Tag Archives: purge

If Keir Starmer’s Labour isn’t worthy of governmental office, why support it?

Keir Starmer: he has broken his word so many times that nobody believes him, and his unrelenting assault on his own party’s members has forced thousands to quit before they were pushed. Considering the damage he has done to his own party, why would anybody want to unleash him on the country as a whole?

You may think the question in the title is redundant, considering how low the Conservatives have set the bar.

But the point is valid: just because the Conservatives are so soul-destroyingly bad as a party of government, do we have any reason to believe Labour could possibly be better for us?

A new poll suggests that the Tories’ recent bad performance may lead to near-annihilation at the next election:

The story suggests that Tories responded by attacking Rishi Sunak’s leadership, accusing him of being “missing in action” and having “given up”.

But what about Keir Starmer’s leadership? We all saw him disgrace himself last week, launching a plan to increase young people’s ability to express themselves in speech by shutting down two youngsters who tackled him over his decision to scrap Labour’s (now-former) environmental policy.

He doubled down on this by failing to meet them afterwards – probably the quickest he has been to break a pledge yet.

Today (Saturday, July 8, 2023), he decided to speak at Unite’s national conference rather than attend the Durham Miners’ Gala. Some might question why the union scheduled its conference in conflict with a major socialist event, but since the clash has happened, some have drawn their own conclusions from his choice:

Then there’s the big question of the moment: why has Starmer been pushing members out of the Labour Party, wholesale?

Here’s union leader Mick Lynch, on the issue:

John McDonnell, whose policies were praised by Mr Lynch in the clip, agrees that Starmer is purging Labour of its left-wing members:

Here’s a clip of him expressing his concerns verbally. Starmer – who wants people to be better-able to do this – should be proud. Somehow, one doubts that he is:

Starmer has responded, here:

Notice that he did not actually answer the question; he gave a pre-prepared speech about something different.

He was also challenged on Channel 4 News. Watch the clip, but take note of Pamela Fitzpatrick’s commentary too:

Again he failed to answer the question, coming back with the same pre-rehearsed speech.

Meanwhile, Ms Fitzpatrick is right: Labour has no policies, other than “we’ll have to judge the situation after the next general election” – and that’s no good because voters need to know what to expect from all parties before an election takes place.

He and his right-wing (because believe me, he won’t let left-wingers have any voice at all) cronies could easily work out essential policies, based on the current situation and the direction of travel.

Why aren’t they doing that?

The only reason that makes sense is: they know the policies they would follow are not the policies the UK needs. They know they would misbehave exactly as the Tories have, using the processes of government to enrich themselves rather than the nation as a whole. And they know that saying it would be electoral suicide.

But we can deduce it, and that’s as good as hearing it from Starmer’s own lips – isn’t it?

So the question arises: Why should we vote either Labour or the Tories into government, knowing that neither party is fit for the job?

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The big debates: Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Labour in denial as Starmer and his allies purge the left

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has accused current Labour leader Keir Starmer and his allies of purging left-wingers from the party.

It’s a claim that is hotly denied by Starmer’s cronies – Jonathan Ashworth on Politics Live once again raised the hoary old banner of anti-Semitism and claimed this was what Starmer was fighting.

But is that really all Starmer is doing? And is it on the level?

Here’s the debate:

And here are some of the other attacks on Labour members Starmer’s mob have been carrying out:

Will the NHS reach its centenary – and how can that happen?

The 75th anniversary of the NHS was marked with not one but two debates on the BBC’s Politics Live – the first on how it can survive in a changing United Kingdom.

Should government prioritise prevention, improving the nation’s health generally, as championed by Lord Bethell? Should it adopt a European-style health insurance model, according to Melanie Phillips? Should it increase the pay, and widen the membership, of its workforce, as Baroness Kennedy claims? Or should social care be expanded to remove some of the pressure, in line with Ella Whelan’s beliefs?

Should private health firms be allowed to do more NHS work?

The second of the two Politics Live debates on the NHS’s 75th anniversary focused on claims that radical change is needed to safeguard its future.

Some of those claims attack the fundamental principle that the health service should be free at the point of use, with Tony Blair saying some NHS patients should go private and pay for procedures if they’re waiting too long.

But wouldn’t this put the UK on a slippery slope towards a privatised – and highly expensive – health service?

SNP’s Mhairi Black shows that Tory and Labour both want more NHS privatisation

On the 75th anniversary of the UK’s National Health Service, SNP deputy leader Mhairi Black demonstrated that it is in danger from both the Conservative and Labour parties.

Reading out two quotations from politicians calling for more privatisation, she asked – well, watch the clip and you’ll see.

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If Keir Starmer’s Labour is so great, why can’t he get local election candidates?

Starmer’s dilemma: traditional Labour voters don’t think his policies reflect their vision of the party – so they are abandoning him.

Keir Starmer’s purge of the Labour Party has worked so well, he’s struggling to get people to stand as candidates in the May local elections.

Constituency Labour Parties have been stripped of so many members, there aren’t enough living in particular wards to nominate candidates in line with party rules – or they couldn’t get anybody to stand:

Some may say that 185 seats out of more than 8,000 isn’t bad – but if all of these council seats would have been contested in the past, then this is a very poor showing.

It reflects a growing mood of disillusionment with Starmer himself:

Starmer himself is starting to be considered a liability in ever-widening groups, and these may be some of the reasons:

This comment is particularly cutting:

And other political parties are capitalising on Labour’s stagnation, picking up policies from the Jeremy Corbyn era and using them to entice voters. For example:

Will Labour win seats simply because, as Starmer believes, voters have nowhere else to go in a “First Past The Post” system where the fear is that the Tories will win if people of conscience don’t vote for what’s perceived to be the largest other party?

We’ll find out in less than a month.

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As the Labour conference starts, here’s the documentary the party – and media – don’t want you to see

Al Jazeera timed this well.

The day the Labour Party conference began, the Middle East news channel uploaded a new documentary, The Labour Files, to YouTube.

Here’s the promotional blurb:

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit uncovers the true story behind the “crisis of anti-Semitism” that engulfed the British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. It made him appear unfit to govern and led to a crushing electoral defeat.

An analysis of internal party documents, social media data and covert recordings reveals how senior Labour officials used the party’s procedures to undermine support for Jeremy Corbyn and to silence debate about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

The files also show how pro-Israel groups ask the party to distance itself from the Boycott Divest and Sanctions campaign, a protest movement that seeks to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands, and how – in response – the Jewish Board of Deputies was assured that Labour would “never accept attempts to exceptionalise and deligitimise Israel.”

Part of the documentary concerns alleged links between the husband of Labour MP Stella Creasy – Dan Fox – with the far-right English Defence League (EDL). You’ll be able to watch the video below but before you do, in the name of balance, here’s Ms Creasy’s statement about this aspect of it:

This tweet seems to have pre-empted the statement, though:

Here’s the programme:

The documentary has provoked a large amount of commentary on Twitter – much of it criticising the mainstream news media for ignoring it:

Another Labour Files documentary appeared two days previously. Here’s the blurb for The Purge:

An investigation based on the largest leak of documents in British political history. The Labour Files examines thousands of internal documents, emails and social media messages to reveal how senior officials in one of the two parties of government in the UK ran a coup by stealth against the elected leader of the party.

The program will show how officials set about silencing, excluding and expelling its own members in a ruthless campaign to destroy the chances of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Britain’s prime minister. Candidates for key political roles were blocked and constituency groups suspended as the party’s central office sought to control the elected leadership.

And here’s the programme:

I present it without any comment of my own. Make up your own mind.

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Starmer sinks further as the lies of his Labour Party purge are exposed

It will take more than yet another relaunch to save Keir Starmer’s Labour Party leadership.

And that’s doubly true when the slogan he chose – “Winning The Future” – corresponds with the Internet acronym WTF, which means “What The F***”.

That’s just a tone-deaf indication that the Labour leader is entirely out-of-touch with the rest of the UK, and particularly the electorate from whom he still demands support that he won’t get.

Pollsters Redfield and Wilton Strategies (who?) have recorded their lowest-ever net approval rating for Starmer: minus 18 per cent.

We all know the problem and we all know there is only one way to solve it:

But no! Starmer is fighting back.

Not against the Conservatives. Not against the dire response to Covid-19. Not against the disaster that is Brexit. Not against political corruption. Not against the injustices that have been heaped upon working-class people over the last 11 years of imbecilic Tory blunderings.

No – Team Starmer supports all of that insanity.

Instead, it seems the plan is to fight back against Jeremy Corbyn, who was recently proved right in his 20-year opposition of UK troops going to war in Afghanistan – and against the “straw man” pretend version of anti-Semitism that Starmer’s right-wing supporters have created in order to expel good socialists from the party.

A report quoted below refers to comments by Starmer insiders, referring to Corbyn’s suspension from the party, reinstatement, and suspension from the Parliamentary party:

“We looked on that as a moment of strength, but it seems the public saw it as weakness because one minute he was suspended, then he wasn’t, then he was again,” one source reveals. “All people took away from it was the mess and vacillation.”

A senior shadow minister adds: “What scares the Tories more than anything is if we make it clear that the loonies aren’t part of us anymore. The problem we have is we are 15 months into Keir’s leadership and we’re still talking about Corbyn and anti-Semitism.”

But one influential figure points out that unless the former leader complies with Starmer’s demands, he simply won’t be a Labour candidate at the next election. Crucially, despite his big majority, they are convinced Corbyn will lose if he runs as an independent.

There are so many false assumptions here that the mind boggles at how these people managed to squirm their way into positions of influence.

Firstly: there is no reason to believe the public thought Labour had been indecisive about the problem of Jeremy Corbyn, because most people don’t think Jeremy Corbyn is the problem. The problem is the determination of the swivel-eyed right-wingers to demonise him.

Next: The Tories aren’t worried that people like the “senior shadow minister” will be able to demonstrate that “the loonies aren’t part of us anymore”. That will never happen – that person is one of the loonies. It is the right-wing purge of Labour Party members who have done no wrong that is insane.

Starmer does have a problem in the fact that Labour is still bogged down in its attempts to persecute Corbyn and its false-flag “anti-Semitism” attack on left-wingers. But that’s not going to stop because of anything they do; it is being perpetuated by Tories like the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Why would they stop making false claims that weaken Labour and make it unable to oppose the Tories that they support?

This is the only explanation of the current situation that makes any sense at all.

As for whether Corbyn would fail to win an election as an independent – it’s a valid argument. No former Labour MP who has stood as an independent in recent history has got anywhere.

But Corbyn is not those people. They were all on the side of the Starmerites quoted above. And Corbyn’s popularity is demonstrable – he attracted rallies of tens of thousands of people as party leader while Starmer struggles to attract 10. They are making the critical mistake of comparing an apple with excrement.

Look at the comments attached to the quoted passage on Twitter. Solomon Hughes points out that “They think ‘we are not loonies’ is a winning message and have made a mess even of that.” Yes – because their actions scream the opposite.

And Aaron Bastani – himself demonised in some quarters – points out that denying Corbyn his Labour candidacy would simply “undermine” any campaign.

Starmer can’t even inspire hatred. His critics are simply sad that he has failed so monumentally.

… except where it comes to the witch-hunt. That has blood boiling – and rightly so.

Among the latest people to face false – let me reiterate it strongly: false – accusation is Pamela Fitzpatrick, a former applicant to succeed Jennie Formby as Labour’s General Secretary (Starmer appointed David Evans to the job and has yet to gain the approval of the party-at-large for the decision. Their record of persecution against large swathes of the membership suggests that this will now never happen).

She is facing auto-exclusion because she was interviewed by the proscribed organisation Socialist Appeal in May 2020 – more than a year before the decision was made to remove it and its members from any association with the party.

At that time, she had no reason to believe she was doing anything wrong. My understanding is that there was nothing in what she said that would justify penalties of any kind at all.

The following response to Ms Fitzpatrick, by John McDonnell, and the appeal by Council Estate Media’s RD Hale, is a glaring sign of the times.

It’s true. A new left-wing political organisation fronted by Corbyn and McDonnell would eclipse StarmerLabour humiliatingly, from startup.

But this is a battle for the soul of the Labour Party and – whether misguided or not – McDonnell and the other socialist Labour MPs have planted their flag there.

Others have also put their heads above the parapet:

Personally, I would take Ms Formby’s words more seriously if she had not presided over such “guilt by association” expulsions herself, while she was General Secretary. One of the false accusations against me followed that pattern. I pointed this out to her in correspondence but she never bothered to reply.

That said, the point she makes is valid.

We established during my NCC hearing that the reason Labour expelled me had nothing to do with its fabricated anti-Semitism claims; it was because I am a journalist who had criticised Labour policy fairly and accurately while being a party member.

It seems fairness is forbidden in Starmer’s right-wing party.

Tom London identifies the rot:

This brings us to This Writer’s brother.

Yes, BeastRabban is under investigation; he received the letter last week. The accusations are risible; it seems he is being persecuted because he wrote an article discussing comments by Tony Greenstein (a Jew who has long since been thrown out of the party). Guilt by association, again.

Leftworks, below, discusses one of the comments for which the Beast stands accused in detail, but the others are well worth examination too:

Yes indeed. The phrase “Two Jews, three opinions” is actually the title of a collection of quotations by American Jews, compiled by Sandee Brawarsky, arts and culture editor of Jewish Week, and Deborah Mark.

The use of the other quotations in Labour’s accusation suggest that the party now considers any criticism of Zionism as it is practised by the Israeli government, and/or that government itself, is unacceptable – no matter what is done in their name.

Does that seem reasonable to you?

Also considered beyond the pale is the claim that people who hold entirely reasonable opinions that are critical of Israel are being vilified, harassed and purged as racists and anti-Semites – despite the fact that the accusations against BeastRabban are an example of exactly such vilification and harassment – and that he faces being purged because of them.

Indeed.

It is this unreasonable – fascist – persecution of perfectly good Labour members on unreasonable grounds that marks out Starmer’s supporters such as those quoted above as the very kind of “loonies” they claim to oppose.

And it is Starmer’s own endorsement of the opinions taken by these supporters that has pitched him over the cliff-edge of public opinion and into the void.

He’ll never get out and Labour will never win an election with him at the helm. He’ll steer the party unerringly (dare I say forensically?) into oblivion.

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Wrong-headed: Labour anti-Semitism purge is pushing Jews out of the party

Anti-Semitism: it seems Keir Starmer’s Labour Party runs on it – according to Jewish people.

I’m not going to comment on this; it’s the latest stage of a story on which my views are well known. Let’s look at what other people are saying instead.

First, the Morning Star:

Jewish Labour members on the party’s left are being disproportionately targeted by investigations into anti-semitism, a shocking new report has claimed.

Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) published its study today, having submitted it to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for investigation.

The dossier – also sent to the Institute of Race Relations, the Runnymede Trust and the Forde Inqury into Labour’s handling of anti-semitism complaints – catalogues what it says is a clampdown on Jews who disagree politically with the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Labour Movement.

JVL warned that the Labour leadership has limited its engagement “to groups who claim to represent ‘the Jewish community’ but who in fact represent only one position within it.” It said that disregarding wider perspectives in this way has led to the “administrative persecution” of hundreds of its members, which it branded a form of discrimination.

Now JVL itself:

David Rosenberg, cited by the Morning Star in the article below, captures the essentials of our complaint to the EHRC and the Forde Enquiry.

He says simply: “This submission by JVL is a truly shocking indictment of the way that Jews on the left wing of the party have been severely mistreated under a new management which said its first priority was to listen to the Jewish community and rebuild trust with it.”

Source: Push against anti-semitism ‘purging Jews from Labour’ | Jewish Voice for Labour

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As Tory Covid blunders are laid bare, Keir Starmer would rather attack his own party

“Keith”: this is just one comment on the way Starmer treats members of his own party who support the values on which Labour was formed, rather than the twisted parody that he leads.

This is excruciatingly poor behaviour by Keir Starmer.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has caught Covid-19, just days into his new job, and it means PM Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have to go into self-isolation too – after humiliating themselves with an attempt to avoid it by saying they were on a ‘pilot’ scheme with daily testing.

Covid-19 infection rates are now regularly topping 50,000 a day; around around 50 people are dying of the disease every day as well – but it is against this background that the Tory government is ending social distancing restrictions that have helped ensure more of us don’t catch it!

The Tory plan for another top-down restructuring of the NHS, that will restrict access to vital healthcare services because private companies will be taking your tax money for their profits, is well on its way through Parliament.

Also progressing towards becoming law are oppressive and racist plans to restrict our right to make political protests, arrest members of certain ethnic groups on sight (on the assumption that their existence means they will commit crimes), and force refugees to their deaths rather than allow them into the UK.

What is Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer doing about all this? Nothing. He’s more interested in decimating his own party.

Under Starmer, Labour supports the lifting of social distancing rules – he backed the Tory re-opening of schools to the hilt, remember?

He made only token resistance to the NHS restructuring – and it has been widely speculated that this is because he receives donations from private healthcare. He isn’t interested in protecting your right to protest, either.

As for helping ethnic minorities, as far as Starmer is concerned, almost all of them can go hang. His support for ethnic minorities extends only to those members of the Jewish community who support hard-rightwing Zionists and those of that political shade who inhabit the government of Israel. It seems he is related to such people by marriage.

So, for example, he thinks this is okay:

Also this:

And that is why, instead of attacking the Tories’ many failures, Starmer is planning to purge more than 1,000 members of the Labour Party in the days before Parliament goes into summer recess.

Their crime? Not being right-wing enough to remain in an organisation that still describes itself as a “democratic socialist” party.

So much for Labour’s “broad church”.

According to the Mirror, which seems to be taking his side, he is attacking four groups: Resist, Labour Against the Witchhunt, Labour in Exile and Socialist Action.

Their crimes appear to be claiming that many anti-Semitism allegations, for which Labour members have been suspended or expelled, were blown out of proportion and politically-motivated; welcoming such expelled or suspended members into their own ranks; and demanding the re-admission of Jeremy Corbyn into the Parliamentary Labour Party.

The Mirror quotes one Labour source:

“Under Corbyn those from the far left fringes with poisonous beliefs and warped world-views were welcomed into the party. Keir is right to stamp out anti-Semitism and toxic extremism and get the party back into the decent mainstream of Labour values.”

The mainstream of Labour values – when This Writer was a member – included respecting the right of all ethnicities to self-determination. That includes Palestinians, who have been persecuted, murdered, and forced out of their homes and land by armed Israelis on the orders of a government that enforces racist, apartheid laws – a government that Keir Starmer slavishly supports and endorses.

It is not poisonous to believe that the Israeli government is wrong to murder Palestinian children.

It is poisonous to suggest that people who protest against such murders have “warped world-views”.

But Starmer won’t be concerning himself with the lies put forward by the Mirror‘s source; he agrees with them.

He may even agree with toxic Labour MP Neil Coyle – who has called for the expulsion of Jewish Labour members who do not share Starmer’s extreme – and I mean fanatical – right-wing views of what Israel should be:

There’s no reason to suggest that Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) are Communists. Or that any of the organisations Starmer will purge are “poisonous”, “toxic” or “warped”.

But it is easier to persuade doubters with emotive language than it is to actually provide a reasoned argument for the unreasonable thing Starmer is about to do.

Coyle’s tweet is anti-Semitic. JVL argues that the purge of Labour Party members on grounds of anti-Semitism is false – from a Jewish standpoint. Coyle is therefore prejudiced against these Jews because they are Jews, which is the classic definition of anti-Semitism. And Starmer is perfectly happy with that, meaning that he is also an anti-Semite, notwithstanding his familial connections to Judaism.

It’s all about politics, you see.

People who support Palestinians against a brutal hard-right regime that persecutes them are socialists. They want a better deal for everyone, so that people all over the world – including the UK – can live in freedom and be able to pursue their own prosperity without fear. Starmer isn’t interested in any of that.

Starmer’s only interest is in his own prosperity, which he considers to be best pursued by stamping on the faces of those of us who stand for traditional Labour values – the political priorities on which the party was founded, back in 1900.

So he will pretend to be on the side of the Jews – while actually attacking more of them than he supports.

He will pretend to stand up for Labour values – while crossing his fingers behind his back and telling himself that neoliberal “New Labour” (Tory) values are Labour values too.

And he will pretend to be a beacon of decency standing out against the chaos he says was created by his forerunner as Labour leader.

The trouble is, he isn’t any good at the pretence.

We see through him. Don’t we?

Here are a few people who do:

Oh, and if you think I’m exaggerating the toxicity of Labour under Starmer, consider this attack on Owen Jones by a StarmerLabour supporter and former Labour councillor:

Most harmful of all is the fact that Starmer won’t gain anything by this monumental act of Labour Party self-harm – for a simple reason summed up in this tweet:

Damningly, that will be Starmer’s only truthful message.

Source: Keir Starmer set to expel 1,000 far left Labour members in four ‘poisonous’ groups – Mirror Online

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The two faces of Ed Miliband are revealed by the Rebecca Long-Bailey row

Ed Miliband has claimed his boss Keir Starmer was right to sack Rebecca Long-Bailey – while also claiming the party isn’t purging itself of left-wingers.

The two claims are incompatible. Long-Bailey was the continuity left-wing candidate in the party’s recent leadership election and Starmer has used a flimsy excuse related to anti-Semitism to sack her.

Many other left-wingers are either being suspended for the same flimsy reason or have already been expelled (like This Writer) – but Miliband is insisting that there is no purge.

He has just incinerated any credibility he had left. Nobody should believe a word of it.

Look at this nonsense:

Miliband, the shadow business secretary and a former party leader, said Long-Bailey was a decent person and not antisemitic but that Starmer was right to sack her.

The reason the Maxine Peake interview was a problem “is not that it had a criticism of the state of Israel. I’m a big critic of what the Israeli government has done on a number of occasions. It was that it was a false criticism of the state of Israel, or rather the Israeli Defence Force, linked to the death of George Floyd, wrongly, saying that somehow tactics that killed George Floyd were linked to the Israelis,” Miliband told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.

“The problem is that over the centuries when calamitous things have happened, Jews have been blamed. That’s why there’s an antisemitism issue in relation to this and that’s why I believe Keir took the right decision. I think she made a significant error of judgment.”

Notice the wording: “When calamitous things have happened, Jews have been blamed.” Not “Jews have been wrongly blamed”.

It would be anti-Semitic to blame Jews – in this case, Jewish people working for the Israeli police or military – for something they haven’t done.

But we know that police from many US states have been trained by the Israeli police and/or military. And we have photographic evidence of the Israeli police/military – well, see for yourself:

Choke hold: Israeli armed forces using the same ‘knee on neck’ technique that was used to kill George Floyd. But we’re being asked to believe Israel never taught that technique to US police and it is anti-Semitic to suggest that one country’s armed forces could teach such techniques to another’s police.

It is in the face of this evidence that the Israeli authorities – not the Jews – are claiming their forces don’t teach these methods to US police.

It is not a credible position, therefore neither is Miliband’s.

So his other claim – that left-wingers in the Labour Party aren’t being subjected to a purge – must also fall. He said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show:

Allies of Ms Long-Bailey who have criticised her sacking – such as former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and ex-party chair Ian Lavery – would not be disciplined for doing so.

He dismissed concerns expressed by some on the left of the party that this was a prelude to a further distancing from the Jeremy Corbyn-era and that legitimate criticism of Israel would be frowned upon.

“I heard something… about how Keir wants to purge these people. He is not about purges. He wants to change the country by not having the Labour Party mired in issues which, frankly, provide a stain on us. Keir took very strong action [against Ms Long-Bailey] and now we need to move on and deal with the issues of anti-Semitism we face.”

This Writer doesn’t believe that for a moment.

By sacking Long-Bailey and forcing left-wingers to reconsider whether they have a future in the Labour Party, he has plunged Labour even deeper into the mire.

He has not proved that criticism of Israel over this issue is not legitimate. All the evidence suggests that it has a very strong factual basis but Starmer seems determined to put his hands over his ears, shut his eyes, shake his head and mutter, “No, no, no,” like a petulant schoolboy whenever anybody tries to point this out. I have no doubt that Miliband will do the same.

It is this attitude that worsens Labour’s position. In refusing to take serious issues seriously, the party makes a mockery of its own position on anti-Semitism; how can it take a firm stand on the issue if it can’t accept the difference between anti-Semitism and justified criticism of a foreign government?

Left-wingers – including many who have not yet been smeared with accusations of anti-Semitism that are based on Labour’s bizarre misinterpretation – are quitting the party in large numbers, or seriously considering it, because of this pig-headed idiocy.

If there is a stain on the party, it is on Starmer and – despite his own Jewish heritage – Miliband.

They could put a stop to it by admitting their fault, accepting that Israel does have a prima facie case to answer (even though we may never have accurate facts because it is in that government’s interests to lie if its forces have been providing the disputed training), and resetting their claims about anti-Semitism to fall in line with accepted definitions of it.

But they won’t. They simply aren’t mature enough.

Source: Ed Miliband: Starmer was right to sack Rebecca Long-Bailey | Politics | The Guardian

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Starmer’s first purge: anybody in Labour tainted with accusations of anti-Semitism

Purge: if these badges represent Labour members who have been accused of anti-Semitism, how many do you think will get a fair hearing of their case under Keir Starmer? I’ll tell you: none.

Those of us who have been falsely accused of anti-Semitism may have hoped that a new Labour leader would take a strong position against the lies.

That was a forlorn hope, it seems.

We had a glimpse of what might come when Keir Starmer – along with, to their shame, every other Labour leadership candidate – agreed to support the Tory-run Board of Deputies of British Jews and its so-called “10 Commandments” demanding the persecution and expulsion of anybody their trolls decide to tar with false accusations. Some of these demands are not even legal so it will be interesting to see how Starmer enacts those parts of this promise.

But he made his direction of travel clear in his first speech as leader:

“Antisemitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it has brought to so many Jewish communities. On behalf of the Labour Party I am sorry, and I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of our Jewish members and those who felt that they could no longer support us.”

Sorry, but anti-Semitism has not been a stain on the Labour Party. False accusations of anti-Semitism have been. But the liars who made those claims have been allowed to get away with it and now it seems their witch-hunt will claim many new victims.

I’m sure it has brought grief to Jewish communities – especially those that have been split between those who are gullible enough to believe anything the BoD and its trolls tell them, and those who trust their own judgement.

But a vow to “tear out this poison by its roots” makes it clear that Starmer has swallowed the lies hook, line and sinker. He will purge the party of anybody tarred with these accusations – whether true or false – and his pledge to judge his success by whether Jewish members who have left the party come back means that the trolls can make him do whatever they want.

This is a man who will not work for the people but will act only for the minority sectarian interests that control him.

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Are you happy to let right-wingers turn Labour back into Tory-lite?

The red flag of Labour: what a shame that some members at the top of the party seem to want to turn it blue.

The Labour Party seems to be going through another right-wing takeover attempt – and now that Jeremy Corbyn is quitting as leader, This Writer fears it may succeed.

We have already seen that all the candidates to be leader have given in to an entirely unreasonable set of demands from the Conservative-leaning Board of Deputies of British Jews, to ensure that anybody failing to sing from a pre-approved hymn sheet (approved by the Board of Deputies, that is) may be ejected from the party without ceremony.

Now we are seeing the beginnings of such a purge. And it is as insane as we have any reason to expect it to be.

Jo Bird, the only Jewish candidate to stand for election to the party’s National Executive Committee, has had her membership suspended suddenly – on a charge that has been hushed-up but is believed to be anti-Semitism. Thank about that for a moment.

Representative group Jewish Voice for Labour had a lot to say about it:

“Jo is the leading left candidate running for the NEC so the timing of this suspension is deeply suspicious and has the hallmarks of a deliberate attempt to undermine members’ wishes and Party democracy.

“We urge all Labour Party members to argue for Jo’s candidature to be considered at CLP nominating meetings. If this is prevented members should consider the option of calling an emergency AMM/GC as soon as possible after the nominating meeting to discuss and condemn threats to the Party’s democracy from the misuse of our disciplinary processes to secure partisan advantage in internal elections.

“If the suspension is for antisemitism we can say we have known Jo for a long period and worked closely with her. We know she is a proud Jew and opposed to antisemitism just as she is has shown over the years to be an active opponent of all racism.

“Suspension before investigation is an extreme measure and the Party must show to all members why they have taken such a step in the middle of an election process.”

Ms Bird had been nominated by 57 constituency Labour parties – including, I am proud to say, This Writer’s former CLP of Brecon and Radnorshire.

Electronic Intifada associate editor Asa Winstanley has decided to quit the party rather than participate in a “show trial” over his articles about Palestine, Zionism, the Israel Lobby in the UK (yes, Labour NEC members, there really is one) and the manufactured anti-Semitism crisis in the Labour Party.

Labour’s persecution of him follows a familiar pattern because it carried out a very similar operation on me.

His membership was suspended at or around the same time as the party informed the news media – in a breach of its data protection obligations. I am currently enjoying some success in taking Labour to court over such breaches.

He submitted a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the party to which, by law, it must respond within 30 days. But it has not responded, in breach of the Data Protection Act and its own rules. I am also enjoying some success in taking Labour to court after it did the same to me. I have also received confirmation from the Information Commissioner’s Office that Labour is a habitual offender and that my case was one of many that it was investigating.

Investigators included stories he had published that have nothing to do with his party membership as evidence that he should be suspended, as they did with me. This is an attempt to prevent professional reporters from carrying out their first duty, which is to report on matters of public interest, and the party does not have any power to demand such a thing.

Officials have ignored his responses to their accusations in flagrant disregard of their own rules. This is a breach of the party’s contract with its members and, again, I am enjoying some success in bringing that point home to the party via court action.

Mr Winstanley has made his opinion perfectly clear:

“Now that the left-wing grassroots movement to reclaim Labour, spearheaded by Jeremy Corbyn, has been smashed, the party’s neoliberal centrists are seeking to reassert their control.

“The party bureaucracy conducting political purges under the guise of enforcing anti-discrimination rules is a key part of the right-wing effort to re-establish dominance.

“All the contenders to succeed Corbyn as leader have agreed to the Israel lobby’s demands to purge the party.

“The most right-wing candidate, Keir Starmer, is the frontrunner to replace Corbyn.

“Starmer has close ties with the hard-right of the party. His leadership campaign staff includes Matt Pound, an operative for the anti-Corbyn group Labour First.

“Pound apparently identifies as a “Zionist shitlord.”

“The threat to expel me is a symptom of a wider purge of the party’s left-wing and supporters of justice for Palestinians that is only just getting started.

“These are dark days for the left and the Palestine solidarity movement in the Labour Party and the UK.

“But the hope for radical change and social justice that brought so many new members to the party under Corbyn’s leadership will not be easily extinguished.”

It won’t. I am playing my part by taking Labour to court over its wrong decision to expel me from the party. Its own rules are on my side and I do not expect to lose.

But here comes the next question.

If you are a Labour Party member, what are you going to do? Will you sit back meekly and wait to be expelled by a right-wing cabal that is perverting your party into a lie? Or will you stand up and take action against it? Your choice.

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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