Concern that Corbyn may be removed from MP of the Year vote – after Chris Williamson last year
What will happen if Jeremy Corbyn is voted MP of the Year, I asked – and the popular guess is that pressure will be exerted on the award’s organisers, the Patchwork Foundation, to disqualify him.
That’s what happened with Chris Williamson last year, after all!
Do you remember that particular fiasco? I do. Here‘s what I wrote about it:
A charity that self-describes as “strengthening democracy” has undermined its own work by vetoing the nomination of Chris Williamson as a candidate for its ‘MP of the Year’ award.
The Patchwork Foundation, which claims to encourage the positive integration of disadvantaged and minority communities into British democracy and civil society, pushed Mr Williamson off the list because his membership of the Labour Party has been suspended pending an investigation into claims of anti-Semitism. This is despite the fact that he continues his work as an outstanding constituency MP.
A letter from the organisation states:
“Our MP of the Year Awards seek to celebrate and recognise those MPs that uphold the ethos and values of the Fooundation; to champion underrepresented, minority or disadvantaged communities in the UK.
“MPs under investigation or suspension would not be included. As such, Chris Williamson’s nomination could not be taken forward this year, as he is currently suspended from the Labour Party.”
What message does this send to disadvantaged and minority communities? “Don’t get accused of anything because the establishment – including this organisation – will automatically assume that you are guilty”? “We will pre-judge you on anything that is said about you”? “Don’t dare try to make a difference because you will be punished”?
That’s what it says to me.
New New Labour leader Keir Starmer is already under pressure to suspend Corbyn’s membership of the Labour Party, and I wonder if this will be enough reason for him to take that plunge?
He doesn’t usually need much encouragement to do the wrong thing; consider the way he paid £600,000 of party members’ funds to so-called “whistleblowers” who were threatening him with court proceedings, despite being told Labour could win. Now he’s facing many more threatened court claims.
Disqualification – as part of the so-called “cancel culture” – seems to be the most popular response on This Writer’s Twitter feed:
I'm pretty sure that any such outcome would be disqualified by the people doing the counting.
— Professor Soq-Poupet (@Xanthip28429540) July 30, 2020
Just to add that would inevitably open the gates of hell for Starmer, so he'd be in a really tight spot if Corbyn won. It'll be interesting to see if some other completely invalid reason is found to disqualify him before the result, but then the left will also go apoplectic.
— Mark P (@MarkPur62425725) July 30, 2020
No doubt they will fix it so he doesn’t. Just like they did to stop him become PM. When May said “ we will never let you in to number ten” we never thought in a million years it would be our own staff.
— Muca (@Dix_i312) July 29, 2020
Some of the other answers have been more amusing, though. See for yourself:
They'll say the vote was hacked by Russia. Or Hezbollah, or the ghost of Stalin.
— jason (@shoegaze333) July 30, 2020
On top of his two previous peace prizes.
— Liam Scully (@badrenalin) July 30, 2020
https://twitter.com/StevenPowell4/status/1288847696300736513
Bury it with some 'exciting' news. Johnson will become father again, or the like.
— Tony Hill 😷 (@TonyHill_7) July 30, 2020
They’ll turn inside out with rage. But they’ll never let that happen
— ian westell 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️😃 (@ianwestell) July 30, 2020
https://twitter.com/PMcf12/status/1288829364390461440
melt
— Keith cross (@keithcross9214) July 30, 2020
As long as I can have a photo of the traitorous MPs faces, I will be very happy.
— Rho. (@greekalphabet) July 30, 2020
https://twitter.com/StevePayne2018/status/1288828359410147328
Hopefully, spontaneously self-combust, so we can finally be rid of them. https://t.co/rGnB1uZh4g
— Modern Life Is BS – ACAB 😷 (@h8modernlife_ij) July 30, 2020
https://twitter.com/pauljohnlyon/status/1288827718243622912
I’m keeping the last word for myself as I see some people are still blaming Corbyn for losing the 2019 election, when it seems clear that it was rigged against him due to sabotage by right-wing factionalists within Labour:
People are saying it'll probably be rigged against Corbyn – like the December 2019 election. @JLJones48
— Mike Sivier (@MidWalesMike) July 30, 2020
Was he? Say that to the 300,000 who joined Labour for him. He was also the most successful Opposition leader ever @JLJones48
— Mike Sivier (@MidWalesMike) July 30, 2020
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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You could look at who is supporting this competition like Atos or KMPG or whatever they’re calling themselves now https://patchworkfoundation.org.uk/our-work/alumni/
So universal credit could be softened, maybe Tories scared of its harshness on middle classes. Don’t want to kill them off like the disabled+other vulnerables.