Ed says he hates machine politics. Only a few months ago, there was the Rotherham selection, which local party members felt was an appalling stitch-up by the party establishment. At the selection meeting there were some 125 angry party members. Around 100 either waked out or spoilt their ballot papers in protest. The popular Rotherham […]
Posts Tagged ‘Parliamentary Selections’
Primaries – policy-free beauty contests dominated by big money
Jul 10th, 2013 by Mike Phipps.Beware primaries. They anoint money and the media as the most important factors in candidate selection. Many of us thought the idea of open primaries for the selection of candidates was dead and buried following widespread rejection by members in a Party consultation process a couple of years ago. But the anti-union wing of the Party don’t […]
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Yes, Labour’s selection process has been abused, but not by the unions
Jul 9th, 2013 by Len McCluskey.Getting those who pay into unions’ political funds engaged in the life of the Labour party, is worth pursuing. Today Ed Miliband will spell out his proposals to mend, but not end, the historic relationship between trade unions and the Labour party. Clearly, whatever he proposes will need to be considered seriously. Change is needed, and for […]
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Breaking the link with the unions is not warranted by Falkirk & would be fundamentally wrong
Jul 7th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.It’s time to quieten down over Falkirk and await the true facts now that Ed Miliband has referred the whole matter to the police. As long as this row goes on, it only benefits two interests. One is the Blairites who have been seeking to break the link with the union for the last two […]
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On bringing in the Police to an internal party row
Jul 6th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.So Labour has handed over its Falkirk report to the police — not something to do lightly. If serious wrongdoing has taken place and it constitutes criminal activity then this it may be justified, but we can’t know that it has until at least a redacted version of Labour’s report is published as it should […]
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Daily Mail says 70% of Labour candidates have union links – inquiry demanded
Jul 3rd, 2013 by Jon Lansman.The Daily Mail this morning fulminates about its finding that “70% of Labour candidates for 2015 election have links to unions.” Worse still, it finds that “more than half of those are affiliated to Unite, the giant Left-wing union which is targeting as many seats as possible to exert maximum influence over Ed Miliband.” All […]
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All union levy-payers should be able to vote in Labour selections
Jul 2nd, 2013 by Jon Lansman.The current row between Progress and Unite is really about class politics and union influence – not one parliamentary selection in Scotland. However, perhaps it is worth taking at face value the claim by Peter Mandelson in his plea for “no more Falkirks” that he is “trying to defend the rights of grassroots members of the […]
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Falkirk, and the developing row between Labour and UNITE
Jul 1st, 2013 by Andy Newman.The placing of the Falkirk West CLP into administrative measures is the latest battle in what George Eaton at the New Statesman describes as “a war” between UNITE the union, and the Labour Party. In fact the Blairites in the party, are engaged in a concerted campaign to challenge trade union influence more generally. This became apparent in the synthetic “outrage” that […]
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Careerism – the cancer in the heart of Labour
Jun 13th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.This morning, the Times (“Hewitt ‘cashes in’ on Bupa job” – £) revealed that Patricia Hewitt, former Labour health secretary and sometime Bennite, has taken a job with Bupa — £52,000 a year to attend ten board meetings. She did much to enlarge the role of the private sector within the NHS and her experience […]
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Setting the record straight on Falkirk West
May 28th, 2013 by Pat Rafferty.Over the last few weeks there has been a lot said about Unite’s involvement in the selection of Labour’s candidate for Falkirk West. First off, let me spell this out clearly for the off the record gossips and muck-spreaders, who have been hiding in the shadows, Unite has done absolutely nothing wrong. Unite’s political strategy […]
