Labour Party (UK) Leadership Election, 2016

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Anyway tomorrow is supposed to be NEC Hot Mess day. Looking forward to it? I'm not! But as well as the vexed matter of ballot access there are other issues relating to a contest that would have to be debated and they could also be important; e.g. cutoff point for new members to be allowed to vote, the exact amount Registered Supporters should have to pay, etc.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but Corbyn will be on the ballot.

It is quite possible that he will be but please never again report journalistic gossip as certain fact. The NEC have not yet met.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Smith is in, supposedly.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Some bozo has commissioned YouGov to do a survey of members of some large affiliated TUs. The numbers are less than wonderful for the incumbent. Full gory details are here.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Clusterfyck day is off to a GREAT start as Corbyn's team are reported to have tried to bump Ashworth out of his NEC seat and are blocked by ShadCab. Lawd.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

They're still in there at present. Who knows how much longer this will take or what they will decide. The GMB's delegate is not present however. Hospital apparently.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Can she vote by Proxy?

Don't believe so. If the vote is close and goes a certain way my God the conspiracy theories...

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Well no, he wouldn't be. He'd just be on the ballot.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes, a secret ballot is the only way that he could be forced to collect signatures. Basically makes the situation entirely unpredictable.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Michael Crick tweets that Corbyn has been told to leave the room (conflict of interest) but is refusing to leave.

...

...

Embarrassing.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

He has now left the room apparently.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Can't work out what he was even playing at there; it's like one of the most basic principles of committees that if you have a conflict of interest you recuse yourself.

Worth noting that if Corbyn resigns a 'left winger' like Lewis/McDonnell would only need 35 nominations to get on the ballot, as it's different during a leadership election (rather than a challenge)

Important point, potentially.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Silence for a while now. Does that mean that ITS HAPPENING or just that someone has confiscated the phones?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's going to last FOR EVER I think. Something that has emerged is that the General Secretary of the Party is only allowing one lawyer (a specialist in the laws of clubs and societies drafted in by those who want Corbyn gone) to present in person.

I think I've reached the point where I'm finding the divers shenanigans of both camps over the past 24hrs to be more amusing than depressing. This is psychologically healthy, probably.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Why not do both?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Reports that a vote could be imminent... though given the way this has gone, perhaps it *will* be on the distribution of sandwiches...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

18-14 for Corbyn to be on the ballot, according to the internet.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Remember I said other things were being decided at that meeting? Six month membership freeze date on voting and Registered Supporters have to pay £25.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oh and the Registered Supporters Scheme will be open for... *drumroll*... three days.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And the ones from last year are deregistered and will have to register again. With that three day window. And twenty five quid rather than three.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's quite amazing that labour has managed to take the "most chaotic political party" label away from the GOP.

Utter nonsense. The Labour Party has been the silliest political party in the world since the day it was founded.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Who decided those entry rules? They're very very very harsh (my only hope is that the saving labour types can afford to pay 25 quid)

The NEC decided them. Would be interesting to find out who proposed them though; I presume Watson or a friend. Almost half wonder whether this was priority no.1 with the ballot access thing being half a long shot and half a distraction?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Shock result from NEC was that Keith Vaz voted with Corbyn- there goes his chance of becoming Speaker.

looooooooool

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The entire RS system should have been scrapped imo.

But political parties are private constitutional societies and have the right to determine their members rights...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If they really fell for the old 'wait till a couple of them have gone home' trick than zero sympathy frankly.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There's something very stupid about PLP. Even if they manage to unseat Corbyn at an election, all of the "voter suppression" they've engaged in will make that a hollow victory.

Wasn't the PLP who drew up the new rules but the NEC. In any case pretty much the only people up in arms about this were voting for Corbyn anyway.

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Left activist types might but they are rather less than 45% of the Labour base however defined.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Assuming accuracy then this tells us nothing new; he's vulnerable (55% approval for a party leader amongst members is kind of sh!t) but beating him is not going to be easy. Will depend on who is nominated and how the campaign goes.