How dare Owen Smith think he has a right to tell the rest of us what to do?
![Owen Smith spouting another lot of tripe [Image: Ben Birchall/PA Wire].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/160822-Owen-Smith-talking.jpg)
Owen Smith spouting another lot of tripe [Image: Ben Birchall/PA Wire].
Why is he determined to stop genuine Labour supporters from expressing their reaction to Khan in a genuine way?
Is it possibly because it illuminates his campaign – and the attitudes behind it, and the supporters of it – in the worst possible light?
I think it is.
The Labour movement sprang up because working-class people were sick of being told what they can and can’t say (or do) by people who claimed to be their superiors.
But now Owen Smith, and the people who support him, are claiming exactly the same right.
Sadiq Khan’s decision to publicly support Owen Smith shows exactly the kind of man he is.
He was happy to accept Jeremy Corbyn’s help to get Labour’s nomination for the mayoralty.
He was happy to accept the votes of Corbyn supporters.
He was happy for Mr Corbyn to support his campaign – here’s a photograph of Mr Corbyn on the telephone, drumming up support. Where was Owen Smith?
And now he has become London’s Mayor, he is happy to reject Mr Corbyn – after promising he wouldn’t get involved.
Is this what Londoners can expect from him? A man who cannot keep his word?
The Labour Party stands for the common good. “By the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone.” But Mr Khan has rejected the common good for his own selfish reasons.
That’s why he was booed.
Mr Smith’s criticism comes from a belief that nobody should have a right to answer the unreasonable behaviour of the ‘Anyone But Corbyn’ camp in the way they choose; they are allowed to have free speech but would deny it to others.
He has reacted against the form of the responses he is seeing because he believes he and the other opponents of Mr Corbyn are entitled to do what they like – and we should do as we are told.
It is despicable. They call us “trots”, “rabble” and “dogs”. In that case, they are a classic example of the tail trying to wag the dog.
Labour MPs are in Parliament to represent the views of the Labour Party. They do not tell us what to do. We tell them.
Let’s make that clear to Owen Smith and his disgusting crew on September 24.
Owen Smith has called on Jeremy Corbyn to condemn any of his supporters who booed Sadiq Khan.
“I think it fundamentally wrong that anybody should ever boo Sadiq Khan,” the Labour leadership candidate said today in Wales. “It’s a measure of how divided we have become that anyone in our movement can think it appropriate to boo.”
At a rally in north London on Sunday evening of thousands of people who back Corbyn in the Labour leadership contest, the mention of London’s Labour mayor was greeted with boos.
Over the weekend, Khan threw his weight behind Owen Smith’s bid to oust Corbyn as leader.
Smith said today the reaction of the crowd… was an “anathema to the values of Labour” and was “all that is bad about politics”.
“I absolutely condemn it,” he added. “I hope Jeremy would condemn it.”
Source: Jeremy Corbyn Should Condemn Booing Of Sadiq Khan, Says Owen Smith
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Looks like Owen didn’t like freedom of speech
What you get from a small man,with no morals,and at least we know now the other PLP members who hold exactly the same views.,as they jump on the i hate Cobyn bandwagon.
Poor old Owen. I’ve met him a few times and find myself feeling quite sorry for him. What a silly boy he is.
I’ve met him too. I don’t feel sorry for him at all.
I forgot the little wink after ‘sorry for him’ ;)
If and when Mr Smith wakes up and see the reality, he will be happy to knock at Pfeizer door for a job.
there’s three Labour MP’s on teletext having to answer to the police about election fraud in Yorkshire. guess who’s on the list? Yes !Mp Kevin Barron, J Sarah Champion, and MP, John Heeley.
Interesting. Link?
First of all I dispute the word “genuine”,you neither own that term or get to define what it means or whom it should apply to.Secondly,it is not Labour supporters but Corbyn supporters who may or may not support Labour,which is somewhat ironic given the use of “genuine”.It is usage of the deserving/undeserving line,so replete in Government’s social security non justifications that is truly worrying.A significant amount of dismay is coming from fellow non-Corbyn members,so the binary picture you paint is far from the reality.
Are you suggesting that the Labour supporters who booed Sadiq Khan aren’t genuine? That’s a loathesome thing to say, right there!
I never tried to own the term or define what it means. I was using it according to its generally-accepted definition.
I would certainly suggest that Corbyn supporters are Labour supporters. You are making a binary picture there that doesn’t fit the facts – just a narrative created out of thin air by the Anyone-But-Corbyn crowd.
There was no reference to anybody being “deserving” or “undeserving”. You are trying to attribute words to me that I haven’t used.
Nor did I paint a binary picture. Non-Corbyn-supporting members were not being attacked by Owen Smith, so they didn’t figure in the article.
All in all, I think you’ve tied yourself in an ugly little knot here.
Totally agree with your reply Mike!
I have had several emails from Owen Smith asking if I would back him and he doesn’t seem to get the message when I don’t reply. Shame because I would rather leave Labour than back him. My only choice is for Jeremy Corbyn for a new way of giving everyone a proper and fair chance.
I, too, have received e.mails from “Owen Smith,” however, he has yet to respond to a single reply from me.
But Sadiq Khan ticks all of Owen’s boxes;
To disagree with anything he says is:
Racist
Anti Islam
Anti Muslim
Nationalistic
Communist
Thuggish
and anything else that may be ‘popular’ at the time!
A win-win for Owen.
and guess who’s fault it would be! ?
Well we’d better hurry up and close down the hòuse of commons then. Smith can tell them what to do
is that man for real … what a pleb Smith is
As if Corbyn supporters are working class. Good lord
People who support Mr Corbyn cover the whole class system. I dare say he has aristocrats following him alongside benefit claimants.
Where was the condemnation from Owen Smith, or ANY other Labour MP, when Corbyn was booed and heckled and told to shut up and sit down by a fellow Labour MP? Sheer hypocrisy.
I’d be amazed if Smith replied to my comments,when he asked for my vote.
Begining to think these brainwashed lot are being paid
chi onwurah has written a blog accusing Jeremy Corbyn of racism? I mean the man who famously was shown being arrested for picketing against apartheid, who recomends books by Maya Angelou, and who regularly speaks of the courage of Rosa Parks, you couldnt make it up if you tried. but they are most certainly trying.
Suck it up Sadiq it will be tjhe 1st and last