Tag Archives: John McDonnell

Will Starmer expel Labour MPs linked to Palestine Action?

Keir Starmer: considering his fondness for Israel and recent u-turn over the recognition of Palestine, how do you think he’ll respond to calls for MPs who support a pro-Palestine activist group to be expelled from Labour?

Keir Starmer is apparently under pressure to expel four Labour MPs who may have links to the group Palestine Action, that organises activities to shut down Israeli arms manufacturers like Elbit Ltd.

According to the Express, Starmer is facing these calls after six members of Palestine Action were arrested on suspicion of planning to “shut down” the UK stock exchange by locking themselves together, by the neck, at the front entrance to the building, preventing workers from getting inside.

That really doesn’t seem particularly extreme.

If Starmer gives in to the pressure, he will open himself up to criticism – and more – from his political opponents. For example:

And who are the threatened Labour MPs?

The Express mentions Ian Byrne, who spoke in 2021 at the same event as Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action; former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who in the same year shared Palestine Action’s tweet in support of their activists on the roof of a factory in Leicester; and Kim Johnson, who also attended a protest alongside Ms Ammori.

This is a situation that warrants monitoring.

John McDonnell gets it: UK risks shift to fascism without radical change soon

John McDonnell: he’s right to fear a far-right ascendancy if current Labour leader Keir Starmer fails to restore faith in UK politics.

Public disillusionment and disconnection with politics could lay the UK wide open to an invasion of far-right populists and fascists.

The onus will be on the Labour Party – if it wins the next election – to re-establish trust in politics and restore belief that politicians work for the people, rather than leech off of them.

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That’s what former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell believes, as he has written in The Guardian:

“People will be patient as they fully realise how broken Britain is, but the foundations of credible and radical change will have to be seen to be being laid early in the life of the incoming Labour government,” he writes, calling for a “real strategy” to restore the value of wages and incomes.

There had also been a retreat on key core policy commitments, he said, such as the level of investment needed for Labour’s green new deal.

“If Labour fails to set out early upon a path of radical change to secure the all-round wellbeing and security of our people, then inevitably disillusionment will set in,” McDonnell said. “The risk then is the potential for a significant shift in our politics to the right, with the return of a Conservative party completely shorn of any traditional one nation Tories and under the dominance of the populist right both within the party and beyond.”

That is This Writer’s fear – as I have laid out in previous articles like this.

The best way to avoid a Tory resurgence of any kind at all, and particularly a growth of the far right, would be to change the general election system to a form of proportional representation – but Keir Starmer opposes this.

Without it, the UK risks falling into fascism. The only promises Starmer has made suggest five years of sub-Tory stasis with no economic improvement and huge harm to our health after the NHS is fully turned over to private-sector asset-strippers.

That would feed exactly the disillusion that John McDonnell fears.

Starmer has been warned – and all the signs suggest he is ignoring the warning. You must decide for yourself why he would do such a thing.

Source: Britain risks shift to far right if Labour fails to enact ‘radical change’, says John McDonnell | Labour | The Guardian


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Will Jeremy Corbyn really step down as leader if Labour loses a general election?

Jeremy Corbyn: He’ll win the next election or quit as Labour leader, according to the shadow chancellor in a new interview.

The Independent is running a disturbing report that claims Jeremy Corbyn will quit as Labour leader if the party loses at the expected general election later this year.

The claim is from an interview between former New Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and shadow chancellor John McDonnell, in GQ magazine.

Mr McDonnell is quoted as follows, after being asked if Mr Corbyn would “stay on”: “I can’t see so. What we’d do is as the tradition, which is have an election for a new leader.”

He added: “I think it is the same for my own personal position.”

This is unfortunate as it gives every troublemaker in the UK a reason to campaign hard against Labour – to end the hope of a government that serves the majority, rather than a greedy few.

This Writer certainly expects Mr Campbell to try to capitalise on this as, being a staunch ally of the neoliberal Blairite project, he’ll want to see the reinstallation of an anonymous suit as Labour leader with a brief to make it as close to the Conservative Party as possible, in order to deny us any real choice in a general election.

The Liberal Democrats and the Tories, under the unspeakable Jo Swinson and the abominable Boris Johnson, will be much worse.

The forthcoming election is therefore shaping up to be a battle for the soul of the nation.

Will Mr Corbyn’s supporters fight to win?

Or do we hand the United Kingdom to the forces of darkness?

Source: Corbyn to step down as leader if Labour doesn’t win general election, McDonnell says | The Independent

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Inquiry demanded into claims Boris Johnson backers will profit from ‘no deal’ – and it can’t come soon enough

The sign says ‘leader’: but is there somebody in the shadows, telling him what to do in their interest, rather than that of the UK as a whole?

The Labour Party has demanded an independent “conflict of interest” inquiry into Boris Johnson, over claims that the prime minister’s backers will profit hugely from a “no deal” Brexit.

John McDonnell, shadow chancellor, has written to the UK’s most senior civil servant, Cabinet Office secretary Mark Sedwill, calling for an investigation into alleged collusion with currency speculators.

The demand is based on comments by Mr Johnson’s sister Rachel and claims by former chancellor – now an Independent MP – Philip Hammond that speculators were investing in “short” positions – betting on the pound plummeting and inflation rocketing – after a “no deal” Brexit.

It has been reported that they could make more than £8 billion – while the rest of us suffer.

In his letter to Sir Mark, the shadow chancellor said there had been widespread reports of increases in short positions taken against sterling in the lead-up to a possible no-deal Brexit.

Mr Johnson and the Conservative party had received “a significant sum” in donations from no-deal backers, a number of who are involved in hedge funds, he said. Meanwhile, the PM has made it clear he is ready to go ahead with a no-deal outcome to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

“These three facts have caused concern that the prime minister may have a conflict of interest,” wrote Mr McDonnell. “Donors to the Conservative party and/or the prime minister could stand to gain from a no-deal Brexit – even if only through cushioning losses by adopting short positions. The prime minister could reasonably be seen as having an interest in securing a no-deal Brexit to financially benefit his donors.”

He added: “It is becoming increasingly apparent from public comment that the prime minister is bringing into doubt whether he is upholding the highest standards, thereby further undermining public confidence and trust in him and his government… It is important for public confidence and trust in the House of Commons that any real or apparent conflict of interest is investigated.”

“The prime minister could reasonably be seen as having an interest in securing a no-deal Brexit to financially benefit his donors.”

No UK public servant can serve two masters in such a way, and for a prime minister the good of the nation must come before any personal benefit to that person, their friends or supporters.

The Jennifer Arcuri scandal has already placed significant doubt on Mr Johnson’s loyalties. The British public consider him entirely capable of putting the interests of himself and his financiers before those of the nation.

And in the meantime the Brexit deadline clock is ticking down to October 31.

Mr Sedwill must agree to this inquiry, and it must be carried out with haste. Everybody needs to know the facts before it is too late.

Source: Brexit: Labour demands inquiry into ex-chancellor’s claims Boris Johnson backers set to profit from no-deal | The Independent

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Labour lays down the green energy gauntlet with interest-free loan plan for electric cars

While the Tories – and other right-wingers around the globe – are still messing up the planet with fossil fuels, Labour has announced a game-changing plan to democratise ownership of electric cars.

A Labour government will offer loans of up to £33,000 to low- and middle-income households, people in rural areas, independent contractors and small-to-medium-sized businesses, to buy electric cars.

The intention is to provide clean transport for everyone, with 2.5 million interest-free loans; the government would cover the cost of interest.

And the scheme would boost the national grid, as everyone receiving a loan would be required to participate in a mass trial of “Vehicle-2-Grid” technology.

Electric cars will store energy when demand is low – during the night when the wind is blowing but people are asleep, for example – and discharge into the grid when energy use peaks -in the evening as people arrive home from work. This smooths out demand and reduces reliance on gas-driven power stations.

The plan was explained by shadow chancellor John McDonnell:

“This will stimulate the automotive industry. It will sustain jobs in the conversion from fossil fuels to electric but actually it will create new jobs as well.

“So this is beneficial in terms of the climate, [and] it is beneficial for those people who want to convert their carbon-fuel powered car into an electric vehicle that is sustainable.

“At the same time, it will help support the automotive industry and create jobs. Those jobs are in areas where we have had real issues, particularly with Brexit.”

The plan has been announced to contrast with the Conservative government, which has been slammed repeatedly, including by the Society of Motor Manufacturers, for scrapping support for electric cars.

Labour’s plan seems much better all round, it seems.

Source: John McDonnell announces interest free loans for electric cars  – The Labour Party

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Back Labour’s ‘caretaker’ government after Johnson loses confidence vote – demand

Over-run: This graffito shows Jeremy Corbyn, having already run down David Cameron and Theresa May on his bike, in the act of doing the same to Boris Johnson.

Opposition parties will be challenged to put the good of the nation before their own ambitions if Labour wins a ‘no confidence’ vote against Boris Johnson’s government next month.

Political opponents of Mr Corbyn have suggested that a so-called ‘Government of National Unity’ could be formed if BoJob loses such a vote, but shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said Labour would not support it.

This means the plan should fail, as too few MPs would support it.

Instead, Mr McDonnell said Labour would demand the keys to 10 Downing Street from Mr Johnson and he would personally put Mr Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace, to tell the Queen that Labour would take over.

And he issued a challenge to members of other Opposition parties:

The shadow chancellor said that if the Conservative leader failed to quit he would not “want to drag the Queen into this but [he] would be sending Jeremy Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace to say ‘we’re taking over’”.

Ruling out any deals with the Liberal Democrats or the Scottish National party, McDonnell said the only guarantee to other opposition parties would be to block a no-deal Brexit and organise a fresh EU referendum.

“That means no coalitions or pacts, we just put it there [and] I think people of goodwill who are concerned about the interests of this country, about avoiding a no-deal Brexit, will vote for it,” he said.

The challenge will be particularly strong for the Liberal Democrats, whose new leader Jo Swinson has ruled out co-operating with Labour, claiming that Mr Corbyn is “unfit” to be prime minister.

But her party has framed itself as the champion of voters who wish to remain in the European Union and failure to support Mr Corbyn in a confidence vote would indicate support for a “no-deal” Brexit instead.

Of course there is also the question of whether the Queen would dismiss Mr Johnson if he refused to resign as prime minister voluntarily.

It is within her power but opinion is divided as to whether she would, with some saying it would only happen if the House of Commons indicated clearly who was to be prime minister in his place.

And this creates a challenge for all Opposition parties, and for potential Conservative rebels as well – as they are unlikely to want a man they have consistently described as a “hard-left Marxist” taking office.

But Mr McDonnell said Labour would form only a caretaker government while a “no-deal” Brexit is averted and a general election arranged.

Will this be enough to persuade MPs to back a “no confidence” vote in Boris Johnson? We’ll see. The clock is ticking.

Source: Corbyn should tell Queen ‘we’re taking over’ if Johnson loses confidence vote, says McDonnell | Politics | The Guardian

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Want to know what was wrong with Labour’s Euro election campaign? Here’s your answer

John McDonnell: He made Labour’s position perfectly clear last year. Why, then, did other politicians and media types try to muddy matters?

It seems there have been a few recriminations – inside and outside the Labour Party – over its performance in the European Parliamentary elections.

Many people are saying the party came a distant third behind the Liberal Democrats and the Brexit Party because the message from the leadership wasn’t clear enough.

Silly, silly people.

I can show you the problem in a short sequence of tweets:

That is the problem, right there.

Labour had a very clear message to put out; one that made sense. It wasn’t divisive – it wasn’t “Remain at all costs!” or “Leave without delay!”

It was that Labour wanted the best deal for everybody. If that was impossible to achieve, it would be because of Parliamentary arithmetic – the opinions of MPs – and that could only be changed by a general election, so Labour would campaign for a GE to change Parliamentary arithmetic, making a better deal possible.

And if that didn’t work/happen, it would be because Parliamentarians were determined to make a mess of the matter. In that circumstance, Labour would campaign for the matter to go back to the people.

Simple. Practical. Clear-cut.

And then a bunch of tom-fools – in the press, in the Party itself, and on the social media – waded in with mealy-mouthed questions designed to muddy the water.

“Why haven’t you mentioned…” when Labour had mentioned it.

“When will you support…” when Labour already had.

“Why won’t you rule out…” when Labour had ruled it out.

“It won’t be clear until you say…” As John McDonnell wrote, above, he said it very clearly a year ago.

What’s most saddening is that some of the people pulling this nonsense out of their collective rear ends would have claimed This Writer’s respect before they did so.

I have had a lot of time for David Schneider in the past. I’m sure he still makes sense on many other issues – but he lost my respect on this.

If you recall anyone pulling this stunt – or hear it in the future – they should lose yours. And you should tell us who they are.

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Confront your MP – PERSONALLY – about Tory abuse of people on benefits, says McDonnell

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is calling for voters to force their MPs – particularly Tory MPs – to admit the brutality of Universal Credit, benefit sanctions and disability benefit assessments that he says are now unchallengably linked to people’s deaths. But will it do any good? 

He wants us all to speak personally to MPs because they refuse to face the facts when discussing it in a Parliamentary debate.

It’s an optimistic view, in This Writer’s opinion, because it assumes that Conservative MPs don’t understand that people are dying as a result of their policies. They do – or at least many of them do.

Not only do they understand that people are dying, they approve of that fact.

They agree with the 1930s Nazi definition of the sick and disabled as “useless eaters” and they think any policy that reduces the numbers of such people is a benefit to the nation (meaning it cuts the tax bill for the very very rich).

The problem with that is, we could very easily point out that those very very rich tax dodgers may also be described as “useless eaters” as they contribute increasingly less to the nation as a whole while using a proportionately higher amount of the services those taxes fund; many of them rely on the profits of businesses that were started by their ancestors and which they do not understand; and they are therefore worse parasites than the disabled people their votes persecute.

Mr McDonnell says it is possible to gain “appreciation” of the situation by introducing MPs to people who have been sanctioned. I don’t think that’s true. They may nod and say placatory things, but they will do nothing because they want those people to die.

Mr McDonnell says it is possible to gain “awareness” by mentioning individual cases in which people have committed suicide because of the hostile environment they have to endure. I don’t think that’s true either. The official government response is that there are many reasons for people to commit suicide; they spit out this line even in the face of hard evidence that the deaths were prompted by their policies.

There may be productive ways forward. A court case or public inquiry to examine the relationship between deaths of people on benefits and the behaviour of the system itself may conclude that a reasonable person would find a connection between them. If so, the government will be open to more than 100,000 legal challenges for corporate manslaughter – at the very least.

Realistically, the most likely way of lifting the Tory threat hanging over benefit claimants is the election of a Labour government.

That is one reason This Writer wants an early general election, which seems possible with Theresa May’s failures over Brexit.

The trouble is that, despite the fact that a vast majority of the public support Labour Party policies, people are being misled by an overwhelmingly Tory-supporting mass media into believing that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a threat.

Consider the scandal last week, in which it was revealed that members of the armed forces have been using a poster of Mr Corbyn as target practice.

The system is stacked against Labour, and therefore against anybody who is in a position of vulnerability; anybody who isn’t a vastly rich Tory.

So if you have a relative or friend who has to claim sickness and/or disability benefits, go and see them, and give them a lot of affection. They may soon be dead – and if you voted Conservative, it’ll be because of your vote.


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History lesson for Peston (and backstabbers) on Labour anti-Semitism

Vindicated: John McDonnell was lectured by Labour colleagues Lisa Nandy and Wes Streeting on Robert Peston’s ITV talk show – but he was right and they were not.

A bid to backstab Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell backfired in the faces of Lisa Nandy and Wes Streeting after all three appeared on Robert Peston’s ITV chat show yesterday (February 27).

Ms Nandy and Mr Streeting were keen to suggest their own party had failed to act appropriately in the early days of anti-Semitism accusation against members, citing the case of their colleague Naz Shah as an example.

But Mr McDonnell contradicted them, saying he had intimate knowledge of that matter as Ms Shah was his Personal Private Secretary (PPS) at the time.

Here’s part of the discussion – and note how Peston describes it:

The impression you are intended to get is that Mr McDonnell was in the wrong. But he was right.

James Mills is a former director of communications for Mr McDonnell and the Shadow Treasury Team (STT). He tweeted his recollection of events to put the record straight:

Isn’t it interesting that we can see the same pattern here as faced Diane Abbott on the BBC’s Question Time a few weeks ago, when she rightly said that Labour was doing well in the opinion polls but other panellists – and even host Fiona Bruce – ganged up on her and gaslighted her with false claims that she was mistaken?

We can learn several things from this:

Firstly, the backstabbers in the Parliamentary Labour Party are now lining up to make their treacherous intentions known to the general public. Wes Streeting was already on my list; now we can add Lisa Nandy (unless she wants to plead stupidity; this is doubtful as she argued with Mr Mills on Twitter, pushing a claim that he was wrong). They probably thought they could get away with this story because the sequence of events was not reported when Ms Shah was accused in 2016. More fool them.

Secondly, we should also be making a list of mainstream news reporters who can’t be trusted to report events fairly and accurately. Again, I have to say that Robert Peston was already on my own list.

Finally, the reason this was being discussed is a claim by Ms Nandy and Mr Streeting that nothing has changed in the nearly three years since Ms Shah was accused. Their story was that the Labour leadership had to be challenged before any action was taken – as it was in the case of Chris Williamson yesterday.

But Chris Williamson’s case is different from that of Naz Shah. Ms Shah admitted that she had made a series of Twitter posts with anti-Semitic intent as a reaction to the deaths of many Palestinians during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014, after the tweets were brought to light by the Guido Fawkes blog two years later. In contrast, Mr Williamson has made it abundantly clear that he opposes anti-Semitism; his statement that Labour has been “too apologetic” over accusations arose from a desire to support innocent party members who have been wrongly accused.

And that is the heart of the matter. For some reason, some MPs and officers of the Labour Party are desperate to hide the fact that party members – and former party members, like myself, who have been wrongly expelled – have been treated unfairly.

That is why they keep telling these tall stories.

It is also why they keep coming unstuck. Please draw your own conclusions regarding what this means about Chris Williamson, Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s “anti-Semitism” row.


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Winston Churchill was not a paragon of humanity. Why are Tories pretending to be shocked?

Churchill: Don’t let the Tories insult history by pretending he was a saint.

Here’s more fake outrage from Conservatives – this time at John McDonnell’s, entirely accurate, assertion that Sir Winston Churchill was a wrong ‘un.

I’m glad my brother, Doctor of History David Sivier (also known as Beastrabban), is around to give a learned historical perspective on this matter.

Mr McDonnell was answering quick-fire questions on the Politico website, including: “Winston Churchill. Hero or villain?” McDonnell replied: “Tonypandy – villain.”

Here’s the Beast:

This referred to the Tonypandy riots of 1910, when striking miners were shot down by the army after clashing with the police. According to the I’s article on the controversy on page 23 of Wednesday’s edition, Churchill initially refused requests to send in the troops, instead sending a squad of metropolitan police. Troops were also sent in to stand in reserve in Cardiff and Swindon. Following further rioting, Churchill sent in the 18th Hussars. He later denied it, but it was widely believed that he had given orders to use live rounds. There’s still very strong bitterness amongst Welsh working people about the massacre. The I quoted Louise Miskell, a historian at Swansea University, who said that ‘He is seen as an enemy of the miners’.

So there’s precedent for Margaret Thatcher’s behaviour in the 1980s, then.

Apparently Boris Johnson was outraged about this. He has written a biography of Churchill, and claimed the former prime minister “saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny, and our debt to him is incalculable”.

It’s certainly the popular interpretation of Churchill’s contribution to history.

But if we look into his career, we find that perhaps “Winnie” was only saving Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist German tyranny, as he was regularly willing to impose his own brand of barbarism and racism wherever he could.

As Mr McDonnell said, Churchill was undoubtedly a hero in the Second World War, but other moments in his life let down his memory.

The i newspaper has provided a list of incidents in Churchill’s life, some of which corroborate the allegations of villainy. For example:

* According to his biographer, John Charmley, Churchill believed in a racial hierarchy and eugenics, and that at the top of this were White Protestant Christians.

* He said it was ‘alarming and nauseating’ seeing Gandhi ‘striding half-naked up the steps of the vice-regal palace.’ He also said ‘I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion’.

* Three million people died in the Bengal famine of 1943, in which Churchill refused to deploy food supplies.

On the Bengal famine, the Beast continued:

The Bengalis starved because their grain had been sequestered as back up supplies to feed British troops. In the end they weren’t needed, according to one video I’ve seen on YouTube. Churchill also said that the famine was their fault for having too many children.

Vile.

He also supported the brief British invasion of Russia to overthrow the Communist Revolution, and the use of gas on Russian troops. Just as he also wanted to use gas to knock out, but not kill, Iraqi troops in Mesopotamia when they revolted in the 1920s against British rule.

Barbaric.

He also said that ‘Keep Britain White’ was a good slogan for the Tories to go into the 1951 general election.

Racist.

As for World War II – the Beast says that, according to historian of fascism Martin Pugh, Churchill wasn’t opposed to fascism in itself; he was simply concerned that Nazi Germany threatened British interests in the North Sea.

The Beast goes on to say that Peter Hitchens has pointed out that Churchill wasn’t interested in saving the Jews; he was simply honouring treaties with Poland and France.

Visit the Beast’s own site for his opinion on other issues in which Churchill exposed his own villainy.

None of this is to deny Churchill’s contribution to WWII – which Mr McDonnell fully acknowledged. His leadership saved millions.

But don’t let the Conservatives whitewash history. He was no saint, and Mr McDonnell was right to straighten the record.