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Time for the Labour Left to debate reselection of MPs

red rosette with question markFor the past three months, the very word ‘reselection’ has been unmentionable in Labour left circles, for fear that even talking about it would represent an unwarranted provocation of the Labour right. But as the events of the last 48 hours clearly underline, it’s time to break the taboo.

At the very least, Corbyn supporters now have to – how can I put this gently? – engage in measured debate on how we approach the next round of trigger ballots for sitting MPs.

Jeremy famously won’t push the nuke button, but do we want to drop the D-bomb? And if we do, how should we best go about it?

I am, of course, going to be misrepresented on this, whatever I write. So let me stress from the get-go that this is not a call for comrades to ‘go out there and decapitate the bastards now‘.

I’m not speaking for Momentum, to which I have no connection beyond being on its mailing list. Nor am I speaking for the Labour Representation Committee, despite being on its national committee, nor for Labour Briefing, despite being on its editorial board. This is purely a personal opinion.

But as Dan Hodges put it in the Telegraph yesterday, the Syria debate and the impending Oldham West by-election mean that, in his words, confrontation cannot now be avoided. Hey, let’s not kid anybody. This is ‘Game On’, right?

And let’s be clear, moral responsibility for hostilities lies with the provocateurs of the right, who have been looking for a scrap ever since September 12. The irony is that since taking office, Corbyn has been Mr Nice Guy, persistently seeking to balance a new leader’s natural desire to promote her or his own agenda with a determination to be as inclusive as possible.

Yes, he has insisted on key appointments such as McDonnell, Fisher and Milne. Yes, he has stuck with some of the policy positions that we all knew he had, but were the basis on which he was elected.

But hasn’t acted against the expulsions of socialists. Apart from those, despite all the lurid talk of ‘purges’, there simply haven’t been any. Corbyn has even explicitly spoken out against mandatory reselection, a stance that many of us old Bennites regard as an article of the faith.

His reward has been an unrelenting and clearly co-ordinated barrage of hostility and attempts to undermine him.

As recently as earlier this week, I would have appealed to the Labour right’s ostensible commitment to the best interests of the party to urge them ‘just don’t go there’, as the vernacular expression has it. Too late; they clearly want to go there.

As I know from various Labour left email discussion lists, committee meetings and private conversations, not all comrades are content to roll with the punches. While we have abided by the rules of omerta in public, there have obviously been strategic deliberations.

The Labour rulebook as it stands contains a mechanism – the so-called ‘trigger ballot’ – that provides a means by which MPs who have lost the confidence of their constituency party can be given the boot. That process will unfold in two or three years. In addition, boundary changes will mean that many sitting MPs will effectively be forced into a competitive selection anyway.

The underlying principle here is accountability, which comes from enabling party members to exercise the right to choose candidates, as they do for local councils and other offices before each election. That is hardly draconian or ‘Stalinist’; such provisions would be a prerequisite for a well-run stamp philately club.

Nor would reselection leave us the wrong side of public opinion. Many donkey-with-a-red-rosette voters would be happier if MPs who have perhaps not been entirely assiduous in their constituency work made way for those with a better community base.

Reselection isn’t even intrinsically leftwing. Many countries have a right of recall for elected politicians, and all three main parties are theoretically committed to the idea. There are plenty politicians on the British right – not least Tory London mayor hopeful Zac Goldsmith – that argue persuasively for the proposition.

Ultimately, the decision will be one for local Labour Party activists, and affiliated union branches. Will they continue to have faith MPs who have wickedly engaged in sabotage of a leader currently backed by two-thirds of the membership?

But that doesn’t preclude the national organisations of the Labour left taking a position on the question of reselection in principle. And to my mind, you can never have too much democracy, can you?

53 Comments

  1. Craig Haggis says:

    Corbyn is a genuine gent, a man most people like, even his enemies. Nevertheless, nice guys usually get stomped on, and that’s what the Kendallistas are trying to do. I fear Jezza is naïve, and believes that appealing to unity against the Tories is enough. But it won’t work, the Right is never going to fall in behind the 60 per cent. So unfortunately there will need to be some tough decisions made.

    1. Stephen Kelly says:

      I don’t think Jeremy is naive at all. The right were out from the get go when their darling David Miliband was defeated by his brother. According to Progressites and similar ilk, that wasn’t supposed to happen.

      So what did they do they changed rules to prevent someone like Corbyn winning. They were / are that deluded they really thought people would not go there. It backfired spectacularly>

      Moreover, Corbyn doesn’t play the game the way Progress wants him to play. They can’t handle that. He’s different. So their only course of action is to go to the right wing media to slag him off.

      This will continue no doubt but like all naughty children in class over time by simply ignoring them they will scuttle back.

      However as a back up plan I think the rules need tightening up. Going to a newspaper (a right wing newspaper at that) to slag off the leader or party or membership of that party is in my view not just a deselection issue but an expulsion one as well. They have brought the party into disrepute.

      Imagine undermining your boss in work constantly, every day without let up. How long would that employee remain employed?

  2. John Penney says:

    Well said ! The Labour right have by now made it quite clear that they will quite deliberately destroy the Party before thy accept Jeremy as Leader. And of course this isn’t actually about Jeremy as an individual at all. He is merely the highly principled representative of Labour’s quite astonishing lurch to the Left and the huge influx of socialist members, since the General Election defeat. The Labour Right (and their Big Business backers) will never accept a socialist , or even a mildly Left reformist , anti austerity, Labour Party.

    Forget conciliation. Every time the Left in the Labour Party has “conciliated” the Right , in the late 1950’s over unilateralism, or in the 1980’s with the eventual retreat of the Bennites, the consequences have been disastrous for both the Left but also the working class in the UK looking to Labour to defend its interests.

    The Labour Right know that as every day goes by we on the Left are slowly getting to grips with the Labour Party machine and transforming it to reflect the members not the career politicians of the PLP. They will therefore press forward with their sabotage and disloyalty with accelerating frenzy. We need to start giving the most vocal of these troublemakers a scare with deselection demands by their constituency parties ASAP – “to encourage the others” to shut up or push off . We can’t wait until the boundary changes opportunities before taking on at least a selected group of the most rabid troublemakers.

    Jeremy may indeed be a latter day saint with his unwillingness to be horrible to these unrepentant neo Tories of the PLP, but I’m, afraid that I see no need for the rest of us to turn the other cheek. It is the socialist future for the UK that is under threat here, not only the continued leadership of Jeremy. So we will have to take the hard, necessary, deselection actions that will safeguard Jeremy’s leadership for him. Momentum is potentially a vital organisational tool to get this organised across the UK.

    1. John P Reid says:

      Momentum and Livingstone and McDonnell are doing a good enough job destroying labour without the right of the parties help.

  3. Richard Tiffin says:

    I am glad the left are coming out if the shadows fighting rather than rolling with the punches over and over, but two to three years before a trigger ballot may be too late.

    The right are clearly gunning for a coup and the fact lawyers have been consulted shows their intent, keep Corbyn, or any real left member, far from the subsequent ballot though the tone will be soft left.

    Then what? Rule changes is what because MPs will know full well some CLP’s will want retribution. They might just get away with this and what are Corbyn supporters options? Fight (how?) flight or acquiesce. I think disillusionment will drive them out of the party and pasokification awaits.

  4. peter willsman says:

    CLPD has been working on an alternative to the trigger ballot for several years, and we have circulated a rule change that has been picked up by several CLPs.We will continue to progress this in 2016.

  5. Robert says:

    It’s to late labour allowed Progress , and with one of the weakest leaders of labour in ED Miliband they nearly licked out the trade Unions.

    Now what do we do well throwing out MP’s will not work they may well stand as independent labour and win .

    Some of those constituency are very happy with sitting MP be they to the right or new labour ad we do not sack our MP’s as we have found out in the past look at those that left and ended up in the liberals .

    Look at the trade Union that backed New labour to the hilt and are now backing Corbyn, if the right wing were to win power within labour would the trade Unions leave not a hope in hell.

    deselection will not work the local constituencies will not accept it, and if we force them, then what out right war. I can see many of those right wingers getting selected as independents .

    Do not forget many of the left wingers are saying we should be bombing Syria.

    1. Richard Tiffin says:

      Deselection and mandatory reselection have many problems.
      Some CLP’s will want to keep MP’s that the left wold like to remove.
      Some MP’s will be deselected and stand against Labour.
      Others will jump before they are pushed and splits will occur.
      The atmosphere in the party would become toxic.
      The press will be rabid and this will alienate voters.
      The PLP will be forced onto a full war footing as they unite to defend themselves.
      The unions may become annoyed if a CLP tries to deselect sponsored MP’s.
      I am sure I have missed other potential pitfalls but you get my point.
      This all means that the policy is something that we need to think about carefully before using it, but the question remains, if they parachuted Blairites in the PLP are hell bent on destroying Corbyn and perhaps even the Labour Party then what should we do?
      I for one do not want to stand and watch as this historic opportunity for the left is stolen from us or the party that belongs to us all is destroyed. So this begs the question, what should we do?
      When you start to consider our options I think you will find yourself coming quickly back to deselection and mandatory reselection for we actually have very little unless there are some dramatic rule changes.

      1. Robert says:

        Lets hope the rules do not change the other way and we see left leaning MP’s deselected .

        Or an open war in which the party split down the left and right factions , or worse the right decides nothing is left within the labour party and they will form a new party. While of course all this is going on which could take decades labour is losing the battle to be in power .

        I think we are in for a lot of battles and if Corbyn decided to step down to save the party, it’s highly unlikely we will see another left leaning MP being put forward the right will simple not select them.

        All the talk now is Benn being put forward as the new leader .

        All this is taking away the one thing people want to see a fight against the Tories .

        1. Mervyn Hyde (@mjh0421) says:

          Take a look at Jeremy’s performance on the Andrew Marr show and then look at those that want him out, who’s interests do we think they serve?

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p039kw8f

    2. John P Reid says:

      Unite had more of a control over the party under Miliband than Blair,surely

  6. jeffrey davies says:

    no bombing in my name but untill the blair babies are booted out then there will be more trouble the peasant doesnt want greedie mps in power but those who work for the good of all not the rich in society it seems that jc doesnt want to kick them out but leave them there hmm cross the floor please then we rid of the greedie lot jeff3

    1. Robert says:

      What a mess we have made of the labour party, with New labour and now the war in Syria and while this is all going on the winners will be the Tories and the loser will be the people.

      If all the right winger were to cross the floor it would be the end of labour.

      We do need to be seen as doing something in Iraq and if it’s political who do we speak to Assad.

      I do not know at this time labour is looking like a bunch of cowboys on both the left and the right of the party. The endgame is to remove the Tories .

      1. Mervyn Hyde (@mjh0421) says:

        Extract from Labour Party History:

        However, these had little effect and in 1931 unemployment caused a crisis within the cabinet. Politically unable to either cut benefits or increase taxes to deal with the financial problem caused by high unemployment, the government was split and fell. Yet MacDonald did not tender his resignation to the King, but instead offered to form a National Government with Liberals and Conservatives. From being one of its founding fathers, Ramsay MacDonald had turned his back on the party and was seen to have betrayed Labour. He was expelled in September 1931; but in the following election, MacDonald’s coalition won a large majority. The Labour Party was reduced to 52 seats. It was the party’s nadir.

        It has all happened before, so long as we have the backing of the trade unions, we can move forward leaving the SDP behind.

        We have more on our side now than ever before, the NHS, money creation, the social media, everything these previous politicians never had.

        We can still destroy the Tories even with a tiny minority, New Labour are complicit with the Tory agenda, it could even work in our favour, their record hampers our development. They would be the losers. We should remind them of that.

  7. Peter Rowlands says:

    I am amazed at the complete lack of understanding of this issue displayed by the author and all commentators.
    Jeremy has explicitly said that he is opposed to the reintroduction of mandatory reselection (MR). This is not because he is being ‘nice’, but simply because reintroducing MR would be a signal to many Labour MPs in the uncommitted centre that they were in line for deselection, thus propelling many into the anti Corbyn camp and correspondingly weakening the pro Corbyn camp. You hardly need to be a tactical genius to recognise this.
    But it doesn’t matter that much. The current ‘trigger ballot’ system only requires a bare majority – 51% – to not endorse the sitting MP for there to be a full reselection.The CLPD view that the system guarantees a job for life is a gross exaggeration.In any event the coming reduction in the number of constituencies will provide opportunities for deselection.
    Jeremy needs the support of the soft left and many centre MPs. The reintroduction of MR would jeopardise that. Jeremy is absolutely correct in understanding that, unlike those writing/commenting above.Think again, comrades.

    1. John Penney says:

      You offer no strategy whatsoever for the Left in the face of ever rising sabotage and aggression from the Right in the PLP.

      Apart from denouncing MR, what is your suggestion for dealing with the quite small number of high profile irreconcilable Right Wing Blairites in the PLP who are getting all the column inches and airtime from their Tory media supporters to disrupt , vilify, and discredit Jeremy, the entire new socialist direction of the Party, and actually the Labour Party as a whole ?

      Dealing firmly with the quite small cabal of uber troublemakers who will never stop attacking Jeremy or his Left wing policies, by Jeremy chucking some of them out of the Shadow Cabinet for a start, and local members starting work on deselection processes in their constituency parties when possible , does not in itself threaten less strident, middle ground, MP’s. all MP’s need to wake up and smell the coffee – the mass of the members have decided on a new direction for Labour and they are merely our representatives . The Party membership is not the mere passive support arm for the careers of the professional politicians of the PLP , as the Blairites have always arrogantly assumed .

      Unless you have a better strategy, other than the usual one historically for the Labour Left – of endless supine conciliation, endless compromise of Left politics to keep the Blairite neoliberals onboard ? That strategy worked well for the Labour Left in the past didn’t it ? Unfortunately the Labour Right have no intention to settle for any sort of compromise with Jeremy and his politics – it’s “Game on” with the Right Blairites, and all hope of avoiding a showdown is illusory.

    2. James Martin says:

      Interestingly we attempted to trigger a reselection the other year on a trigger for my own Trident supporting Blairite MP, we got a majority of votes for it from the branches in the CLP (he was later to nominate Kendall, we nominated Corbyn) but in the event he was nowhere near being at risk because of the socialist affiliates (in particular the undemocratic Coop that never has branch meetings or consultation but whose local secretary cast for the MP) and most of the union branches also supported him (again the latter due largely I suspect to union branch secretaries or officers making decisions without consulting members). And we have to be honest, most of the left has largely ignored the affiliated societies and union branches for things like this, but we do so at our peril and unless we improve the communication and organisation in them reselection of any MP is not going to be as easy as many of the newer comrades appear to believe.

      1. David Pavett says:

        Good point. It is this sort of detail that must be looked at and acted on if Labour’s claim to be a democratic party is to be meaningful.

        1. Mervyn Hyde (@mjh0421) says:

          Agreed

  8. Hazel Malcolm-Walker says:

    I have always said that trigger ballots were unfair and unreasonable.
    It gives me no pleasure to be proved right again!
    Would these bastards be this arrogant if they had to justify their actions to their constituents?
    I think not!

  9. peter willsman says:

    Peter,the CLPD rule change is not really MR,since it provides for a short list of one,which would always/almost always be the case.Sitting cllrs.have to go through a reselection process,why should only MPs be treated differently and given a job for life.Not very democratic and a bit elitist Peter.The trigger ballot has been shown to be a bit of a joke.I accept MPs will moan,everyone would like a job for life,until ones’70s or even 80s.But our short-list-of-one system is a middle way,very modest and reasonable.

  10. David Ellis says:

    The Labour Right are an electorally toxic brand with nothing to offer and nowhere to go. They represent absolutely no danger to the Corbyn leadership except in the sense that if placated in the name of unity it will cost Labour the 2020 election and may see the end of the party as an electoral force for ever. If the Corbynistas don’t start de-selecting them the British public will.

  11. David Pavett says:

    I agree with Peter Rowlands. This is a really unhelpful debate and most of the people taking part in it show no sign of understanding the Labour Party’s current rules on reselection.

    The rulebook has the following

    Clause IV.

    Selection of Westminster parliamentary candidates

    5. If a CLP is represented in Parliament by a member of the PLP:

    A. If the sitting MP wishes to stand for re-election, a trigger ballot will be carried out through Party units and affiliates according to NEC guidelines. If the MP wins the trigger ballot he/ she will, subject to NEC endorsement, be selected as the CLP’s prospective parliamentary candidate.

    B. If the MP fails to win the trigger ballot, he/ she shall be eligible for nomination for selection as the prospective parliamentary candidate, and s/he shall be included in the shortlist of candidates from whom the selection shall be made.

    In other words if the members of a CLP are dissatisfied with their MP they have a clear mechanism for doing something about it.

    What is more all this noise is very unhelpful to Corbyn who has a very difficult task of trying to keep the largest number of MPs on side. The mandatory re-selection call could not be better designed to worry those who might be considering their position in relation to Corbyn and McDonnell.

    Even the CLPD recognises in its briefing notes on re-selection that the present system while falling short of mandatory re-selection gives CLPs who want to the means to re-select:

    To be re-selected, the sitting MP requires a majority of the affirmative nominations from the CLP’s branches, forums and affiliated organisations. Where the MP fails to obtain such a majority a full selection procedure takes place in that constituency.

    And just what sense does it make, if a constituency is happy with the work of its MP, to force a selection process? None as far as I can see.

    Peter Wilsman says “the CLPD rule change is not really MR,since it provides for a short list of one,which would always/almost always be the case.”

    Nevertheless the CLPD site heads its proposed change “Accountability of Labour MPs: We need a mandatory reselection process, not a ‘trigger mechanism’”.

    The important thing is to focus on policy. Rather than working for deselection of an MP I suggest that it would contribute more to Labour Party politics to focus on establishing clearly the policies supported by the members in a given CLP. If those established views of the members turn out to be contrary to the sitting MP then the trigger ballot mechanism is bound to result in an MP who does not agree with the politics of the CLP for which he or she stands being required to enter a re-selection process.

    I think it really is as simple as that. Focus on policy and raising members knowledge of policy issues and their involvement in policy formation.

  12. Will says:

    I’m not a Labour Party member and haven’t been since 1993.
    I can not understand how the party can hold together when there is such a vast gulph between the position of the members and the PLP. (This was always true, long before Corbyns election, but now there doesn’t seem to be any way of reconciling such disparate opinions).
    If the constituency parties don’t find a way of choosing PPCs who reflect the views of the members, or the MPs don’t come round to the way of thinking of the members, it would make more sense to split and form a new party.

  13. John P Reid says:

    It worked well in 1980′ ,as labour won the 1983 after it …

    1. Jim says:

      Labour won the 83 ?????

      1. John P Reid says:

        Sarcasm

  14. Mervyn Hyde (@mjh0421) says:

    It has always been my contention that the left in the Party should have split away five years ago when Ed Milband proved his Neo-Liberal credentials.

    That said we are here today where we are, we do have an effective leader, he has already got the Tories on the back foot, the media are turning themselves inside out trying put him down only to ordinary people on Question Time quelling any suspicion that thinking people oppose him.

    I certainly believe ordinary members need to make their views known to the PLP that want to bring him down, that they are the losers.

    He has won the arguments already, people are highly sceptical about charging off to bomb children, and that is the kind of language we need to use to show these people up for what they are, Hilary Benn included.

    Lets attack them for what they stand for, we are the many they are the few.

  15. Bazza says:

    Meanwhile brothers and sisters working class/working people are being hammered, and millions are REALLY SUFFERING, as the proliferation of food banks demonstates.
    Gradually as democratic socialists we will have MPs who reflect the grassroots, as power comes back to us as members.
    But essentially this is about ideas and how we decide policy by internal democracy, so what are the self-proclimed Labour great men and women of history (on the Centre/Right) frightened of – are they devoid of ideas and imagination?
    Voting in Labour will decide our future.
    It is simple – if you support the oppressed in the UK and the World (and those who are on their side) then you are fit to represent us.
    A simple question for Labour MPs to reflect upon.
    It is simple really, and grassroots members (perhaps with with diverse differing interpetations of this) will decide.
    So we need to continue to work on the REDEMOCRAISATION OF LABOUR after a decade of NEO-LIBERAL MIDDLE CLASS TOP DOWN BLAIR CONTROL and the subsequent suppression of members ideas and having any say.
    But we always need to keep reminding ourselves that we are there for the poor and those who care about them in the UK and World (without this we are nothing, and some perhaps should stop being part of the nothing – are their comments in the media helping the oppressed?)
    This perhaps should be tattoed on our foreheads! X

  16. since corbyn has said he does not want mandatory re-selection, in whose name do you speak? The bigger issue is however that you are living in the past, as the boundary commission will remove most of the seats in the Labour areas and so there can be no reselection. Most Labour MPs will be fighting for a new seat. As for Dan Hodges, since when did the Labour Left take its cue from the Torygraph?

    Left and Right are fighting a battle on the ground selected by the Right?

    Pete Rowlands and David Pavett are quite right that this is a non debate. But not recognising the changes being proposed by the body that regulates elections is a first for the Left. You really do live in your own little world.

    Along with the Labour Right. Steve Turner of Unite wrote recently of the need to avoid a civil war. Alas you and the right seem determined to have one, and it is for sensible people — and Turner called for sensible action – to prevent you and the 4.5% tendency to stop a civil war breaking out.

    Trevor Fisher.

  17. Mukkinese says:

    My own take is that it is way past time that all Labour M.P.’s got their heads out of their arses and started acting like and opposition.

    The Tories are getting away with murder and are proving to be nastily incompetent in almost all that they do.

    Yet no one is holding them to account. Who is to blame for the suffering and damage caused by this government?

    Labour. Because they have proven to be a pathetic and ineffective opposition since 2010.

    More interested in attacking each other than representing the 76% of the electorate that did not vote for this government…

    1. gerry says:

      Oh dear Mukkinese – know your enemy! 50% of your fellow citizens who voted in 2015 voted UKIP or Tory, openly Thatcherite parties. And another 8% voted Lib Dem. That’s 58%…and digging deeper, 60% of pensioners voted UKIP or Tory, as did 60% of C2s/skilled workers. The same demographics who voted Thatcher and Major in huge numbers in the 1980s and 1990s- this is the society most of these voters actively choose!

      By you always focussing on and having a go at us/Labour you are ignoring the real enemy and the real scale of the task we face…you, Mukkinese, first of all have to UNDERSTAND why so many millions of non-rich working class people vote Tory or UKIP (and have voted for parties of the right ever since universal suffrage), and do so again and again, and you will find that it is NOT always about us/Labour and what we are doing or not doing….and the UK is like most of Western Europe in the hegemony of neoliberalism/parties of the right, their long standing massive appeal of nationalism, patriotism, liberal individualism, anti- collectivism, etc. Only by understanding the mass appeal of the right can any left or Centre-Left party begin to neutralise the massive advantages these parties have in 2015. Know your enemy, then you might just have a tiny chance of beating them.

  18. Peter Rowlands says:

    No-one, apart from David Pavett and Trevor Fisher, seems to have understood my point. Of course Mandatory Reselection (MR) is desirable, and the current system makes deselection more difficult, as James Martin points out, although it is by no means impossible;it does not, as CLPD would have it, guarantee a ‘job for life’.
    The essential point is that the desirability of MR is outweighed by the desirability of maintaining support for the Corbyn leadership which the reintroduction of MR could adversely effect.I would otherwise support the CLPD proposal, although ‘overwhelming’ should be replaced by a figure – in a previous proposal it was I think
    75%.
    John Penney asks what I propose to do about the vocal anti Corbyn minority.These people are clearly inviting deselection and can have no place in a Corbyn led party.

  19. stewart says:

    you behave like a bunch of unelected fascists in trying to decide who should be elected as labour mps or not,your just dangerous bullies of the worst kind, don’t you see what you, corbyn and his cronies are doing.you are destroying the labour party from top down and turning it into the new monster raving loonie party,shame on all of you for sentencing the british people to maybe another 30 years of harsh tory rule,shame on you all.

    1. David Pavett says:

      I think that, whatever the differences, what is being proposed is that constituency Parties should question MPs whose political views are inconsistent with those of the members of the constituency Parties that get them elected. That sounds more democratic than fascistic to me. According to its rule book the Labour Party is supposed to be both democratic and socialist.

    2. John Penney says:

      A bit of a pointless rant on this website, Stewart. I’d try harder with your justifications for your right wing tabloid views if I were you – otherwise you just come over as a troll..

      “Democracy”in the Labour Party was so much better when the small claque around Blair selected the usual PPE Oxbridge background wannabe career politicians from their central pool of “suitable candidates” , often over the heads of local constituency parties ? That worked well to defend working class interests didn’t it ?

      With that level of autonomy for the Leadership and PLP the Labour Party became ever more identical to the Tories in its embrace of neoliberal policies which only benefit the rich. The failure of the Shadow Cabinet to oppose the Tory Welfare Bill just before the Leadership contest shows just how seriously the Blairite wing of the Party would oppose “harsh Tory Rule”.

      The sad fact is that most of the PLP Blairites don’t care what happens to the mass of the UK population – as long as they can get their greedy snouts in the Big Business “directorships after serving as an MP” trough. Just look at where all the Blaire era Cabinet Members have ended up – gorging themselves on sinecure payback directorships every one.

    3. David Ellis says:

      If we don’t start de-selecting these New Labour MPs the British public will do it for us. They are despised across the spectrum. Labour will come out of 2020 destroyed as an electoral force. Plus I don’t think you have a proper handle on what fascism is. Elected representatives that reflect party opinion and carry out party policy is not it. Ignoring the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the members is closer.

  20. roland says:

    i agree with stewart.its sad and heartbreaking to see the destruction of are labour party under jeremy corbyn,we have become a laughing stock.

    1. Mervyn Hyde (@mjh0421) says:

      Did you see his performance on the Andrew Marr Show?

      What you are really saying is that your friends are doing their level best to bring the party down, far from a laughing stock Jeremy has got the Tories on the back foot.

      I think you probably know that, or are walking around with eyes closed and deaf to boot.

      Do you really support people that want to bomb children? Because that is what is happening.

      I don’t care where this video came from, do they look like terrorists to you?

      https://news.vice.com/article/graphic-videos-show-aftermath-of-syrian-airstrikes-that-killed-dozens

      1. Jim says:

        He’s got the principles but he’s not a leader. He scored a great goal on Andrew Marr today, but he was already down 6-0 from the antics of the previous week. If only we had a 40 year old pushing the Corbyn agenda instead of Corbyn himself, that poll rating might just tick over the 28% it is maxing at now.

        1. David Ellis says:

          The Labour Right pose no threat to the Corbyn leadership whatsoever. They are electorally toxic right across the voter spectrum and they have nowhere else to go what with the Tory Collaborating Lib Dems wiped out. In fact the only way they can be a danger to Corbyn is if he keeps capitulating to their bleatings in the name of party unity and as a result nobody can tell the difference between the party that failed in power for 13 years and lost two elections to the vilest Tory government in UK history and the party under Corbyn. There can be no question of not imposing a whip on Labour MPs to vote against Cameron’s ridiculous war which seemed to be based solely on the principle that `well we’re bombing Iraq so we might as well bomb Syria if it hurts the opposition’.

        2. Mervyn Hyde (@mjh0421) says:

          Jim, in all reality how would you stand up the multitude attacks coming from all directions, especially damaging those treacherous politicians on the right of the party. When people call them red Tories they can’t be far wrong when at every opportunity they vote with the Tories.

          I seriously think a lot of people don’t realise the degree of Tory Neo-Liberal infiltration into the party, this has also been going on for over forty years.

          The Bank of England noted in it’s bulletin that people are not taught about money creation in economics at university, and therefore do not understand the basic fundamentals of the economy. Most politicians have been fed on a diet of Neo-Liberal economics something most of us laughed at in the 1970s, it’s now the norm and the reason the world economy is still collapsing.

          One man on his own can’t fight against such odds no matter how clever he is. Have you ever been on the receiving end where you as a lone voice have been surrounded by people shouting you down and not allowing you to speak, look at the Tories tactics in the house of commons, Jeremy has demonstrated clearly what they are doing and has already made an impact, you adding your voice to theirs doesn’t achieve the ends that you say you want, instead we need to concentrate on opposing them not confirming their tactics.

  21. peter willsman says:

    CLPD has been monitoring the trigger ballot for the some 30 years it has been operating,and it is not fit for purpose.David must be new to our Party because he doesn’t know about all the scandals we have had with the tb.Lothian was a good example where every branch and most members wanted a change but the TUs(often from HQ)always vote for the status quo in the tb.David is right,we used MR as our heading,but that was to attract attention and it worked!!!!Next year we will have a more accurate heading.

    1. Peter Rowlands says:

      So CLPD is intending to continue to promote something which Jeremy and John have specifically said they are against?

  22. Alan Griffiths says:

    Writing as someone who has actually taken part in ditching a sitting MP, back in 1983, I think
    1) the notion that there is a close and direct relationship between changing Parliamentary candidates and changing policy or leadership is a lot of wishful thinking.
    2) the number one threat to sitting MPs being dumped as candidates for the next General Election is that on the new boundaries, more members of the new CLP will know another MP who has a claim.
    3) then again, lots of new members may not know MPs at all, so 2) may not apply in the way it has in the past.
    4) members will turn up to an all-member meeting, to select a parliamentary candidate, in numbers far in excess of any other Labour meeting you’ve ever experienced.
    5) In particular, this 4) will be the case where a sitting MP has failed a trigger ballot.
    6) anyone who thinks they can manipulate 4) is kidding themselves.
    7) illusions in Leninism are dangerous.
    8) don’t get over-excited, all will be calm, if not boring.

  23. stewart says:

    @john penney,less of your insults,i am not right wing,i am working class labour through and through,get it.

    1. John Penney says:

      Give it a rest, Stewart. “Working Class Labour ” doesn’t mean just parroting the garbage put out by the billionaire owned Sun and Daily Mail. You sound more like a tiresome Tory Troll , trying to excuse his reactionary spleen by pleading your supposed “working class ” credentials.

  24. peter willsman says:

    Peter,JC has said he doesn’t want MR(mind you he might soon change his mind!!).As I have said,what CLPD are pressing for is not proper MR.Further down the line we would talk to JC about the matter.

    1. Peter Rowlands says:

      Peter, I know that what you are proposing isn’t proper MR, but it makes deselection easier and that is what JC said he was against.

  25. stewart says:

    @john penney,just checked my bank account,got all of £26.87 p left,hardly a friend of murdoch matey,tory troll, arrange with left futures by e mail and you can meet up with me anytime and I will take you on a tour of my council estate in london and you wont find many torys there you self superior little hater of the working classes.p.s.you sound like the type of person who was outside stella creasys gaffe today giving her grief.are you a member of momentum by any chance.

    1. John Penney says:

      Being a reactionary spouter of Daily Mail and The Sun ant socialist tripe just makes you a gullible dupe , Stewart, not a working class hero.

      Try justifying your ridiculous slanders against the Left in the Labour Party rather than hiding behind your completely meaningless “I’m just so very working class, me” excuses. If you are living in poverty , then it was the Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Party which smashed the Tory plans to abolish Tax Credits , NOT the Labour Right – which abstained on the welfare Bill just before The Leadership election.

      Wake up , Stewart. You are wasting your time trolling on this site.

  26. stewart says:

    @john penney.put up or shut up,if left futures want to give you my e mail to contact me,then I will take you on a tour of my working class council estate and meet people probably unlike you who are middle class swp types.the offer is there.will you have the guts take me up.i doubt it,trying the stella creasy treatment with me matey wont work,you come across as paranoid.

  27. peter willsman says:

    Peter,as I’ve said,CLPD will talk to JC(who used to attend CLPD EC meetings).

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