Here’s how Keir Starmer pushed the Labour Party into (un)civil war – in tweets

Last Updated: December 4, 2020By Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Keir Starmer: it’s not a real war – and he’s certainly not the man to lead one. But the harm he is doing to innocent Labour Party members with his high-handed diktats is certainly an atrocity.

We all know how this one started: Keir Starmer’s right-wing secretary David Evans suspended Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour membership after the former Labour leader provided a perfectly reasonable opinion on the EHRC report into anti-Semitism in the party.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission had been tasked with researching whether Labour was “institutionally anti-Semitic” after strident claims by groups claiming to speak for UK Jews, including the fake charity calling itself the Campaign Against Antisemitism.

It found no evidence to support that claim, but did say that there were historic cases in which the party had broken the law. In both cases, Labour had acted to rectify the breaches.

Corbyn, responding to the report, said it showed that claims of anti-Semitism in the party had been massively over-inflated. Starmer, responding to Corbyn, said there was no place in Labour for people who downplayed the seriousness of the issue. Corbyn had not done this, but it seems Starmer then told Evans to suspend Corbyn’s membership and investigate him for breaches of party rules.

Two weeks later, a panel of Labour’s ruling NEC said Corbyn should be re-admitted to the party – so Starmer, in a fit of childish petulance, ruled that he could not have the Parliamentary whip restored.

This inflamed socialist Labour members in the constituencies, who had already been supporting motions to restore Corbyn’s party membership while it had been suspended. They expanded their activities to include demands for Corbyn’s reinstatement as a Labour MP, along with votes of ‘no confidence’ in Starmer and Evans.

In response, Starmer (through Evans) ordered that any such motions were not proper party business and that anybody speaking out against his policy on anti-Semitism or Corbyn, or demanding confidence votes against him, should face disciplinary action. This was to be enforced by the party’s regional offices.

This Writer has been following the scandal on Twitter, where people have been very free with their opinions. I had intended to public articles focusing on the new developments but they came so fast – at a time when I was having to deal with my own court case against the Labour Party – that I was unable to keep up.

I present the following in a (weak) attempt to catch up.

So, here’s Darran McLaughlin, a joint secretary of Bristol West Labour Party:

In response, Mr McLaughlin’s own party membership was suspended, along with that of Bristol West’s chairperson.

Meanwhile, actual complaints about anti-Semitism – the issue sparking the controversy – were being ignored:

Margaret Beckett was elected chair of the party’s newly-elected NEC – a hugely controversial move that prompted a walkout by left-wing members of the party’s ruling committee:

https://twitter.com/jessicaelgot/status/1331177459962818562

https://twitter.com/jessicaelgot/status/1331177807800569857

This response is typical of those I have seen:

Some of the more experienced commentators saw these attacks on the left as expressions of Starmer’s failure to lead opposition to the Johnson government:

Meanwhile, local Labour parties continued to rise up against Starmer:

… Along with trade unions:

https://twitter.com/itrainedflowers/status/1331337417891196930

Reports started to appear stating that Labour members were walking out of the party en masse in disgust at Starmer’s dictatorial attitude.

And the no-confidence votes continued to stack up:

The scandal affected Starmer’s ability to put across Labour messages:

And its failure to grapple with the issues of the day was picked up by the commentatorati:

Starmer was accused of attacking free speech…

… and local parties started expressing solidarity with their colleagues who had already been victimised by him:

The mainstream media remained strangely quiet about the crisis – in shocking contrast to its coverage of anything even slightly critical of Jeremy Corbyn when he was party leader:

Ordered not to discuss Starmer’s ill-treatment of Jeremy Corbyn or other party members, local parties changed their tactics and decided to concentrate on ‘no confidence’ votes against the current leader and his general secretary:

Members did make their feelings clear on Twitter, though:

And some local parties pressed on with support for Corbyn, regardless. South Thanet’s contribution was particularly telling because it was proposed by Jewish party members:

At this point, Starmer decided to demonstrate once again his astonishing lack of judgement – by spending the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People at a joint meeting of the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel.

It was a clear endorsement of Israel’s persecution of Palestinians that Starmer – and his deputy leader, Angela Rayner – chose to attend a meeting in support of that country’s government rather than protest against it.

https://twitter.com/TheMendozaWoman/status/1332609427036368896

Other party members started researching Starmer’s history. This seems reasonable – his Governance and Legal Unit was merrily looking into everything party members have said online, in search of excuses to suspend them (as we were to see later).

Starmer’s gagging orders on local parties started to take effect:

https://twitter.com/OHAT2020/status/1332451702293864452

But that didn’t stop them from voting against him:

https://twitter.com/socialistbangrs/status/1332486396792201217

https://twitter.com/DalyPaulvc/status/1332443697619873792

There were some local parties that voiced support for Starmer. This was also against the diktat handed down by the Labour leader and his secretary but – how odd! – he didn’t seem to want to do anything about it!

I’m going to end this part of my round-up (there’s a lot of material out there) with the following appraisal of Keir Starmer, because everything above tends to indicate that it is spot-on accurate:

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.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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2 Comments

  1. Martyn Meacham December 4, 2020 at 2:44 pm - Reply

    Why hasn’t Starmer been given the boot yet? He is a totally untrustworthy snake that has brought shame and disgrace to the Labour Party.

    • Mike Sivier December 4, 2020 at 4:07 pm - Reply

      The problem is the PLP. Labour MPs have been mostly right wing for decades and they’re the only ones with power to remove him.

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