The rot is running deep
JVL Introduction
Labour’s presence in Bristol is considerable: the party has four MPs and majority control of the council.
In 2019, Bristol West, the second largest CLP in the country, sent 17 delegates to party conference; a few months earlier, local activists hosted the hugely successful Bristol Transformed event.
At that time, local Labour politics was radical and exciting.
No longer. It is heart-breaking to watch party apparatchiks tearing a vibrant local party to shreds.
The Party’s regional office and at least one of Bristol’s Labour MPs seem determined to throw everything away in bitter factional infighting as Aaron Bastani recounts in this extended analysis.
It looks like a train crash in slow motion, a symbol of the post-Corbyn transformation of Labour.
This article was originally published by Novara Media on Mon 29 Mar 2021. Read the original here.
We Already Know Starmer’s Labour Ends in Tears – Just Look at the West of England
Rulebook-burning, a leftist purge plus a mayoral candidate nobody wants to campaign for have produced disaffection and despondency. We don’t need a crystal ball to see what the future holds for Keir Starmer – it’s happening right now in Bristol.
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The membership appears to be holding but needs boosting in anticipation of a challenge, its not if but when and after conference is the ideal launch pad
You can guarantee Red Tories will use every dirty trick in the book just like their ruthless counterparts
Our supporters need to get active in CLP’s and make sitting MP’s an offer they can’t refuse should they fail to nominate the left candidate
Good news is once we get our candidate on the slate the rest should be a foregone conclusion
Bring JC back as chair / spiritual leader
Debbonaire must go.
What a depressing read, all the more so because of its restraint and understatement. The Right led by Starmer and the PLP have made it abundantly clear over the last 5 years that they would rather see the Tories win elections than the Left. There may be a small window of opportunity to win control at the next Conference, after that it will be back to the Left pathetically trying to win small concessions from the neoliberal faction in control of the PLP and the bureaucracy, that is not acceptable, to me at any rate.
Tusc anti cuts party has background of decades of knowledge of council law to fight austerity cuts, that Labour will just agree from Tories.
WHERE RUNNING IN BRISTOL
City mayor
Candidates
Bristol Tom Baldwin
Local authority Ward/Division Candidate’s name
Bristol (10) Ashley Chris Farrell
Bristol Bedminster Tony Rowe
Bristol Clifton Alison Bond
Bristol Eastville Mike Luff
Bristol Filwood Robin Clapp
Bristol Henbury & Brentry Amy Sage
Bristol Knowle Domenico Hill
Bristol Lockleaze Roger Thomas
Bristol St George Central Dan Smart
Bristol Windmill Hill Rob Nash
It’s ironic NM so critical of the current LP shenanigans. We could of had an honest leader with Corbyn had the so called ‘left’ media been solidly behind him. But they weren’t including NM. Now look what we have!
If party democracy is as hopelessly compromised under the current leadership as this article suggests, the only means of cleansing the Augean Stables is a well-funded legal challenge to insist upon proper democratic procedures being followed. I canot see that happening, though the possibility should certainly be investigated. How can one respect rules which are being constantly flouted by the ruling faction?
The person who WAS Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Newton Abbot has just written an open letter explaining why he’s resigned from the party. He says he can’t in conscience continue to support a party that has treated his own loyal, hard-working and very effective CLP (and many others) so badly. He – like many of us – now questions whether Starmer and co want to win power, given that what they’re doing is so obviously counter-productive.
I think I read the details and this candidate’s open letter in Skwarkbox. or Labour Outlook. If you can find the article it’s well worth reading.
@linda here it is…
https://skwawkbox.org/2021/03/30/general-election-candidate-quits-labour-and-issues-open-letter/