I was confused by Meg Hillier voting against.

Why were you. She was involved in the 2008 efforts to reduce the abortion deadline. and she is a Catholic.

[MaxQue]

A sign of the Times- only four Labour MPs voted against the pro abortion measure today that allows for telemedicine abortion pills. The PLP use to have at least 20-40 antis- they were iirc often from the North-West or Scotland.

I was confused by Meg Hillier voting against.

It also passed, because 72 Conservatives voted for the amendment despite the government being against it. So, 4 Labour, Tim Farron, 175 Conservatives and the DUP were against.

[MaxQue]

I wonder if it is like in Canada, where we have a similar scandal where the President of the largest union got bribes to lobby other members and businesses about a specific brand of what you call a lateral flow test.

[MaxQue]

Tony Blair praises digital identiy card and talks about mistaken ideas about privacy in the UK preventing Id cards. Praises gaming for creating online communities and relationships

Tony Blair is a Gamer/Pro-Gamer?

Tony Blair will be anything you want him to be, as long you pay him enough.

[MaxQue]

Some people "close to" Starmer seem to think he is genuinely confident he won't be fined.

(though of course that *could* be a front/bluff)

If those people are his advisers, I would be worried if I was Starmer.

[MaxQue]

I can see that viewpoint, but there are certainly those in party HQ delusional enough to think that the "anointed choice" would simply have been accepted with little or no demur.

It seems a combination of that and Cornell having some (fairly mild) leftist affiliations got combined in what proved to be a highly toxic mix.

One can certainly see selections being raised as a hot topic at this year's conference, put it that way.

And I assume the NEC will do as they did last year; finding a legal reason to disobey conference decisions?

[MaxQue]

Also, I would consider the possibility the NEC tries to butt in the process, like they did with nominations.

[MaxQue]

Of course, the Very Online Left decided a while back that Shaheen was a contemptible sellout.

This hasn't stopped even more contemptible aggro-centrists (eg Ian Leslie) smearing her.

And despicable Labour to Win in general.

[MaxQue]

Of course, the Very Online Left decided a while back that Shaheen was a contemptible sellout.

This hasn't stopped even more contemptible aggro-centrists (eg Ian Leslie) smearing her.

And despicable Labour to Win in general.

I mean I will broadly be voting the LtW slate and very much don’t think that’s the view of most people on the Labour right- I was going to say that the vast majority of people getting outraged over her winning are the types who didn’t even vote for Labour in 2010, and consider anyone to the left of Ed Miliband as a trot.

They’re the types who regularly foam that Starmer is too weak and soft on the left which is a obviously a load of rubbish.

That's a tweet about that selection by the LtW national organiser.

https://twitter.com/DuddridgeLloyd/status/1546800715850567680

[MaxQue]

Of course, the Very Online Left decided a while back that Shaheen was a contemptible sellout.

This hasn't stopped even more contemptible aggro-centrists (eg Ian Leslie) smearing her.

And despicable Labour to Win in general.

I mean I will broadly be voting the LtW slate and very much don’t think that’s the view of most people on the Labour right- I was going to say that the vast majority of people getting outraged over her winning are the types who didn’t even vote for Labour in 2010, and consider anyone to the left of Ed Miliband as a trot.

They’re the types who regularly foam that Starmer is too weak and soft on the left which is a obviously a load of rubbish.

That's a tweet about that selection by the LtW national organiser.

https://twitter.com/DuddridgeLloyd/status/1546800715850567680

Not sure what the point is here, you had a candidate who supports Starmer & a candidate who doesn’t - and was closely associated with Ken Loach (and to my knowledge hasn’t disavowed him). It’s hardly an unfair accusation.

She is so anti-Starmer that she put him (Starmer, not Loach) on her leaflets.

[MaxQue]

...but are they really trying to say no-one else in the PLP stayed awake for the "E" section of their PPE courses?

Funnily enough it happens that on that course you only follow up with two elements of the three into your Finals: Economics is usually the bit that gets dropped. There's actually a serious lack of knowledge of economics at Westminster in general at the moment, and it's a cross-party issue: the Tories have a lot of MPs with Finance backgrounds, but that's really not the same thing at all.

Over this particular issue there's a tendency towards mild dishonesty in Labour circles all round: it isn't true to say that nationalising a large swathe of utilities and infrastructure was easily affordable two years ago but is not now (even if the situation has deteriorated), but it also isn't true to say that doing that would be easily affordable at all and that it practically pays for itself. It comes down - as is usually the case with the Labour Party - to priorities rather than either possibilities or principles, and it's clear that there's been a shift there.* But I think perhaps it isn't so strange that it's difficult to discuss issues around public ownership in a straightforward manner given the Party's history: altogether too much fraught symbolism for everyone, even if most of it is beyond irrelevant to how things are now.

_{*Which may be related to a trickier fiscal position than a few years ago. Which may be related to the Schools And Hospitals brigade being more influential in the Shadow Cabinet than a year ago. Which may be related to the personal preferences of the two Shadow Chancellors. Though it's likely to be a combination of all, plus a few other factors as well.}

The frustrating thing is that I feel there isn’t even any appetite in the party to use the tools of the state to tame the privatised industries- the water companies are universally hated for pumping sewage into our rivers and the domestic electricity supplier market has virtually collapsed- I could live with some fudge around the ownership model if say Labour were going to basically call for a stricter price cap on bills- I mean all of the companies who would go bust have already done so!

Oh there's plenty *in the party* (as opposed to the leadership)

I don't think the leadership is actually having much of a position on it (Starmer doesn't seem to know or care much abour economics), it's the terrible people like Reeves and the Oxbridge educated SpAds to care more about their bottom line than politics.

[MaxQue]

Bit of a bizarre suicide-by-cop situation, but I wouldn't have indulged him and don't really see the point in doing so.

He's probably afraid the far-right of the party will resume plotting against him and briefing hostile newspapers id he does nothing.

There is an easy solution. Remove that silly ban on the frontbench attending picket lines.

[MaxQue]

Cruddas did announce his retirement at a v late stage.

Tarry is lucky the council leader is going for Barking- Rodwell is very popular.

Barking is a bunfight, Ibrahim Dogus (big donor, West Brom candidate in 2019) is also going for it - and I’ve heard of at least two ex-MP’s sniffing around. He may decide Dagenham is an easier selection to win even if the general election is harder (though I’d agree it’s unlikely).

The main problem for the council leader in Dagenham is Cruddas himself, who made it very clear he heavily dislikes him (and also those members who are in Havering wards).

[MaxQue]

Anybody know why Ian Byrne is facing issues in his selection?

I know there was issues over his original selection (iirc some local cllrs and others were kept off the shortlist) but he’s not really annoyed anyone in THIGMOO.

Labour North West want to place one of their staff in, it seems.

[MaxQue]

Comrades, it's Easter Sunday. Log off, don't text or DM journalists, get a life.

They are probably staffers, not comrades and their whole life is to be parasites feeding from the political system while bringing nothing of value.

[MaxQue]

Surprising, and frankly bizarre decision.

https://labourlist.org/2023/06/metro-mayor-jamie-driscoll-north-tyne-north-east-left-nec-ban/

Not surprising. If anyone on the left had a brain, their main goal would be to heavily weaken the NEC and abolish the general secretary position.