POLLS: Who do YOU blame for the ‘Labour purge’?

Last Updated: October 18, 2016By
John Dunn (pictured here confronting Owen Smith) was banned from voting in the Labour leadership election because he stood up for the Orgreave miners.

John Dunn (pictured here confronting Owen Smith) was banned from voting in the Labour leadership election because he stood up for the Orgreave miners.

This Blog has been graced with a visit by Ann Black, a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee. She seems distressed at This Writer’s reporting of the ‘Labour purge’, in which many thousands of people were prevented from voting in the Labour leadership election over the summer.

She claims that fewer than 2,000 people were prevented from voting. I told her many people do not believe that figure.

Her response was: “If many people won’t believe party figures, little point in telling you what they are.”

I find that extremely offensive.

The reason people do not believe Labour’s National Executive Committee on this matter is its own behaviour – as Ms Black was told, extremely forcefully, by people other than myself at the Brecon and Radnorshire Labour Party meeting on Saturday.

Perhaps she has forgotten the member who told her in no uncertain terms that he thought the NEC had done everything it could to rig the leader election? I haven’t!

But, you know what? Maybe she is right and I’m wrong. Maybe Labour members – and let’s include the general public in this as well – don’t believe that the NEC acted in bad faith and betrayed the party membership by its actions.

Shall we test it?

It’s time for a couple of polls.

First, let’s examine the decision to exclude from the election anybody who joined Labour on or after January 12, 2016. When these people signed up, they were told explicitly that they would be able to take part in the election of the party’s leader, so there is a clear breach of contract. Some have argued that the decision was to exclude people who were joining the party simply to skew the election, but others say a cut-off date of June 24 would have achieved that. So, what do you think?

[polldaddy poll=9554600]

Next, we have the decision to increase the amount of money paid by people who wanted to vote as ‘registered supporters’ from £3 to £25, taken at the same meeting (on July 12) as that to exclude new members who joined on or after January 12 – and while Mr Corbyn was out of the room. Ms Black was reminded, at the meeting on Saturday, that this was seen as a way of pricing out those who wanted a vote but did not have enough money.

[polldaddy poll=9554619]

Finally, let’s look at the so-called ‘purge’ itself. The NEC quietly imposed highly-partisan rule changes regarding members conduct – retrospectively – and then trawled through members’ social media accounts (illegally*) looking for excuses to exclude them from the leadership vote. As a result, a wave of expulsions and suspensions swept through the party. People were suspended for retweets of other people’s comments, with no regard for whether they had shown approval or not; for using words like ‘Blairite’; for indicating support for policies put forward by other parties (never mind whether the policies were good or not). There were no set rules governing expulsions – it seems the NEC’s ‘compliance unit’ could target anybody, for anything they had ever said on the social media.

*This retrospective attack on Labour members, supporters and applicants via their social media accounts was against the law. Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act shows that consent must be given before anybody’s data is used in any way by a data handler. No such consent has ever been given by members of the Labour Party.

The ‘purge’ kicked up a huge stink, with reports claiming that anything up to 50,000 members received letters from Labour’s general secretary Iain McNicol, saying they had been suspended or expelled from the party due to inoffensive comments or (in some cases) fabricated behaviour.

Ms Black claimed, at Saturday’s meeting, that only 3,000 people had been prevented from voting. In her comments today, she has revised that down to less than 2,000. If that is true, then those of us who have been following events could probably name everybody who had been targeted by the ‘compliance unit’.

[polldaddy poll=9554630]

And now, the big question:

[polldaddy poll=9554635]

Please share this post’s weblink with anybody you believe may wish to respond to these questions.

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72 Comments

  1. Elspeth Parris October 18, 2016 at 1:47 pm - Reply

    If only 2000 were purged, then how come I personally know about 200 of them? I only joined Labour last year – I’m still getting to know people.

    • icare4all October 18, 2016 at 2:34 pm - Reply

      A few of my friends including a counsellor were purged for no good reason

      • Peter Hockley October 18, 2016 at 9:49 pm - Reply

        Never got caught, the advantage of living in The People’s Republic of Brighton.

    • Jackie Cairns October 18, 2016 at 4:19 pm - Reply

      And if there was only 2,000 purged why has well over 5,000 signed Glennis’s “Not in my name” Petition then?

      • Mike Sivier October 19, 2016 at 7:29 am - Reply

        Because they support what she’s doing, not because they’ve been purged. I’ve signed, and I wasn’t. And, it isn’t a petition.

  2. jeffrey davies October 18, 2016 at 1:51 pm - Reply

    i had a strange feeling ann b wasnt whot corbyn wants but then shes showing her true colours hmmm another lying politician

    • crazytrucker1951 October 19, 2016 at 11:34 am - Reply

      I voted for her and this is how she dumps on us?

  3. Roland Laycock October 18, 2016 at 1:59 pm - Reply

    All I can say is where as she been through the time of the PURGES in dreamland or her head stuck up she ***

  4. Fenella Roberts October 18, 2016 at 2:00 pm - Reply

    Thanks for this. I am appalled at the way the party I have loved and belonged too since the 1980’s with a brief break during the Iraq War has behaved. I was brought up by a socialist father to believe that the Labour Party was inclusive not exclusive and I was horrified by what happened with the leadership election. I was allowed a vote but that did not stop me empathising with all those denied theirs. I have searched my soul long and hard as to whether I actually wish to remain in a party that can treat its members this way. If Corbyn had not been re-elected I do not think I would have remained. I trust him and John McDonnell to look into what went on and find some justice for those denied a vote

  5. simplyshirah October 18, 2016 at 2:05 pm - Reply

    Ann Black just cannot count!!!

  6. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) October 18, 2016 at 2:06 pm - Reply

    “Do you believe Ann Black when she says fewer than 2,000 people were prevented from voting in the Labour leader election?” I cant RT this one Mike as it is just over the limit by 4

    • Mike Sivier October 18, 2016 at 2:11 pm - Reply

      Just cut “Ann Black when she says”, perhaps?

      • paulrutherford8 October 18, 2016 at 6:19 pm - Reply

        Or… Do you believe Ann Black that less than 2000 ppl were prevented from voting for Labour’s leader?

  7. Fibro confused October 18, 2016 at 2:18 pm - Reply

    If what Ms Black has said is a true account then there has been an awful lot of people telling a hell of a lot of lies, with what aim? is there some deep dark reason to cause ill will with the NEC. Yes the odd fake letter has appeared to say xyz had been suspended but too many have been truthful and corroborated by others. Long standing members much publised suspended, people who had liked a tweet or page from the Green party (I was careful I like Caroline Lucas)
    It’s not fiction however that people who joined after January had their votes removed, via court action in the end. There is no valid reason for this, certainly no reason for such a long period of time to back track on new members. If there was a real worry about ‘spurious’ members (think that’s the right word) then a less harsh cut of point could have been agreed on, perhaps when the whole ridiculous resignation debacle started could have been seen as a point when ‘none Labour’ people would be signing up to vote for Jeremy. I truly believe also there isn’t/wasn’t enough staff to cope with the numbers of people signing up and that is another area that’s affected the vote and disaffected members.
    Personally I would love to know just how many votes Jeremy and Owen would have got without all these shenanigans.
    My apologies if this all comes across as waffle, the Fibro fog is rather thick today!

    • Mike Sivier October 18, 2016 at 3:12 pm - Reply

      I wasn’t aware of any fake suspension letters!

      • Fibro confused October 18, 2016 at 5:57 pm - Reply

        They were made by people wanting to gain attention Mike, they had been found by a couple of clued up individuals circulating on Twitter, they did get the attention wanted but again not enough to make a difference to the overall picture of numbers purged.

  8. Robert October 18, 2016 at 2:18 pm - Reply

    Misinformation going around somewhere. It was 100% unacceptable what went on. False advertising for one. Members were told they could vote and this was revoked.

  9. Neilth October 18, 2016 at 2:28 pm - Reply

    I have a problem with your polls. The questions they ask are too simplistic whereas the answers need to be nuanced.

    For example, i am opposed to people being able to buy a vote at any price but if they are to be allowed make them pay as much as possible. Buying votes leaves the party vulnerable to entryism s who may becqute happy to waste £3 to mess up the vote. I am more interested in building the full membership who are willing to get out on the knocker come the elections.

    Further, preventing members of other parties from voting in a Labour internal election is right. We all know of Tories who claim they were paying to skew the figures.

    Finally, there has always been a qualifying period before new members have been allowed to vote. This is to try to prevent entryism and rigged meetings and I support this policy. I don’t think anyone should be able to pay their subs and expect immediate voting rights.

    Expelling long standing members for old social media posts, unless they are explicitly abusive or illegal is questionable he need arises and should not be used as a means to expel large numbers especially during an election. By all means expel or better discipline people when the need arises but doing it during an election is clearly electorally motivated and therefore should have been avoided.

    • Mike Sivier October 18, 2016 at 3:10 pm - Reply

      The questions are intended to be taken in the context of the information going before them. The questions have to be simple, and I wanted to ensure they weren’t ‘slanted’ in favour of any particular answer.

      The question of entryism is important, and I do mention it, but should it be used to justify cutting off so many people who had joined legitimately (there was no hint that another leader election might be on the cards until June 24, the alternative proposed cut-off date) and changing the rules on registered supporters?

      I’m afraid there hasn’t always been a qualifying period before new members have been allowed to vote because, as everybody who joined between January 12 and July 12 can tell you, they were all told they would be able to vote in any leader election – with no restrictions – when they signed up. It’s true that this was an omission by whoever wrote the membership material – but that is not the fault of the new members.

      • Neilth October 18, 2016 at 5:29 pm - Reply

        Quite right the new members were not told about the previous policy of a qualifying period and I have previously commented on one of your pieces that this oversight made disqualifying them from voting was wrong. I was referring to the general principle and previous practice re a qualifying period which I support. Whoever drew up the rules re buying votes needs to apologise to the party for re writing party policy on the hoof.

        • Mike Sivier October 19, 2016 at 7:25 am - Reply

          I certainly agree with that.

    • bremner8 October 18, 2016 at 6:27 pm - Reply

      Neilth nobody was buying votes. They were paying £25 to join the party and had been told that they could vote in the leadership election. The NEC got frightened by the surge in Corbyn support and decided a purge plus a ban on new members voting might save their sorry arses.

      • Mike Sivier October 19, 2016 at 1:04 am - Reply

        The £25 was to become a registered supporter, not a member. A small difference, maybe, but important in this context.

  10. icare4all October 18, 2016 at 2:32 pm - Reply

    I know quite a few who polled and only have 4,000 followers. So are my sort the type to be purged. I find this uncomfortable as a peace loving OAP.

  11. Caroline M Tipler October 18, 2016 at 2:37 pm - Reply

    The thing is that even if it WAS less than 2,000 it is the lack of Natural Justice and the lack of Due Process that we need the NEC and specifically Iain McNicol to answer for. Already we are seeing members who were suspended instantly (something entrusted to the NEC fort special circumstances where a member is a threat to the LP reputation) now having their suspension lifted without any proper hearing. AND extraordinarily they are being announced guilty because they are being told it will be kept on file and they are being admonished!

    SO, what i am saying it doesn`t matter if it is ONE or 20 or 2,000 0r 20,000 – the core issue is that the process must be completely overhauled.

    • dodgydosser October 18, 2016 at 8:43 pm - Reply

      Hear hear. Well said.

      • Mike Sivier October 19, 2016 at 1:01 am - Reply

        From what NEC member Darren Williams has said, it seems the process will be overhauled in the near future.

  12. Clive Riches October 18, 2016 at 2:41 pm - Reply

    I paid my £3. My understanding was if I did that then I could vote. I was kind of relieved that I got n before it went up, assuming I was still eligible. I inquired when I did not seem to be getting a vote and was told I was not entitled to one. I did join subsequently because I wanted to be a member of the party but did feel rather cheated out of being part of the voting process. Perhaps i misunderstood.

  13. Rick B (@TenPercent) October 18, 2016 at 2:45 pm - Reply

    I would suggest a FOI to Labour HQ for figures. How many members did Labour have by end of May 2016 (include all and specify who were allowed the vote and who wasn’t due to £3 disallowance and 12 jan cut off and how many were £25 fee payers). How many votes were cast in the election. Out of a total of how many were eligible. How many ballots were sent out (detail paper or electronic) how many of paper were returned how & many of electronic were returned. Of those returned how many were counted. Number of spoiled ballots. And number of members suspended or otherwise denied a vote. Include affiliated members via Unions and other orgs. Frankly the entire thing stinks to high heaven.

    • Natasha Thoday October 18, 2016 at 7:10 pm - Reply

      FoI is for public bodies only

      • Rick B (@TenPercent) October 19, 2016 at 7:26 pm - Reply

        Labour introduced FOI, to have them refuse it for their own party would be huge embarrassment, that’s the point off doing it.

  14. Jay Simpkin October 18, 2016 at 2:55 pm - Reply

    A friend of mine, a good-natured nursing assistant who does not have a bad word to say about anybody was removed from the Labour Party. She was a Corbyn supporter but is otherwise very quiet and does not even use Twitter.
    I absolutely REFUSE to believe that she was one of the 2000 worst people in the UK who warranted removal from the party.

    • Robert Davies October 18, 2016 at 3:37 pm - Reply

      What really annoyed me was, I had Email from McNicol informing me that I was eligible to vote, waited, and waited, for my vote to arrive, to no avail, contacted the party and told it will be sorted, then I get another Email from McNichol, telling me that I need to renew my membership urgently,so I then assume this is why I have not received my vote, renews my membership online within the hour, then another Email from McNichol telling me I’m suspended, no reason given other than something to do with a Emai that I sent.
      Then I checked up on my membership, and found out the urgent membership renewal was a lie, it was not due for renewal, it still had about 2 Mths to run he got me to renew my membership before he suspended me.

      • Mike Sivier October 18, 2016 at 3:50 pm - Reply

        I hope you intend to raise this with your CLP officers?

  15. Steve Rudd October 18, 2016 at 3:03 pm - Reply

    Speaking as someone who is no longer a member of the Labour Party and certainly NOT a member of Momentum I am appalled at the way the PLP and its minions have consistently refused to recognise the democratic will of the party to have Jeremy Corbyn as leader. I’d like to add a question to this poll. Do you think that the money, time, and effort which has been put into subverting Jeremy Corbyn for over a year by people in his own party who should know better, would have been better spent in fighting the Tories?

    • Mike Sivier October 18, 2016 at 3:18 pm - Reply

      It’s an excellent question.

      • Ulysses October 19, 2016 at 1:04 am - Reply

        It’s a rhetorical question…

    • Chris October 18, 2016 at 6:39 pm - Reply

      It’s an excellent question. They have potentially lost Labour the next General Election. A criminal betrayal! I hope I am wrong and Corbyn’s Labour manages to fightback against all the odds.

  16. Clare N Ayton-Edwards October 18, 2016 at 3:14 pm - Reply

    Nearer 300,000 people prevented from voting with cut-off date, purge AND “computer glitch” not issuing tens of thousands of ballot papers, she was on the pro-Corbyn slate but does little to earn our votes

  17. Mary Dribbs (@MaryDribbs) October 18, 2016 at 3:18 pm - Reply

    I voted for Ann Black in the NEC elections (was purged so couldnt vote in leadership election) as she was touted as pro Corbyn – she has so far proven to be a sore disappointment.

    • Chris October 18, 2016 at 6:34 pm - Reply

      Ann Black, you are right to question her legitimacy re. a pro left slate candidate. She otherwise votes in a progressive direction. Sadly she won’t get many votes next time, including mine. I fear her days are numbered on the NEC after this debacle.

  18. lambtonwyrm October 18, 2016 at 3:31 pm - Reply

    I would like to see a full list of the reasons for their exclusion. Anonymise it and group like ones together but give us a total number excluded from voting.

  19. Roy Beiley October 18, 2016 at 3:36 pm - Reply

    I think that the mere fact that the figured quoted by Ann Black went from 3000 down to 2000 in a few days indicates that she can not remember from one day to the next the figure she first invented! It also seems to be a personal attack on you Mike for bringing to our attention on a regular basis the intra-Party fight for supremacy of the Leadership by increasingly foul means.

  20. Jeanette October 18, 2016 at 3:41 pm - Reply

    In some respects the number of members purged is irrelevant. It’s the fact that the Blairites though it ok to retrospectively change the rules, then trawl through social media accounts looking for “evidence” to suspend or expel members that’s the real issue. Some on the NEC have acted disgracefully, some of the stunts they have pulled to change the party rules to suit their own agenda are scandalous in a democratic socialist party. The agenda behind this needs to be looked into as it appears to have mainly affected Corbyn supporters? Weaver Vale CLP voted last Friday to write to the chair of the NEC asking for a full, independent enquiry into what was done and to put in place measures to stop it happening again. We won’t hold our breath.

  21. Terry Casey (@tcliverpool) October 18, 2016 at 3:57 pm - Reply

    Being suspended sounds pretty innocuous but having received a letter saying I “may” have used abusive, racist or foul language on social media without supplying any evidence to support it is pretty upsetting, in fact I am insulted and very hurt by these accusations, I am barred from CLP or any other meetings, my vote was cast but taken from me, I have no recourse to refute these claims until they deem it fit to do so. I am 70 years old and long past being abusive to anyone, if I ever was, it isn’t my style, I cannot think other than being pro Palestine why this has happened to me.

  22. PensionCredit60 October 18, 2016 at 4:30 pm - Reply

    The figure from all the retrospective rules, which include me but I was able to vote by being a UNISON member not because I was a Labour party member, is:

    182,000

    But the NEC could not stop Jeremy Corbyn being again voted as Labour leader on 60 per cent landslide.

    60 per cent of nearly half a million Labour membership / supporters, when last year it was 60 per cent of the previous membership of around 100,000 members.

    I am insulted by a political party that lies in court that ALL the members support Iain McNichol using our party subscription for court costs against a lady who is taking the Labour party to court for purging her right to vote. This is straightforward libel and use of my membership fee against me, as I was unable to vote as a Labour party member, yet my membership fee continued to be taken by direct debit.

    So I am a member of a party that denied the vote to the working class and to women. But it did not work. This did not stop us voting for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader again with an even bigger landslide victory.

    The question is now that the election is over, why hasn’t the NEC just not granted full voting rights back to the membership to the 182,000 purged. The Labour party are taking membership fees and they are keeping the £25 voting fee.

    • Mike Sivier November 2, 2016 at 1:45 pm - Reply

      The previous membership was just above 200,000, if I recall correctly. There’s no need to exaggerate the figures because they all speak for Mr Corbyn well enough.

  23. casalealex October 18, 2016 at 4:42 pm - Reply

    In August 2015, it was revealed that Tim Loughton Con MP was amongst a number of supporters of other political parties who had paid £3 to register to join the Labour Party in an attempt to participate in its leadership election. He subsequently said he had registered using his parliamentary email account and wanted to “blow the gaff on what a complete farce the whole thing is. If I’d got a voting paper I was going to tweet myself ripping it up, just to make a point about how ridiculous the whole open exercise is. In the box at the end of the application it asks: ‘What are your reasons for wanting to become a supporter of the Labour party?’ I put: ‘To vote to Jeremy Corbyn and consign Labour to oblivion for a generation’ and then I got a ‘welcome to the Labour party’ email. I wasn’t exactly hiding my intent.” Wikipedia

  24. Pjay Mac October 18, 2016 at 5:01 pm - Reply

    The reason I resigned from the Party I have Loved since I was a boy was simply Blair his laughably named Babes and his abomination New Labour, I resigned in 1997, I rejoined when Mr Corbyn became Leader as I am a Scot my membership far from being Affiliated to The People’s Labour Party Led by JC was in fact a membership for the defunct Scottish Labour Party whose Leader has more faces than the town hall clock and couldn’t run the preverbal in a Brewery, I would not join SNL (Scottish New Labour) if they offered to pay my rent for 10 years and I am serious about this, we in the Far Northlands have since its inception suffered Idiot Self Serving Leaders one after another culminating in Dugdale Jeezus H Christ, all of these SNL bams should be Jailed for Fraud Corruption and Ballot Rigging how could a Party that even though the Leaders we’re chronically bad, commanded 89% Of the Vote end up with 1 Solitary MP in Westminster and a Blairite at that says it all about SNL, here is the full incomprehensible damage caused by New Labour, at their peak each leader was as guilty as the next of ignoring the people and between them all they have taken a once invincible Political Force to the Laughing Stock ofWorld Politics here are the tragic facts since Labour as a Socialist Party was engulfed by the Dictatorial Right Wing New Labour, every true labour member should read this and weep it is a disaster that affected Politics in the U.K.

    Pre 1997 Westminster MPs. 59
    Now. 1

    Pre 1997 seats in eu 6
    Now 2

    Pre 1997. Scottish Parliament 129
    Now. 23

    Pre 1997 local government in Scotland 1,223

    Now. 396

    All Leaders of SNL and MSPs are Criminally incompetent by allowing the Extreme Right Wing Tory Party a Majority UK Government.

  25. Bill Sutton October 18, 2016 at 5:04 pm - Reply

    The “purge” only includes those denied a vote after they had fulfilled all the other criteria, which was in itself a retrospective rule change. It is disingenous to suggest that only two thousand were purged, when clearly 130,000 were in reality prevented or deterred financially from voting. I complained, at the time, twice, to the members dispute committee of the NEC, of which she is chair, and have not yet received an acknowledgement even. She is disgrace, and she has failed in her mission to deny Jeremy Corbyn the role of party leader. HOORAY!!

  26. Evan Dovey October 18, 2016 at 5:17 pm - Reply

    Joined to vote before the website was changed to remove the comment on being able to vote, so by rights the 130,000 people,including me, were IMO illegally excluded from being able to vote. Despicable behaviour

  27. Maria c October 18, 2016 at 5:42 pm - Reply

    I know people who did not get a vote because of ‘admin’ errors who were informed there were errors in processing in bulk uploads. Similar problems were encountered by GMB members who did not receive their votes in the ballot to determine which candidate the union should support. Both of these votes were withnregrd tomthe labour leadership election. I have never heard members complain of this happening in any other vote situation e.g. The London mayoral nomination, NEC voting etc.
    Perhaps the electoral commission should be asking the ERS to provide them with specific process information and require an internal investigation as we move toward electronic voting in many other election situations all of which are protected in law. In this labour and trades union have a wider public responsibility to uphold fair and transparent electoral process thus any and all concerns such as these need to be taken seriously. To be clear not all party members who did not receive their votes were suspended or in arrears or any other situation which could explain the fact that they did not receive either an electronic or paper ballot.
    Secondly, does the figure of 2,000 people include 1. the people refused supporter registration 2. The people who were suspended 3. The people expelled 4. Those excluded by admin error 5. Those excluded because of arrears 5.
    Furthermore there are those who joined (or tried to join) labour after 12 January 2016 how many of these were 1. Refused membership 2. Expelled 3. Suspended 4. Any other category that the party uses e.g. Administrative suspension, suspension etc.
    Unless all these figures are requested or disclosed the claimed ‘misunderstandings’ will not be resolved.

  28. aunty1960 October 18, 2016 at 5:43 pm - Reply

    Some people feel very disappointed and the word is actually angry that they were encouraged and led to vote for Ann Black to be on NEC as she was supposed to be pro-Corbyn, then she did the dirty at Brighton and Hove Labour clp and voted against Corbynites and for Mcnicol directions and changes.

    Much more purged 100,000s as last year, membership taken 3 times now, and full annual subscriptions as I pay it up front in case of having disability benefits cut and not being able to support it and being on the streets.

    Many have given given given and personal fought and sacrificed themselves for the right to be part of politics and have a voice and vote – surely what Labour was set up for? and for their reward they get purged, falsely accused, humiliated and insulted

    and you have to crawl back on your hands and knees to beg forgiveness, be investigated and be allowed back in, but probably on probation and close scrutiny.

    Everything Labour and every working class person wanting their dignity and self pride never wanted to live under again.

  29. Jim K October 18, 2016 at 6:30 pm - Reply

    I would suggest that to be perfectly above board and to avoid any hint of being “undemocratic”, perhaps you should have included a “don’t know” or “can’t decide” option in your polls – though I doubt it would have made that much difference.

    • Jim K October 18, 2016 at 6:52 pm - Reply

      ASsa further observation, I am no Labour supporter (and certainly not Tory either) but it does sound to me that a Constitution (or more, or the supporting regulations) were hastily rewritten between the announcement of an election and its execution, which strikes me as a behaviour more to be expected from old East Germany, North Korea or the Goodies’ Spanish Inquisition! One wonders what else the PLP or NEC might be planning to sling out of its pram. I find Labour’s collective performance so far is not really (!) encouraging me to consider voting for them.

    • Mike Sivier October 19, 2016 at 1:03 am - Reply

      I doubted it too. Besides, I wanted people to make a choice.

  30. Brian October 18, 2016 at 7:49 pm - Reply

    Your mentioned methods of exclusion do not address all the tricks used. I paid my £25 in good time to vote, noting, “Please state your reason for joining”……. was to support JC, (how naive off me) I never received a ballot paper, I inquired weeks in good time, my attempts to get one were refused, I was given the run around, this is an extract of the final (A Std reply) communications with Iain McNicol’s department,……

    “If you are emailing about your ballot, please note the deadline for requesting a reissue of your ballot has now passed. We have been accepting reissues requests since 1 September and now at this very late stage it is impossible for us to order a replacement”.

    No other explanation or reply, and all other communications ignored.

    • Evan Dovey October 20, 2016 at 7:01 am - Reply

      If I were you I would be demanding my money back.

  31. Ted Franklin October 18, 2016 at 8:20 pm - Reply

    After joining the Labour Party I was asked by a telephone caller why I wanted to vote in the leadership election. I replied that I wanted to vote for Jeremy Corbin. I then did not receive my expected ballot by email. I contacted Labour by email and was told the email had been sent. It was not received by me. I had to send yet another email with the time running out to ask for my ballot email. Finally my ballot arrived and I was able to vote. Had I not persevered my vote would have been lost. I am not convinced that this was an accidental process. I wonder how many people were prevented from voting in this way.

  32. richardhering October 18, 2016 at 8:49 pm - Reply

    The only way Ann Black could be right is through the “John Peel principle” – once, John Peel said he couldn’t understand why an album wasn’t doing well, because everyone he knew had bought it, whereas the truth was he knew everyone who had bought it. Is it possible that so many of us know so many people who were purged?

    • Mike Sivier October 19, 2016 at 12:56 am - Reply

      What, it’s a small world after all? Maybe…

  33. Rick B (@TenPercent) October 18, 2016 at 10:30 pm - Reply

    Note Ann Black was on the ‘Left Slate’ but had support removed due to her pro-purge activities http://labourlist.org/2016/07/labours-left-pulls-support-for-veteran-nec-rep-in-row-over-suspension/

  34. Tosh October 18, 2016 at 10:48 pm - Reply

    http://l-r-c.org.uk/news/story/ann-black-and-the-centre-left-grassroots-alliance-slate-for-nec/

    I voted for her before I found out about this by the way and regret it.

  35. Runkie October 18, 2016 at 10:54 pm - Reply

    What I cannot figure out why all these purges before the election and not now, seems odd to me nor more like Shenanigans by the NEC.

  36. Kenneth Billis October 19, 2016 at 12:56 am - Reply

    Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at Ann Black’s attitude to this. She has already blotted her copy book and earned the ire of the party left on this subject:

    http://labourlist.org/2016/07/labours-left-pulls-support-for-veteran-nec-rep-in-row-over-suspension/

    I was sure Mike had covered this (?) but I haven’t searched the archive thoroughly.

  37. Paul Hart October 19, 2016 at 8:58 am - Reply

    fact is they purged those voting for Jeremy Corbyn for reasons that were made up, (in most cases) some contacted saying they were dissapointed not to be able to vote for O Smith, and were given their vote back within an hour, there was at least 130,000 purged, so again lieing to their party members, which is unacceptable.

  38. crazytrucker1951 October 19, 2016 at 11:32 am - Reply

    McNicol driven by Bliar and Meddlesome with right wing elements of the NEC drove the Purge and then the Traitorous Treacherous Scabs within the PLP jumped on the bandwagon once it got rolling like Mz Gobby from Yardley and others running to the Nazi media every time somebody made a comment they didn’t like, and occasionally even inventing comments to suit there own nefarious purposes, mainly to stop JC being duly elected Leader, again with an increased mandate from the membership, Christ they couldn’t even win an election when it was rigged!
    As for Ann Black, I voted for her at the NEC elections and since then she’s done nothing to justify my faith in her!

  39. Vanda Bubear October 19, 2016 at 12:30 pm - Reply

    Ann Black, and the entire Compliance Unit, should be thoroughly and utterly ashamed of themselves. Not only did they act illegally in this purge, in order to faciliate a save-face for Owen Smith, so that he didn’t lose by such a completely embarassing margin (by my own reckoning, Corbyn actually got nearer to 77% of the votes cast, had all the votes been allowed). They also subjected party members to extreme amounts of stress and anxiety, as this purge, and the other strategies to stop us voting for Corbyn, came out. I have seen members in online forums actually FEARFUL of the party they are legally members of, frightened of speaking their mind online and having their say, in case they were purged. I have heard of many members in tears and threatening to leave the party, THEIR party, of which they had been members for many, many years. I have seen so many members in genuine despair about the state of the party, that it felt the need to disregard members and resort to illegal and questionable tactics in order to try to stop members voting for Corbyn.

    Democracy died during that bleak summer, within the Labour Party, something Black and her cohorts should be deeply and inexorably ashamed about. How they can sleep at night is beyond me. It is because of them that many people came near to a nervous breakdown at the antics of what is supposed to be a SOCIALIST party, the ruling body of which seemed to think it had carte blanche to ride roughshod over the wishes of members and their right to expect democracy to prevail within their party. This disgusting behaviour by the NEC was carried over to the conference, even when Corbyn had won by yet another landslide. Paddy Lillis illegally carried through a motion that should have been STOPPED in order to allow members to vote by card, not a show of hands. This was so obviously against the party’s own rules, yet so desperate were the NEC to get through this package of amendments, principally the inclusion on their body two unelected members from both Scotland and Wales. Yet another blatant affront to democracy. Members themselves should have voted on who is seated on the NEC – this should NOT be something that the NEC itself decides.

    At the very least, Momentum should take Black off their slate for NEC membership. I would like to see those responsible for this purge, as well as the PLP, brought to task, and apprehended in whatever manner is appropriate. Whether that means suspension (just as suspensions were meted out to ordinary members for much lesser crimes and for actually doing nothing), or whether it means being re-trained or told to apologise, I don’t care. Heads should roll for this. Black herself should be booted off the NEC as she got there, courtesy of the Momentum slate, by false pretences.

  40. David Neil Cashmore October 19, 2016 at 2:40 pm - Reply

    I was purged for allegedly supporting the Conservative party on social media. When I made my own THOROUGH investigations, I discovered someone with a similar name to mine tweeted support for David Cameron on 8th May 2015. THIS WAS NOT ME and is a clear case of mistaken identity. I have written to the Labour party Compliance Unit several times but have met with a wall of silence.

  41. Kay Dickinson October 19, 2016 at 4:42 pm - Reply

    2000? Does she seriously think we’re stupid? In that case, not even looking at full members, why does she think that 62,000 people who paid this £25 to vote didn’t actually vote? Did they spend their money and then think, hey, I’ve changed my mind, I’ll not bother….

    If many of these suspensions have been for social media ‘abuse’ then we should be able to co-ordinate a true list of those suspended by getting people to come forward and add their name to a list of shame (the shame being the NEC’s not theirs) for those purged for basically no reason. I’m one of them – I’ve been sent the evidence of my crime – yet not even the Owen Smith supporting chair of my CLP can tell me what is actually ‘abusive’ about what I wrote.

  42. jayne birkett October 20, 2016 at 5:03 am - Reply

    Need an independent inquiory

  43. David Beauvais October 20, 2016 at 3:36 pm - Reply

    I voted for Ann Black in the mistaken belief she’s a socialist. By definition, socialists do not seek to disenfranchise people from taking part in a democratic process. Being rude on social media, just as being rude anywhere, is a matter of free speech. Being rude about politicians is part & parcel of everyday life & should not be punitively discouraged in a healthy democracy. Those members of the NEC and others who willfully engaged in the disgraceful purging of Corbyn supporters should resign or have their membership of the Labour Party cancelled.

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