Far-right Labourite pleads NEC vote was not a disaster for his side. Does anyone believe him?
This is another example of the way the Labour Party’s militant far-right denies reality.
The Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance took every single place available on the National Executive Committee – all six – but this Akehurst person is trying to spin it into a failure for them.
He’s having to say that Ann Black – who stood on the CLGA ticket – will not support that side. That’s a suggestion that she stood under false pretences and it will be interesting to see how she responds.
And he seems to think long-serving trade union representatives might support the party’s far right element. That would be an interesting departure!
But his words come as a useful reminder that Labour’s reformers cannot take anything for granted.
There’s a long way to go before the party returns to its original mission, and we will all need to be vigilant against disruption by the right-wing elements that seem determined to sow dissent.
For example: This Akehurst person. Wasn’t he preaching nonsense about giving the left “a good kicking” a while ago? Is this really the sort of person who should be writing in LabourList?
The triumph of the left slate in elections to Labour’s ruling body has not handed complete control to Jeremy Corbyn and his allies, a leading centrist insists today.
Luke Akehurst, who lost his place on the national executive committee (NEC) this week despite more than doubling his vote, says there is a “net change of just one seat” and denies claims that Corbynistas now permanently hold the upper hand.
The results, declared on Monday evening, showed all of the candidates on the left wing Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) slate – supported by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) and Momentum – were elected, while nobody from the Progress and Labour First slate made it on.
Akehurst goes on to highlight the role of long-serving trade union representatives as well as NEC members such as Ann Black, who has strong support on the left but is not considered a Corbynista.
“Contrary to some of the online and media reaction, this does not give full control of the NEC to Corbyn. There is a net change of just one seat as the PLP section saw a seat go from left to right”, he writes.
“When the new NEC takes office after Annual Conference, the solid vote for the Hard Left will be 16 if they all turn up, with 17 others. Thus NEC meetings will continue to be finely balanced and hinge on the personal decisions of the more independent-minded members like Ann Black, and the stance taken by the GMB and Unison. Moderates will win some votes and lose others just like we did in the pre-leadership election meeting.”
Source: NEC vote was not a “runaway left victory”, leading centrist tells backers | LabourList
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According to http://www.jewishtelegraph.com/prof_247.html, in 2014 :-
BEING appointed director of BICOM’s We Believe in Israel department was a dream job for Luke Akehurst.
Luke, who has just stood down after 12 years as a Labour councillor in Hackney, spent 11 years as a lobbyist for a PR company and worked with Weber Shandwick, largely for the defence industry, as well as for property companies and local authorities.
“As a PR consultant, you don’t get a lot of choice about your clients,” he said. “It was almost my dream job to run a pro-Israel campaigning organisation.
There is a lot more information about him and his pro-Israel activities in the article.
Yet again, we see the questionable involvement of BICOM and Labour Friends of Israel behind this character and the other coup plotters.
His PR work for the defence (death) industry and property companies is probably something that ought to be investigated more fully.
I have to conclude by asking “What are people like him doing in the Labour Party?”
You want to watch out, John. I’ve had to delete comments of yours for anti-Semitic content.
This one just about makes it because you’re talking about Israel as a political entity.
That being said, what struck me most is that this is another person whose only career seems to be in politics and public relations. How is he supposed to understand real life?
I am not antisemitic, Mike. I have friends who are jews, arabs, christians, muslims, hindus, sikhs…and on and on and on.
If any regime is deeply antisemitic, it is Israel.
The Palestinians are a Semitic people.
Look at how most European Israelis treat them.
The majority of Israelis these days are antisemites.
They didn’t start out that way but that is where they have ended.
What I am opposed to is covert manipulation and basic unfairness.
I also have loyalty to the Labour Party, even though I am not a member, and I also have a little residual loyalty to Britain too.
When I see people with divided loyalties, I just think they should go and live in the country they feel most loyal to.
It is overwhelmingly obvious where Akehurst should go to.
I always say to people who accuse me of various things: “I’ll stop telling the truth about you if you will stop lying about me.”
The truth may be awkward or inconvenient or even painful.
But I will not stop seeking it or revealing it when I know it.
Unfortunately for you, individuals don’t get to dictate whether they are to be considered anti-Semitic or not. Others judge them by their actions.
The fact that I have to warn you about it should be a wake-up call for you.
I reject your warning as inappropriate.
When I was very young, another child I knew only slightly asked me if I would like to hear a good joke. I said “OK”.
He then told me the joke, which I simply did not understand.
When he realised I had failed to understand the joke, he blurted out “It’s a Jew”.
I had to tell him I did not know what a Jew was.
Neither did I know anyone who was Jewish.
That incident has stayed with me all of my life.
What I have also learned – through living, residing and working in parts of the European, African and American continents, as well as having visited parts of South West Asia (what you would know as the Middle East) – is that such jokes are always circulated to repress and dominate sub-cultures.
When I lived in Rio de Janeiro, I heard a joke about a Portuguese man who went to Brasil and found he could not understand the local Carioca dialect. Upon returning home to Lisbon, he found he had forgotten his local Lisboa Portuguese dialect.
And so such alleged jokes go on – all designed to belittle and humiliate others.
It all comes down to racism and supremacism, which people all around the world – especially poorly educated and poorly experienced ones – are prone to.
I oppose all attempts to humiliate and dominate others, whoever is attempting it.
“What you would know as the Middle East”? Don’t patronise me.
Look, you take what I said any way you like. If I see any more words that I consider anti-Semitic coming from you, they won’t appear and you may be banned.
I decided not to vote for Ann Black, had serious doubts about her – doubts which were reflected within WLG but it was too late to take her off the Left slate. The doubts arose when her own blog demonstrated that, although she would have set a later cut-off date, she agree with the exclusion of recent members from the vote, and also supported the £25 supporters fee.
http://www.annblack.co.uk/nec-update-15-july-2016