Tag Archives: deselection

Corbyn deselection: he talks about democracy – they harp on about anti-Semitism

Motivating the masses: even after three years of sidelining and vilification, Jeremy Corbyn has more social media followers than Keir Starmer and the Labour Party put together (I’m told).

The contrast could not be more pronounced.

After Keir Starmer had Labour’s NEC vote to forcibly deselect Jeremy Corbyn as a party candidate in general elections, not just in Islington North but anywhere, the former Labour leader made his feelings about the matter clear in no uncertain terms:

His position could not be clearer: the vote – and the decision – were an insult to democracy and showed contempt for the Labour Party members of Islington North, whose wishes have been steamrolled by Starmer.

And how do Starmer and his lieutenants justify their behaviour?

They talk about a subject that wasn’t even mentioned in Starmer’s NEC motion.

Here’s Wes Streeting on Robert Peston’s show:

For the record, Streeting was lying. Jeremy Corbyn apologised many times for the focus on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party during his leadership (that he was right to say was disproportionate; anti-Semitism in Labour at the time was lower than in any other UK political organisation); he fully accepted the EHRC’s report and called for its recommendations to be enacted in full (which is yet to happen, as I understand it).

Here’s Wes Streeting on Kay Burley’s Sky News show:

It’s the same nonsense.

Let’s have a balancing view: the Alba Party’s Alex Salmond telling LBC’s Iain Dale where to get off:

That’s the fact of the matter, isn’t it?

Keir Starmer thinks that banning Jeremy Corbyn from standing, and sending Wes Streeting to trot out that fake line about anti-Semitism, will earn him points among the middle class voters of Middle England.

He’s wrong and he’ll find that out for himself in just a few weeks’ time.

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Lucy Powell’s speech at festival of ‘racial hatred’ makes the case for mandatory reselection

Lucy Powell: What stronger argument for mandatory reselection could there be?

What a great team player Lucy Powell really is!

Despite being “100 per cent” on the side of hecklers who shouted “Corbyn out!” at an event last weekend, her mere presence showed that she was in support of the ‘mandatory reselection’ of MPs, a policy that Mr Corbyn’s supporters want imposed across the party.

Because you see, she was attending an event that purported to be a demonstration against anti-Semitism… organised by friends of far-right organisations including the English Defence League and the Football Lads’ Alliance.

That’s not a demonstration against racism – it’s a rally for it!

And Ms Powell was there, along with fellow Labour MP Louise Ellman (representing the Jewish Labour Movement, so we all know where that organisation now stands), and former Labour Home Office minister Beverley Hughes (now Baroness Hughes of Stretford, deputy mayor of Greater Manchester for policing and crime).

Also attending were Marie van der Zyl, current president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mervis.

All of the above clearly thought it was worth standing up with racists in order to attack a man who is not a racist.

How would you describe such people?

Tony Greenstein – another target of the accusers – knows exactly how he would describe them.

In his blog, he states: “This demonstration has nothing to do with anti-semitism and everything to do with supporting Israeli Apartheid. Those organising it stand full square behind a racist ‘Jewish’ supremacist state that bars Palestinians from hundreds of Jewish only communities.

“The EDL, formed by Tommy Robinson aka Steven Yaxley-Lennon, was an organisation of Islamaphobic and racist bigots which managed to combine support for Israel with Hitler salutes. Tommy Robinson himself is popular with Zionists these days and completed a tour of Israel with his Zionist fan Dr Brian.”

He said the organisers of Sunday’s demonstration, the North West Friends of Israel, were deeply involved with the EDL: “In its opposition to Palestine solidarity demonstrations outside the Israeli Kedem shop protest in Manchester in 2014, NWFOI worked with the EDL… As a report at the time observed: ‘NWFOI warmly welcome the English Defence League to their demonstrations.’ The accompanying commentary by Natan Levinson of NWFOI, explained that: ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’”

That seems to have been Ms Powell’s justification for attending an event supported by the far-right. She jumped in feet-first, too, as this clip shows:

Mr Greenstein’s article describes the connection between the EDL and the organisers of Sunday’s event, the North West Friends of Israel. He also states that the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it would never have anything to do with the EDL and its then-leader: “Tommy Robinson’s record of anti-Muslim provocation means that he could never be a partner of a respectable or mainstream Jewish organisation.”

Yet here’s the Board’s president, reeling off a list of lies about Jeremy Corbyn at Sunday’s event.

The enemy of her enemy is her friend, it seems.

This should signal the end of any credibility held by the people named at the top of this article, and the organisations they represent. The reaction on the social media has been damning:

And Jewish Voice for Labour – a group that represents British Jews just as much as the Board of Deputies claims to – made its own disgust at the event, and participation in it by people claiming to represent them, perfectly clear.

In a press release, the organisation stated: “For the last three years there has been a concerted effort to discredit and unseat Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Opposition, a man who is quite possibly the most consistent anti-racist leader the Labour Party has ever known.

“This campaign has been led by a coalition of groups which are deeply opposed to Jeremy’s championing of Palestinian rights together with political opponents many of whom have shown little previous interest in combating antisemitism.

“Rather than seeking to oppose genuine anti-Jewish hatred, they have cynically sought to amplify and manipulate the anxieties of British Jews in order to further their political aims.

“Many of those organisations and individuals taking part this Sunday, including Margaret Hodge, Louise Ellman and the Board of Deputies, are the same instigators of the campaign against Jeremy.

“That progressive Jewish organisations, including those supporting Palestinian human rights, were excluded from participating suggests that the organisers and speakers are not acting in good faith.

“For some of the headline speakers, however, the demonstration is not just about antisemitism. Rather it concerns the uncritical defence of some of the actions of the Israeli government whilst giving voice to those who want to remove Jeremy Corbyn, a consistent and principled supporter of Palestinian rights, as leader of the Labour party. We cannot emphasise enough that they do not speak for us.”

Of course – according to some – JVL represent the “wrong kind of Jew”. Look at the reaction this announcement received:

The evidence is clear. This was a racist event, organised and supported by racists who hid beneath a banner of opposition for anti-Semitism.

Under normal Labour Party rules, Lucy Powell, Margaret Hodge and all the other elected representatives who supported it would get away with such an outrage, free as birds, because constituency Labour parties would have no democratic power to remove them.

They would then be able to continue openly campaigning against a leader who is supported by a clear majority of Labour members, presenting lies about him to the public via an unquestioning (right-wing) media establishment, with an ultimate aim of undemocratically removing Mr Corbyn from office.

But their appearance at this event shows that the current situation cannot be allowed to continue. MPs must support the leader, and the will of the party – or they must be replaced by those who will.

By appearing at this appalling event, Lucy Powell and the others have done the Labour Party a huge service.

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Ridicule for Labour right-whingers as they complain about ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ toy

Joan Ryan: Apparently police were called in because she was given a ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ toy labelled ‘deselection express’.

The Telegraph‘s headline seemed genuinely disturbing – Police called in over Labour’s deselection row after ‘menacing’ cards placed in MPs’ parliamentary offices  – until we all read what it was about.

“Officers from the Parliamentary liaison unit were last night probing how an unknown intruder was able to enter the office of one of the MPs and place the card, which contained details of an upcoming holiday to Cyprus, on their desk,” the article stated.

“Both MPs were also sent a miniature toy replica of Thomas the Tank Engine, which left-wing supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have referred to as the ‘Deselection Express’.”

Wait, what?

Police were called in because Joan Ryan and Gavin Shuker received a ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ toy?

The howls of derision were particularly shrill:

And rightly so.

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Did strapped-for-a-story Sunday Times resurrect six-month-old Labour deselection twaddle?

The good fellows at Momentum were up in arms earlier, because of this:

Sunday Times front January 21.

The Momentum Twitter account had this to say:

“The Sunday Times contacted us at 9pm, half an hour before print. The story is based on one unnamed source. Others on twitter say they rewrote half the paper at the last minute as their big story was pulled.

“Desperate for a new front page, have @thesundaytimes just made this up?”

Well, the Sunday Times is behind a paywall that This Writer won’t cough up to get past, so I looked up the story in downmarket sister rag The Sun instead (don’t judge me – it’s all in the name of research). Apparently, it goes like this:

“As many as 50 Labour MPs are on a de-selection hit-list drawn up by leftist supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, it has been claimed.

“Moderate Labour MPs have been warned that Corbyn’s allies want centrist candidates ousted toe e replaced by hard line lefties.

“A Labour Party whip has been privately telling moderates not to rock the boat or they could face the chop.

“The news comes amid fears many will be targeted if rule changes are pushed through this autumn, The Times reports.

“Chris Leslie, former shadow chancellor, and Hilary Benn, son of Left wing icon Tony Benn, are believed to top the list.

“Angela Eagle, who challenged Corbyn for the leadership in 2016, and her sister Maria, are also thought to be in the activists’ sights.

“A source told The Times: “Allies of Corbyn have admitted they have a list of MPs they want to get rid of.”

“The disclosure came as three Momentum-backed candidates, including founder Jon Lansman, were elected to Labour’s national executive committee last week.”

It all seemed a bit familiar, so I got on a search engine and found this, from the Daily Mail website, dated July 7 last year – six months ago:

Hard left activists have drawn up a deselection ‘hit list’ of nearly 50 Labour MPs who have criticised Jeremy Corbyn.

A Momentum group in South Tyneside has published a list of politicians who they say should ‘join the Liberals’.

They include Chuka Umunna – who led a revolt against Mr Corbyn over leaving the EU single market – Chris Leslie and Jess Philips.

The list emerged as it emerged that another moderate MP had been ordered to apologise to Mr Corbyn after a hard-left clique took over her local party.

Luciana Berger, who is currently on maternity leave, was told by one newly-elected member of the executive in Liverpool Wavertree that she should ‘get on board quickly’ or face being axed.

The similarities are obvious – not just the names of those involved, like Chris Leslie and Maria Eagle (whose name is on the list published in the Mail‘s story, but also the language: In the Times story, moderate MPs are being told not to “rock the boat”, while in the Mail, Luciana Berger was allegedly told to “get on board quickly”.

Snap reaction: This is fake news. The Sunday Times has resurrected an old allegation about Momentum – most probably in response to the victory of Momentum-backed candidates including the organisation’s founder, Jon Lansman, in elections to the party’s ruling National Executive Committee last week.

Is there anything to it? Doubtful.

I’m sure a leading Labour figure ruled out mandatory reselection of MPs in an interview last week (although I admit I can’t find it at the time of writing), and the commentariat seemed to be taking that person at their word.

In the Labour Party, it seems, the ceasefire has been holding.

But that could change if these Murdoch rags stir up submerged animosities. Let’s hope nobody lets that happen.

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