Tag Archives: Byrne

Even the BBC is publicising Labour’s victimisation of its own members

Yes: this is the only image This Site has of Ian Byrne.

The remarkable aspect of this story is not that Ian Byrne is being victimised by members of his own party, or that he is seeking advice from the police about how to deal with it – This Site and others have already covered those things.

No – the extraordinary part is that the BBC appears to have removed its blinkers and is now prepared to cover it.

The corporation’s article states:

An MP who wants to remain as a Labour candidate at the next election has said he will be “seeking guidance” from police over alleged intimidation.

West Derby MP Ian Byrne tweeted that he faced “shameful” intimidation at an event on Saturday and had blocked those “involved in this appalling behaviour”.

Mr Byrne is being challenged in the race in West Derby by Liverpool councillor Anthony Lavelle and Lancashire councillor Kimberley Whitehead, after losing a series of ballots in his local party.

In a week’s time, members of the constituency Labour Party will choose one of the three to be their candidate.

The process, which started in the summer has been described as “toxic” by Labour members.

Toxic. The fact that this is the word to which party members resort when describing the process imposed on them by their own leadership speaks volumes.

The article then focuses on an alleged incident between supporters of Byrne and those of Lavelle, when events were coincidentally (?) scheduled to take place at neighbouring venues. One has to question how that happened.

Considering the ill-feeling over this matter and the way the Labour leadership seems to be prioritising the other candidates over Byrne, it seems incongruous that this should have happened.

Who was responsible for it?

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While true Labour MPs like Ian Byrne struggle for reselection, why does this ex-Tory get a free pass?

Christian Wakeford: this Tory defector to the Labour Party gets to skip the process of selection to stand as a Labour representative in the next general election, while people who have been Labour members all their lives are being pushed out by a hostile right-wing leadership.

The Labour Parliamentary selection process has plumbed a new depth of bias.

This Site has already reported the way the right-wing (dare I say far – for the Labour Party – right-wing?) Labour leadership is trying to squeeze left-wing candidates including MP of the Year Ian Byrne out of being selected to stand at the next UK general election.

Now we learn that Christian Wakeford, the former Conservative MP who crossed the floor to the Labour benches, has been allowed to skip the selection process entirely.

That’s right – a former Tory is being allowed to avoid the judgement of Labour members and voters in his constituency so he can stand for election again, whether the local party wants him or not.

Here’s Damo – and be warned, his language is spicy:

@kernowdamo Tory defector gets a pass. #DamoRants#rants#politicaltiktok#politiktiktok#politics#ukpolitics#britishpolitics#labour#tories#keirstarmer#socialists#fyp ♬ original sound – Damo

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Labour councillors complain their MP has blocked them – but is this the reason?

Ian Byrne: now it seems Labour members who unaccountably want to deprive their constituency of the MP of the Year are trying to intimidate him and his team.

Take a look at this tweet, and the reply it provoked, from a councillor in the constituency of MP of the Year Ian Byrne.

Despite winning the award for his excellent work, Byrne is facing an uphill struggle to be re-selected as the Labour candidate for Liverpool West Derby – because it seems the party’s leaders are deliberately trying to prevent it.

This Site reported on November 5 that

Labour has rescinded Mr Byrne’s access to Organise, the communication facility between the party hierarchy and its members.

His rival in the campaign – a shiny Wes Streeting-a-like from London – does have access to the tool and therefore has a huge advantage over Mr Byrne, who is reduced to trying to resource his reselection campaign on the social media.

Now this:

Nicola James makes a good point. Why would anybody think the MP of the Year is not worth re-selecting? That’s the first indication that something is amiss with Cllr Doyle’s complaint. As for the comment about abusive behaviour… well, here’s what Byrne himself has to say about it:

So he says he suffered intimidation from people including local politicians and will be taking up the matter, not just with the local authority but with the police as well.

This casts an entirely different light on Cllr Doyle’s words, it seems.

It also appears that right-wingers among the Labour members in the West Derby constituency are spreading what Byrne himself has described as myths about him, in a bid to persuade gullible colleagues that he’s not worth their vote. An astonishing claim about the MP of the Year!

Here’s his response, killing these claims with the facts:

For those of you who can’t read images, here’s what the text says:

Mythbusters

Sometimes during a campaign, facts get lost. Several West Derby members have made me aware of what they consider to be, at best, ‘odd’ conversations with representatives of other candidates over recent weeks.

In order to ensure there are no misunderstandings and that all West Derby members have access to the facts, I have put together this simple mythbuster to clarify a few points:

  • I voted Remain in the EU ref, not Brexit (as members inform me, they have been told by other campaigns). I also 100% respected the outcome of the vote.
  • My office was not closed for my first year in the role as MP. I set up a highly visible and accessible, brand new MP’s office in Tuebrook, one of the poorest wards in our constituency. Within the first few months of the role, I, like everyone, was subject to Covid-19 rules which I followed. My office was open 8am – 6pm durinq the pandemic but subject to the same lockdown and social distancing rules as everyone else.
    Myself and my team worked non-stop during the pandemic and supported West Derby constituents in so many different ways. I sadly had to close the office to the public again earlier this year as a security precaution, due to frightening death threats made against myself, team and family by a far-right extremist posing outside the office. This does not mean myself and my team are not working, we are, all day, every day, for the people of West Derby.
  • As the MP for West Derby I am responsible for many things, all of which I take very seriously. Councillors have primary jurisdiction over local council issues such as traffic, potholes, dog muck and street lighting. Within West Derby, each ward has three local councillors who I support and encourage to carry out their roles fully.*
  • I am not obsessed with foodbanks. I am however committed to ending the need for foodbanks, and I make no apology for that. Please look at my work on the Right To Food campaign to see how I am challenging the need for the very existence of foodbanks: www.ianbyrne.org/righttofood

Thank you for your time.

Ian Byrne, MP Liverpool West Derby*Please see separate statement issued 13. 11.2022 regarding intimidation

Looking at Byrne’s preface to his statement, it seems clear that he’s saying “fair play and integrity” are no longer part of the Labour leadership’s skillset.

Perhaps, instead of trying to remove MPs who have those qualities – like Byrne himself – party members across the UK should concentrate on ridding their organisation of the parasites that have infested its head office instead.

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When Labour tries to ditch the MP OF THE YEAR, you know the party has lost all direction

Ian Byrne: his own party may have dis-Organise-d him but will he be able to use the social(ist) media to turn the tables on the hierarchy?

Could the UK’s voters ever have been given a clearer sign that they should not support a political party?

Labour is trying to remove MP of the Year Ian Byrne from his Liverpool West Derby Parliamentary seat – but as he is the recipient of that award, and hasn’t done anything wrong, the party is trying an inventive way of doing it. Constructive dismissal, one might suggest.

So, in the campaign to be reselected as the party’s candidate for that seat, Labour has rescinded Mr Byrne’s access to Organise, the communication facility between the party hierarchy and its members.

His rival in the campaign – a shiny Wes Streeting-a-like from London – does have access to the tool and therefore has a huge advantage over Mr Byrne, who is reduced to trying to resource his reselection campaign on the social media.

Here’s Damo with the details:

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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Turncoat Tories who clapped key workers are now planning to stab them in the back

Here’s a relatively new buzzphrase for you: “Fire and re-hire.”

It has become the latest fashion among big corporations in the UK, with multiple strikes taking place over recent weeks as unions have done their best to protest this despicable practice.

The aim is to fire workers, then hire them back immediately – at a lower rate of pay (and possibly with fewer in-work benefits as well).

This means bosses have more cash to pass around among themselves and shareholders – and there’s the added bonus of causing unnecessary unpleasantness to the people who actually generate the profits that these parasites enjoy.

This week, Conservative MPs had a chance to support a Parliamentary motion stating that “fire and re-hire” should be banned. They didn’t even turn up.

Labour has been all over this.

I dare say every Labour MP with a Twitter account has put up something similar.

The Tory press was more interested in hounding Labour’s Ian Byrne for joining a picket line to stop British Gas from using these despicable ‘fire and rehire’ practices.

Here’s Mr Byrne to say what he’s been up to:

Tory rags attacked Byrne for travelling 42 miles to Stockport during lockdown.

They omitted mention of the fact that he was well within his rights as the travel was related to his job, and he was perfectly entitled to do it.

Also, of course, Boris Johnson had travelled to another country, and the Tory rags didn’t utter a whisper about that!

I think Rachael is right. So is Karie:

The TUC has published an article pointing out that “fire and re-hire” is the diametric opposite of Boris Johnson’s claim that he intends to “level up” the UK – as it levels-down workers’ pay and living standards.

The threat of fire-and-rehire, when workers are dismissed and told to reapply for their roles on inferior terms, has been used in sectors from aviation to hospitality in recent months.

And workers at British Gas are currently taking industrial action against an attempt by bosses to unilaterally cut their pay and conditions.

A poll published by the TUC today reveals that nearly one in 10 (9%) workers have been told to re-apply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions since the first lockdown in March.

Nearly a fifth of 18-24 year-olds say their employer has tried to re-hire them on inferior terms during the pandemic.

And twice as many black and minority ethnic (BME) workers (15%) have been faced with “fire and rehire” as white workers (8%)

The Tories – absent from the vote to support banning the practice – were probably instead plotting ways to water down workers’ rights even further.

After Brexit, the Tory government has an opportunity to inflict huge harm on the people who power the national economy. Kwasi Kwarteng may be denying it but if that wasn’t the plan, where were they during the “fire and re-hire” vote?

Bizarrely, the Tories have been helped in this plan by British voters.

British voters voted to leave the European Union.

And British voters voted to give Boris Johnson a Parliamentary majority of 80 seats, to make sure that he would be able to give employers carte blanche to steal pay from the hands of their employees.

Ask these British voters who they would support in a future election and I’m willing to bet that most of them would say they’d support the Tories again.

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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What William Beveridge might have really wanted for the modern welfare state

Those of you who were kind enough to read yesterday’s blog entry will know that I was disgusted with Liam Byrne, the shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, after he wrote an article for The Guardian that marked him (in my opinion) as a closet Tory. Or at least a collaborator. If you haven’t read that article, please feel free to go back and explore my arguments.

Having said all that I realise that some of you might feel justified in asking what sort of article I would have written in his place, given the chance. This is your chance to find out because that’s exactly what I’ve done. I’ve kept the same headline and intro paragraph, and some other material including the final paragraph are as Mr Byrne wrote them, but the rest is what I think he should have been saying.

I wonder if you’ll agree with me?

A William Beveridge for this century’s welfare state

Labour won’t win on welfare reform by default. On jobs and benefits we need another tough-minded social revolution.

If William Beveridge could see what has happened to his great plans for the future, he would be spinning in his grave.

I do not suggest this because his once-great political party has entered into an atrocious marriage-of-convenience with their once-bitter rivals, the Conservatives.

No, the reason I believe the great statesman’s body may be, even now, drilling its way to subterranean parts unknown is the terrible fate to which this coalition has Con-Dem’ned his ‘social insurance’ scheme – which you and I now call The Welfare State.

Beveridge argued that this system would provide a minimum standard of living “below which no-one should be allowed to fall”. It recommended that the government should find ways of fighting the five ‘Giant Evils’ of Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. He included as one of his fundamental assumptions the fact that there would be a National Health Service of some sort, a policy already being developed by the Ministry of Health.

He saw full employment (defined as unemployment of no more than three per cent) as the pivot of his social welfare programme. Measures for achieving it included Keynesian-style fiscal regulation.

It took a Labour government to make this a reality, after the Cons called for the Beveridge report to be trimmed and delayed, and the Coalition’s plan to privatise the NHS in all but name, and its obstinate determination to avoid the wisdom of Keynes’ fiscal policy might be enough reason to believe that, 70 years after his famous report, his ideas have been ground beneath the heel of contempt.

Worst of all is the way his system is being abused in order to victimise the unemployed, the sick and the disabled. If Mr Beveridge were alive today, I am sure that this fact alone would kill him!

Beveridge’s system was built on the idea of full employment, so he would have been horrified at the long-term unemployment breaking out all over Britain. This is why the country needs Keynesian-style investment in new industry, creating new jobs. This would help eliminate Idleness, one of his five Giant Evils; guarantees that these jobs would pay a decent, living wage (and not just the bare minimum) would eliminate Want as well. Let’s not forget that the Credit Crunch, that led to the current huge national deficit, was caused by people whose wages couldn’t pay their costs, borrowing in order to make ends meet – and then finding they could not pay back their unsecured loans!

Beveridge would have been appalled at the spiralling cost of benefits, knowing as he did that investment in industry would bring those costs down. A larger, well-paid workforce means fewer people on benefits, and more taxes paid to support those who must rely on the State – such as the long-term sick and the disabled.

Contrast this with the current situation. The Coalition’s suicidal fixation with austerity has starved the UK of business investment to the point that more than 20 people are chasing every single available job. As a result, the benefits bill is much higher than the Treasury can comfortably accommodate, and it’s likely to increase!

And what is this government’s solution? It intends to limit housing benefit, so that any individual who cannot afford the rent for their residence will be slung out on their ear. It intends to time-limit unemployment benefits and has already begun offering inappropriate jobs to claimants – the classic is driving jobs for those without licences, in order to clear them off the books for a while. And it has employed Atos, an IT corporation, to carry out assessments of disability claimants using a tick-box questionnaire, instead of employing medical experts. It’s well-known that this company is under orders to get as many claimants as possible off the books and there is a wealth of evidence that shows this has led to a shocking amount of inaccuracy in the way Atos employees have filled out the forms. A survey by the Citizens Advice Bureau in Mid Wales found more than 40 per cent of those they questioned, who undertook the assessment, discovered serious errors – the answers input by the assessors were not the answers they had been given.

Labour is on the side of people who work hard and do the right thing. It is the purpose of government to provide the best conditions for this to happen. The Coalition has failed to do this on an epic scale.

But Labour won’t win on welfare reform by default. Seventy years on from Beveridge, it is time for Labour to take on this Liberal reformer’s ideas again, just as we did in the 1940s.

In rethinking the future, Beveridge’s first principles are the right place to begin.

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