Is Whittome Labour’s latest hypocrite in the Corbyn/suspension/free speech controversy?
A Labour MP who had been considered to be on the left of the party and who said Jeremy Corbyn should be reinstated when his membership was suspended has become a turncoat, it seems.
Despite her own comments about Corbyn, it seems Nadia Whittome does not believe that her peers in the party should have the same right, as she stated in a Tweet following a meeting of Nottingham East Labour Party (she is MP for that constituency but not a member of the CLP):
Nadia, you’ve publicly stated Corbyn should have whip re-instated. Why can’t you extend that right to members in your own CLP? This would at least make sense if you thought Corbyn shouldn’t have whip.
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) November 28, 2020
It seems the agenda of last Friday’s CLP meeting included a motion that called for Corbyn’s reinstatement, the lifting of disciplinary measures from others for discussing the issues as well as for the removal of David Evans, General Secretary of the Labour Party, who imposed Corbyn’s suspension and the ban on discussing it that led to the suspensions of other party members.
Ms Whittome objected to the motion, despite having spoken against Corbyn’s suspension herself, it seems.
What are we to make of that? That she considers herself to be above her party colleagues? That she agrees that, while she may discuss such matters with impunity, it is right that rank-and-file party members be suspended for daring to do so? That she thinks party members should not be allowed to register their opposition when party officers flout rules and regulations?
That’s how it looks to This Writer.
Worse, Ms Whittome passed comment on an incident in which a Jewish CLP member left the meeting, claiming they did not feel safe there.
It appears that all was not as she led people to believe. Here‘s a statement from the CLP itself:
“There was only one interruption during the meeting. This arose when one member stated that in his personal experience he had never witnessed any antisemitism in any of our meetings. As he continued with his personal view, another member shouted out – in a manner that some found to be aggressive – that he himself had suffered personal, antisemitic abuse from the person speaking, who was taken aback and stated that this wasn’t true; the Chair intervened and tried to calm things down. At this point the member who had interrupted declared that he no longer felt safe at the meeting and left.
“The member who left has changed his narrative on social media to stating that the member he accused had ‘witnessed an anti-Semitic attack’ on him rather than had attacked him personally.”
Ms Whittome also mentioned the possibility that disciplinary proceedings had been launched against a member of the CLP. This appears to be CLP chair Louise Regan, a former NUT president and (I really hope this has nothing to do with it) vice-chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
It seems Ms Regan’s party membership was, in fact, suspended:
Breaking: I understand the chair of Nottingham East CLP has been suspended tonight. This is prompt and effective action by the @UKLabour leadership.
— lee harpin (@lmharpin) November 27, 2020
This can only be for allowing the motion to be heard (it was passed by 23 votes to 10). Ms Regan’s conduct during the meeting was described in the CLP statement as “exemplary” and Ms Whittome is said to have joined in thanking her for the way she chaired it.
If that was everything, it would be bad enough, but it seems even worse than that, as evidence has come to light claiming that Ms Whittome actually participated in a smear campaign against Ms Regan. Read:
https://twitter.com/AmmarKazmi_/status/1332613377332490241
Of course, the AWL utterly detest Louise and ran a vicious smear campaign against her during the selection last year. I'm sure they're rubbing their hands with glee today. I hope this episode finally wakes people up to the sort of 'left-wingers' we have in our midst. 4/4
— 🔻سيد عمار 🇵🇸 (@SayedAmmar_) November 28, 2020
I've just received screenshots of sickening messages from Nadia Whittome, in which she directly participated in the smear campaign against the now-suspended Nottingham East CLP Chair, Louise Regan. Of course, publicly, she denounced the abuse Louise received. See below ↓
— 🔻سيد عمار 🇵🇸 (@SayedAmmar_) November 28, 2020
These false allegations have been repeated again and again by Nottingham AWL members, with whom Nadia is good friends. The AWL fiercely supported her campaign. Publicly, Nadia denounced the abuse they sent to Louise but, privately, it looks like she was using it to get support.
— 🔻سيد عمار 🇵🇸 (@SayedAmmar_) November 28, 2020
Messages are from 8 April 2019. It shows how early she got to work in smearing Louise. The selection campaign didn't start until several months later.
Some people will do anything to win!
— 🔻سيد عمار 🇵🇸 (@SayedAmmar_) November 28, 2020
Maybe Mr Kazmi has his own axe to grind (although, considering the number of Tweets by other people linking Ms Whittome with this AWL group, this seems doubtful). In any case, This Writer will be happy to hear what the MP has to say about all this.
At the moment, it seems likely she has fatally wounded her reputation among the very people on whom she would have to rely in order to be re-elected in any future Parliamentary poll.
And at the very least, it seems likely that she should expect a flood of complaints to Labour’s Governance and Legal Unit, that her comments have brought the party into disrepute – the very charge which, when used against her colleagues, she supported.
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This is what Nadia Whittome had to say for herself on LabourList
https://labourlist.org/2020/11/labour-antisemitism-must-be-confronted-with-nuance-clarity-and-empathy/
You did ask to see what she has to say.
I wonder whether she wrote it herself (and it seems I’m not the only one).