This Once Great Movement Of Ours

[GoTfan]

Like him or loathe him, McDonnell has something of a point here. Starmer has set a time bomb for himself.

https://mobile.twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/1424282010579705863

[EastAnglianLefty]

It's not so much a point as a threat, and the effectiveness of the threat depends very much on the outcome of the Unite GS election.

In any case, that resolution would be a catastrophically terribly idea (especially but not exclusively in terms of how it'd play out when the whip is withdrawn due to sexual allegations) and would also piss off the EHRC in a really self-destructive manner.

[Blair]

Yes the resolution should have just been explicitly about Corbyn- the way it’s drafted would let conference re-admit MPs who have been suspended for sexual harassment for example. I doubt it has the votes to pass even with UNITE.

I like Mac the knife but he is at his heart a factional man of the left with his own interests here.

In that vein his ‘advice’ is the exact same as when remainers (like me!) would urge Corbyn to unite the party by backing a 2nd referendum- it’s largely just a way of framing an argument you already believe in.

[Blair]

Party conferences even in the Corbyn era would very rarely actually have floor votes on party matters- the issue would be either delayed, fudged or blocked before it could get to the floor.

The problem is always the policy ones which are really glorified CLP arguments.

The party is also likely to have yet another clash over its endorsement of the Trident nuclear weapons programme, although Starmer now has many more supporters in key party positions and within the major unions since he became leader, which should make it easier for him to navigate potential conference problems. However, Unite – the biggest and most influential union – is still in the hands of the party’s left.

I’m not sure if this is implying unite would oppose trident renewal because they’ve been quite vocal about wanting to keep Trident- for the reason it provides skilled jobs for members who they worry would join the GMB union.

[CumbrianLefty]

Its true that the Corbyn matter needs resolving at some point though. A deal where he regains the whip in return for a genuine statement of contrition (and, maybe, an agreement to stand down at the next GE) remains both possible and surely - all things considered - desirable. The question then would be how to sell that to those both in the media and the headbanging right within the party who have fallen in love with the idea of not just expelling JC, but thousands upon thousands of left leaning members with him (often in the totally delusional belief that this will win Labour the next election)

[Blair]

Its true that the Corbyn matter needs resolving at some point though. A deal where he regains the whip in return for a genuine statement of contrition (and, maybe, an agreement to stand down at the next GE) remains both possible and surely - all things considered - desirable. The question then would be how to sell that to those both in the media and the headbanging right within the party who have fallen in love with the idea of not just expelling JC, but thousands upon thousands of left leaning members with him (often in the totally delusional belief that this will win Labour the next election)

Yes this would have been the workable solution but now the issue is that there’s no way for people to climb down or a trigger to start it.

I’m some people in the party would hope to bring forward the selection dates and hope that he’s still whipless for the fight for the main Islington Seat.

[Blair]

Red Len has a book coming out. No doubt will be released during conference.

[CumbrianLefty]

Victory for the Labour left in the internal elections for the CAC, but turnout was even more dismal than usual (forgot to vote in this one myself, which doesn't often happen)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Which committee even is the CPC again?

[Zinneke]

Is Ken Loach being kicked out a big deal? Is he still relevant?

[Blair]

Which committee even is the CPC again?

I thought it was Conference Arrangements Committee- not that I actually know what it does other than select the timetable for the canapes.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Is Ken Loach being kicked out a big deal? Is he still relevant?

No: he's a member of at least one of the organisations put on the proscribed list the other week, so this is an automatic procedure and that he would be one of the members removed by it was widely noted at the time. I presume that he's just had formal confirmation and wants attention. He was, of course, a member and generous supporter of various small parties extremely hostile to Labour for two decades, which does make the 'good comrade' line that always gets trotted out a little... difficult.

Relevance is an interesting question. He has not been politically relevant since the 1970s. Cultural relevance is a more complicated matter: he once had a great deal but it has fallen over time, as fashions have changed (while capital 'R' Realism remains strong in British film and television, his particularly grim and uncompromising strand is associated with decades past, not the present) and as his political follies and various controversies have become harder to ignore. His early work is still widely remembered,* and occasionally he'll turn out something that the BFI/Guardian nexus pushes heavily, but he has become a marginal figure as an active artist. Certain highly ironic (for more reasons than one) parallels with Woody Allen could be drawn, perhaps.

_{*It probably helps that most people aren't aware of some of the methods he used with child actors on e.g. Kes, stuff that would get him (rightly) in a lot of trouble now.}

[Blair]

I wonder what they’re hoping this would achieve, and there’s a rather telling emission of anything pre 9/11.

https://mobile.twitter.com/YoungLabourUK/status/1427711457655988228

[Blair]

It’s also stupid as some on the Labour left, like Diane Abbott in the commons today, have something a lot more constructive to say.

[CumbrianLefty]

Though the "reparations for Taliban" wheeze from Burgon takes some beating for idiocy.

[Silent Hunter]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58263728

Possible strike among Labour staffers.

[cp]

A rather impressive analysis, this.

I think he places the value of constitutional reform a bit too far down, but he's rightly put his finger on how vapid the progressive alliance/PR proposals are in the absence of a comprehensive and transformative political programme for when (if?) Labour takes power again.

I also appreciate the tonic antidote this provides to the insipid 'Labour owes more to Methodism than Marx' interpretation of history that's so popular among the more shallow thinkers of the party/media.

[CumbrianLefty]

Some truth in it - and few will doubt that the "centrist"/liberal elements in the party have badly lost their way in recent years - but its view of history is somewhat one dimensional.

Labour has never *just* been about narrow economism for its "class" - political reform was part of its make up from the beginning, same with internationalism.

[Blair]

I thought it might be a link to the Spellar article on Labour list!

I agree though; a lot of the most devout supporters aren’t even Labour members and do it more so out of misguided belief that we simply press a big button called ‘progressive alliance’ and then we sweep to power.

A lot of those supporting it online are also the FBPE crowd who have too much time on their hands… and I say this as someone who would vote for the Electoral Reform motion at conference!

[Blair]

I for one welcome our SWP overlords… joking aside Graham winning would probably be the biggest shock to UNITEs establishment on both wings.

https://mobile.twitter.com/REWearmouth/status/1429898419313774597

[CumbrianLefty]

Coyne winning despite being outvoted by the left roughly 2 to 1 would be a banter heuristic for sure.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's now being heavily rumoured that Graham probably has it. Who would have thought that 'vote for me because I don't care about Labour Party drama' would have widespread appeal? There's a lengthy interview with her here which makes her general perspective and platform pretty clear.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Old fashioned observers of British TU politics have always tended to see internal elections as more about 'Establishment' vs. 'Reform' tendencies and campaigns* than about Left and Right, and it looks like we're seeing a particularly striking vindication of that view here.

_{*And, of course, yesterday's 'Reform' tendency often becomes tomorrow's Establishment etc.}

[Blair]

I was always sceptical of how much power Coyne would actually have due to the UNITE executive still remaining firmly in control of the United Left faction.

Anyway it will prove interesting how far she goes in kicking some people off the gravy train.

[EastAnglianLefty]

In the long term, if her plans for reform do work then it'll strengthen Unite's influence over Labour, because large and growing unions are more able to demand things. Fixing the nominal core part of the enterprise would be good even for the hobbyists.