The result of the election to choose the General Secretary of the GMB to replace Sir Paul Kenny whose term of office expires at the end of 2015 has been announced. The winner is Tim Roache, currently GMB Regional Secretary for Yorkshire & North Derbyshire, who beat Paul McCarthy,Regional Secretary for the North West & Ireland by 15,034 votes […]
Faction to challenge Labour leadership across whole range of policies
Nov 6th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.On Wednesday, the results of the parliamentary party elections for backbench committees were announced. What they reveal is an organised attempt by a faction of the party to challenge Jeremy Corbyn across the whole range of policies. Debate on policy is of course encouraged and welcome, but what is less welcome is a systematic attempt to undermine […]
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#JezWeDid. And now we have #Momentum
Oct 8th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.It is no secret that when Jeremy Corbyn received his 35th nomination and entered the race to be Labour’s leader, we didn’t expect to win. What we did expect was that we could build a broad alliance of people committed to Jeremy’s straight talking, honest, new kind of politics: We did expect to draw large […]
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Remembering Denis Healey – the good, the bad and the utterly hilarious
Oct 4th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Denis Healey was a great figure for twenty-five years of Labour history, a politician with “a hinterland”, very well-read and deeply interested in art and music, and, though Jeremy Corbyn may not have approved, was a master of the brilliant put-down. Geoffrey Howe was forever diminished by that greatest of personal attacks – his attacks […]
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Parliament should have power to force Duncan Smith to resign over WCA deaths
Aug 29th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The report that in just over 2 years up to February last year no less than 2,380 disabled claimants died within 2 weeks of being assessed as fit for work and then having their benefit either reduced or stopped altogether, is beyond shocking. It is arguably the most damning statistic yet of the sheer callousness […]
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What will bring unity to Labour is not the right leader but the strength of its democracy
Aug 16th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.As ballot papers start hitting doormats and inboxes, there’s no doubt Jeremy Corbyn’s entry into the contest didn’t just ignite the debate about Labour’s future and shift it leftwards, but it defined the debate. And whatever the outcome, that has already changed the Labour party beyond recognition. What has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to […]
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Blairite triangulation & personality politics paved way for Osborne’s nasty party
Jul 10th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Jeremy Corbyn really doesn’t do personal attacks and nor does his campaign. You can therefore rest assured that the spoof Facebook page promoting Liz Kendall for Conservative Leader has nothing to do with team Corbyn. The Telegraph yesterday claimed it “opens up fresh Labour divisions” based on criticisms of the spoof by Kendall supporting John Woodcock MP. But negative […]
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Be in no doubt: Jeremy Corbyn could win this contest
Jul 6th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The agreement by Unite, Britain’s biggest union, by a vote of 34 to 14 of its elected executive, to nominate Jeremy Corbyn represents a turning point in this leadership contest. It is important not because of the extent to which Unite wields direct influence in this election: trade union members may comprise less than a third of those eligible […]
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End austerity now says Jeremy Corbyn (video)
Jun 21st, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Britain’s largest trade union Unite, introduces Jeremy Corbyn in Parliament Square at the end of yesterday’s 250,000 strong march against austerity: I’m incredibly pleased he’s standing for Labour Leader and … I hope you all become affiliated supporters and I hope you vote for him.” And judging from the […]
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Today MPs will determine whether party members get real choice and real debate
Jun 15th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.Shortly after midday today we will learn whether Labour MPs have determined whether the party’s 200,000 plus members will be allowed to vote for Jeremy Corbyn to be their leader, whether a proper debate about what went wrong in May and what we need to do to put it right in five years time will be allowed to happen. Although many […]
