Turncoats defect from Labour as Jennie Formby is chosen to be new general secretary

Controversial: Jennie Formby.

It was curious enough that senior Labour Party staff quit their jobs on the eve of Jennie Formby’s appointment as the party’s new general secretary – more worrying still was the defection of Labour councillors to the Tories after the announcement.

What a strange time to go:

What does this say about the people concerned, if not that they never believed in Labour’s core values?

I have to ask whether those in high positions at Labour HQ were actually working against the party’s leadership, under the protection of now-departed general secretary Iain McNicol.

Here‘s the Mirror‘s list of those who departed on Monday:

Among the high-profile resignations is John Stolliday who, as the ‘Director of Governance and Legal’, was in charge of disciplinary issues.

It is understood that Neil Fleming, who had been acting London Regional Director, but has worked for the party for around 20 years, is also leaving.

Dan Simpson, who Fleming replaced, and who has been working as the Parliamentary Labour Party secretary, is also understood to be quitting his post.

It is also understood that Simon Jackson, the highly respected Director of Policy and Research is leaving the post.

While Tracey Allen and Julie Lawrence, senior staff to outgoing general secretary Iain McNicol, are also understood to be going.

(I wonder if the departure of Mr Stolliday will mean an end to the vexatious, false, malicious and opportunistic claims of anti-Semitism against me and other innocent people.)

Jennie Formby, of Unite the Union, was appointed to replace Mr McNicol as party general secretary yesterday (March 20), amid a chorus of approval:

But some took the news less enthusiastically:

What a lot of nonsense from would-be castrator-of-the-poor (and journalists) Ben Bradley. Ripe for satire:

The defections have prompted widespread derision and mockery:

And there was also the occasion piece of serious analysis:

https://twitter.com/bluscourge/status/976096616825401344

Possibly the most authoritative word comes from archive footage of the late, great Tony Benn, who accused people who got themselves elected with the support of Labour members and then defected elsewhere of working for their own self-aggrandisement rather than the good of the many:

Are Labour MPs planning to leave the party as a result of Ms Formby’s appointment?

Lee Anderson was Gloria de Piero’s office manager, after all – and she memorably wrote an article in The Sun in 2016, calling for people to join Labour in order to vote Jeremy Corbyn out of the leadership.

Will she take the plunge? Will anybody?

These are interesting times. If Labour MPs are serious about wanting to rid the UK of Conservative government, they’ll hold their tongues and stay put. Also, quitting Labour would undoubtedly trigger vilification from members of the public.

We await new developments with interest.


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8 thoughts on “Turncoats defect from Labour as Jennie Formby is chosen to be new general secretary

  1. john thatcher

    Although a formal split will cause problems for the party in the short term,I can’t help but think it would be good in the medium term.Good luck with getting reinstated.

  2. Wanda Lozinska

    Excellent compilation of Tweets!
    Just goes to show there are people in the Labour Party who don’t abide by Labour values. Good riddance! There are plenty of good people to take their place.

    Apparently loads of people left Labour HO when McNicol was appointed, so nothing new here.

  3. Growing Flame

    Tories often like to make daft comparisons between Labour and the old Bolsheviks in Russia, but, for once, I can see a partial similarity in some cases. Once the Communist Party was well entrenched in Russia, all kinds of careerists and self-servers jumped on the bandwagon, getting themselves into well-paid positions. They had no commitment to socialism but saw an opportunity for themselves. Stalin was happy to use them to advance his position.

    Fast forward several generations of such “Communist” recruits and we have the scenario in which “Soviet Communism” effectively collapsed, rather than being overthrown, because the apparatchiks saw new opportunities by becoming the new capitalists profiting from privatising the state assets. They were never socialists in the first place.
    These Labour Party councillors and administrators are the same types. They saw an opportunity for themselves and never had any intention of working for the good of the people.

    Under Blair, they flourished , while Tory policies were continued. But now, Labour is revitalising itself and they are jumping ship into the Tory lifeboat. Which has more holes than a sieve.

  4. Roy Beiley

    Shows how real their empathy with Labour Party values actually was. But to join the TORIES with their hateful, spiteful social policies is somehow sick making. Their fear of losing their power within the Labour Party has made them “less than vermin”. Good riddance.

  5. aunty1960

    They did not go and Mc the Knife was there.Just shows their loyaties and priorities and I am TOTALLY AGAINST THE “COMPLIANCE UNIT” reminds me of all those compliance brain washing camps in Stalin Russia and Mao’s China. Had enough of being told what to think, what to feel, what to say and what my priorities and values are.

    I have seen some really great people bow down and suck up in order to fit in and be OK with the compliance SOD THAT!

    Good luck with the new start, looks like Labour has miles to go yet and with its own first

    FIRST JOB – GET RID OF COMPLIANCE UNIT. It runs like a Kafka drama. You are accused but you do not know of what, you have been found guilty but you have no right to question or know the details, you are ordered to bow down, kotoe and not question. STUFF THAT!

    Get rid of compliance unit, have total amnesty on all those purged and reinstate without having to crawl through humiliating crawling scrutiny.

  6. Pat Sheehan

    They all have to go: these ‘spooks’ and ‘double agents’: and the sooner the better! ‘New broom’ (pardon the expression) all the better for clearing them out: onto the tory heap! All power to your elbow Jennie Formby. Looking better already: future looks bright!

  7. mohandeer

    It’s one thing to be a representative of Labour and quit to join the Green Party, who share so much in common with Labour, but it is quite revealing that such “representatives” have joined what should be a common foe. Quite clearly these people did not belong in the Labour Party in the first place – and never did. Whose interests were they really serving? Tha’t a rhetorical question simply because the answer is immediately evident.

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