This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[Cassius]

Can't imagine the national Tories are too thrilled about the prospect of a by-election in Moray though

I think they plan to skirt that issue by having Ross remain MP for Moray, for which there is the precedent of Alex Salmond continuing to sit as MP for Banff and Buchan after his election to the Scottish Parliament.

[Blair]

Sure there's a reason (probably to save Labour figures at the time) but it's baffling to me that that being an MP doesn't disqualify you from holding other forms of elective office e.g councillor, MSP or London Assembly Member.

There's irrc a fair few Tory Cllrs who are now MPs miles away from their ward and frankly that's enough of a pisstake but being both an MSP & MP at the same time should not be allowled.

In funny news this is actually a sub plot in the SNP's current wars; as Joanna Cherry has effectively been barred from becoming First Minister as they said in order to run for Holyrood she needed to resign as an MP.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Actually, I believe the decision was even more Machievellian than that - they ruled that she would need to resign in order to put herself forward for the selection.

[Blair]

Actually, I believe the decision was even more Machievellian than that - they ruled that she would need to resign in order to put herself forward for the selection.

We love a stitch up.

Covid-19 has actually hid or delayed the huge internal divisions within the SNP; who've always been remarkably good at keeping this stuff behind closed doors.

[Blair]

The 4 year quest to get Katy Clark a safe seat has paid off; the final act of Corbynism ironically.

[CumbrianLefty]

Yes, such an overall hilariously awful list had to include Labour's own contribution

[Blair]

Yes, such an overall hilariously awful list had to include Labour's own contribution

I should have added of course that Tom Watson was expected to get one as part of his deal but it got blocked; which in a way sums up the last 4 years for him too.

It's good to see Sue Hayman return though; I had suspected Starmer would appoint her (they were very close as she was basically part of the Brexit team)

The political 'non-alligned' list is absolute rubbish; god knows what Kate Hoey and John Woodcock are going to bring to the Lords. The second name very much surprised me as well

[CumbrianLefty]

Whatever happened to Woodcock's "independent investigation" into harassment claims against him?

(he asked cynically)

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

As for SLab potential good leaders, I've liked Paul Sweeney for a while.

[Blair]

As for SLab potential good leaders, I've liked Paul Sweeney for a while.

Yeah both him & Ged Killen were extremely good and a much needed breath of fresh air; it was beyond depressing to have to watch them watch their careers go up in smokes

[Blair]

Big Len clearly reads this thread as we were saying this weeks ago!


https://twitter.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1289641403841093632

The article is well worth reading; as usual it's more well measured than the headline about withdrawing funding (a threat that Len made in 2014 against Ed). There's a line about leaving the fights against Keir unless they're based on policy; this shows that some people within UNITE & the left are actually able to plan ahead

[EastAnglianLefty]

Yes, but union leaders know how their interventions are going to be reported. This is sabre-rattling, the more measured words are just about providing plausible deniability.

[CumbrianLefty]

McCluskey really is incapable of speaking in any other way, though

[Silent Hunter]

If your sabre rattles, it needs fixing.

[CumbrianLefty]

Which is a reason why Turner's possible succession might be welcomed - they appear to be somewhat more from the "speak softly and carry a big stick" school.

[Blair]

Yeah I mean my general rule of Labour internal politics is that if you're complaining loudly & publicly it's because you've already lost the vote/battle/motion etc

[Blair]

In a shock horror I am old enough too to vote for a youth officer, despite having left university almost two years ago!

These races are often extremely petty, hilarous, vicious and mindblowing; so god knows what the result will be. The young labour membership has historically been more right wing than the membership as a whole (it was the section other than Scotland to vote for Owen Smith) but who knows what will happen.

We're at the lucky stage where one NEC vote is no longer a matter of life & death and I expect this will be even more so after the CLP NEC election

Tis begun

[CumbrianLefty]

Barry Sheerman the latest Labour bod to commit an AS related faux pas on social media. Tbh I am increasingly sympathetic to the view that our MPs should be discouraged from contributing on Twitter beyond the absolute minimum.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

This mere days after he made a bizarre semi-defence of Ghislaine Maxwell on the same Platform. He will be eighty in a couple of weeks. Hard not to wonder if we have another case of the Kaufman's on our hands, urgh.

[cp]

Barry Sheerman the latest Labour bod to commit an AS related faux pas on social media. Tbh I am increasingly sympathetic to the view that our MPs should be discouraged from contributing on Twitter beyond the absolute minimum.

Rather galling that Starmer hasn't said anything about this, nevermind disciplined him like RLB. So much for 'zero tolerance' to antisemitism.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm reasonably sure that if Sheerman had been a frontbencher (Heaven forfend!) he'd have been given the sack.

Anyway, a compulsory retirement age for Labour MPs seems increasingly like it would be a good idea. Far too many embarrassments of one sort or another over the past few years, far too many.

[cp]

I'm reasonably sure that if Sheerman had been a frontbencher (Heaven forfend!) he'd have been given the sack.

Anyway, a compulsory retirement age for Labour MPs seems increasingly like it would be a good idea. Far too many embarrassments of one sort or another over the past few years, far too many.

Hypotheses aside, it's still kind of moot. If 'zero tolerance' means anything, then there should be a disciplinary action regardless of the stature within the party. Starmer's said and done literally nothing. Quite telling, sadly.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Potentially the bigger issue long-term (since Sheerman gave an apology that was grudging and half-hearted, but still recognisably an apology) is the furore over Rosie Duffield. Duffield made transphobic comments and in return got a lot of justified criticism and quite a lot of abusive tweets. Whilst a lot of MPs (the Shadow Equality minister included) have condemned the abuse, they haven't mentioned the transphobia, which Duffield has doubled down on.

One gets the very definite impression that Starmer does not want to take sides on the escalating fight within Labour over trans rights, but that it is not going to be feasible for very much longer.

[Blair]

99% sure Sheerman was told to apologise by the whips office or by LOTO; if you see his rather sheepish tweet.

This was irc the same treatment given to Abbott, LRM & Riberio-Addy after similar level infractions re AS. Starmer didn't actually say anything about these cases either but each time Labour made a comment on the record (something obvs sactioned by LOTO) & as with LRM an apology was made.
There's generally always three levels to any misconduct by an MP; something that gets you made to apologize, something that gets you sacked from internal party posts & something that gets the whip suspended.

In this case it reached the first threshold & in RLB's case it reached the second threshold- especially as she refused to apologise in full.

[Blair]

Potentially the bigger issue long-term (since Sheerman gave an apology that was grudging and half-hearted, but still recognisably an apology) is the furore over Rosie Duffield. Duffield made transphobic comments and in return got a lot of justified criticism and quite a lot of abusive tweets. Whilst a lot of MPs (the Shadow Equality minister included) have condemned the abuse, they haven't mentioned the transphobia, which Duffield has doubled down on.

One gets the very definite impression that Starmer does not want to take sides on the escalating fight within Labour over trans rights, but that it is not going to be feasible for very much longer.

The problem for Labour is that the party has a clearly defined & well supported public policy position on this- but it is becoming a cultural & Political debate rather than a policy one (why is ofc what Section 28 was)

It's worth noting that until 2018 it was widely accepted as part of the mainstream thought of both parties & previous Select Committes that you reform the GRA to allow for self-ID and introduce some sort of change for documents.

The GRA reform was set up with the expectation this would happen! But it was mothballed & delayed-and has seen a very skilled lobbying effort that has turned this debate into something it shouldn't be; endless culture war rows about who said what & what tweet said why.

The danger is that as the above happens it becomes more painful for Labour to get involded but equally in my view becomes much more so morally correct; having seen how my wing of the party absolutely botched the response to Gay Rights in the 1980s it's hilarous to see how many people seem prepared to make the mistake (no doubt to then in 20 years talk with teary eyes about the amazing work we did to support trans rights)