The end of Labour Party democracy?
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Barrister Duncan Shipley-Dalton has issued a dire warning on Skwawkbox.
The recent readmission of some suspended elected officers has been done on terms which constitute a grave threat to Labour Party democracy.
For it assumes a relationship of complete subordination of CLPs to the party machine.
That, together with the right of the general secretary to instruct officers and members to do whatever he instructs without question will, quite simply, spell the end of party democracy.
This article was originally published by Skwawkbox on Mon 8 Feb 2021. Read the original here.
Barrister and Labour rules expert says Labour’s approach to re-admitting suspended officers ‘incredibly dangerous’ and step toward ‘removing union movement from party’
Seventy or more elected local officers of the Labour party were suspended by the party’s hierarchy simply for allowing members to discuss motions declaring solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn. Some have been allowed back into the party, but a Labour rules expert considers the circumstances a severe threat.
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Did the readmitted officers have to sign anything before being readmitted? One would hope they had the good sense not to!
It’s truly the Stalinisation of a once democratic Party. ‘Animal Farm’ comes to mind. The pigs are starting to look like humans.
First a trawl through a candidates declaration form listing…
Example
https://www.facebook.com/john.smith3923723
https://twitter.com/johnsmith38475 Plus all profiles as above.
“I have provided details of all social media accounts to which I have or have previously had access, and specifically highlighted any social media comments or posts which may be of interest to the media or to our political opponents”. https://labour.org.uk/candidate-declarations-2021/
After the trawl [going back how many years???] any one found to be critical of Israel policy I don’t think should apply, after all R L Bailey told Robert Peston at the JLM hustings last year that anyone critical of Israel was an anti Semite.
I agree with the warning in this article, however this rescinding of suspensions is a a retreat from recent statements about expelling thousands and thousands of members.
It’s encouraging to see that resistance can work.
Of course it may be designed as temporary and tactical, so the next step we need is for the readmitted members to continue in a manner which ignores the dictats in Evans’s letter.
Whatever caused Evans to readmit these members, whether it was the legal advice he received regarding Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), or the pressure from members and unions, those factors will still apply or still be there the next time he suspends or expells or attacks members rights to free expression.
How many legal challenges are there still in the pipeline and how close are they to being heard