SUPPORTERS across the country face suspension from the Labour Party under a new crackdown that bans local discussions about the former leader’s reinstatement as a Labour MP reports The Huffington Post.
In a letter to all local party chairs, MPs and MSPs, general secretary David Evans warned that any motions about Keir Starmer’s decision to withhold the parliamentary whip from Corbyn would be ruled “out of order”.
Any “expressions of solidarity” with Corbyn would also fall foul of tough new guidance, which strengthens existing rules that prevent discussion of ongoing disciplinary cases.
MPs believe that the crackdown could spark the wider suspension of entire local constituency Labour parties (CLPs) where activists have been most vociferous in their condemnation of Corbyn’s treatment.
Some 60 local parties are estimated to have passed motions of support for the former leader and around 100 were due to take place on Thursday night. It remains unclear if suspensions will be automatic for party officials who allow such motions to be discussed.
Evans has already suspended the chair and other activists in Bristol West after they held a Zoom meeting that discussed a motion critical of the whipping decision, although insiders say a raft of other allegations prompted the action.
Several constituencies in London and other cities are expected to see members suspended as part of the process.
One senior party source told HuffPost UK that the driving reason for the move was concerns that Jewish party members had been made to feel very uncomfortable when such motions were tabled and discussed.
“In his response to the EHRC, Keir vowed to fix the processes. But he also said he would fix the culture. He said ‘I want the Labour party to be a safe place for Jewish people again’. And that’s what this is about. This is about changing the culture and making it a safe place again,” they said.
“Because we all know that among some party members, a discussion on a seemingly innocent motion can be designed to trigger a much more frankly nasty discussion.
“Discussions about Jeremy’s status in the parliamentary party or about the EHRC could quickly turn into that, and we are not going to allow that to happen. This also about the Labour party being under new leadership.”
The fresh clampdown came as a new Survation poll of Labour members for the LabourList website found that 48% felt Starmer was “wrong” not to restore the whip to Corbyn. Some 46% think the move was “right”.
Corbyn, who was suspended for suggesting anti-Semitism was “overstated” for factional reasons, was reinstated as a member by a disciplinary panel of the ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).
After a backlash, Starmer withheld the whip and Corbyn has been since ordered to apologise for his remarks.
In his letter, Evans stressed that he is acting with the full authority of the NEC.
“I am aware that..motions (including expressions of solidarity, and matters relating to the internal processes of the PLP) are providing a flashpoint for the expression of views that undermine the Labour Party’s ability to provide a safe and welcoming space for all members, in particular our Jewish members. Therefore, all motions which touch on these issues will also be ruled out of order,” he wrote.
“Please rest assured that when I took up post as General Secretary, I had no desire at all to hamper discussion by our local parties, but until we can improve our culture such restrictions may be required to stay in place.”
The Jewish Labour Movement last week wrote to its members advising them not to put their mental or physical wellbeing at risk if they worried a local party discussion would provide an “unhealthy or discriminatory” environment.
One of the party’s veteran Jewish activists told HuffPost UK: “After five years of pleading, the Labour Party are finally taking this as seriously as they should have from the outset.
“If we had seen this kind of leadership when these issue started arising, the party wouldn’t have been stained with anti-Jewish racism. The EHRC wouldn’t have been necessary and we might have been in Government by now.”
The political “assassination” of Jeremy Corbyn .
This is an unmitigated attack upon the right to freedom of speech and the right to express solidarity with whomsoever one desires. It is nothing other than a threat to members of the Labour Party that they risk expulsion should they show support for critics or attempt to discuss any matter concerning Jeremy Corbyn.
From the very moment Mr. Corbyn was first elected, by a huge majority, as Labour Party Leader there have been those who have maliciously and cunningly sought to bring him down. ” Not fit to govern, supporter of terrorism, unelectable, divisive and a loser” has been the mantra of these disgruntled spiteful and treacherous members of the Parliamentary Labour Party along with other members such as some Labour Councillors and Labour Party Constituency Chairs.
Having failed in their endeavours these scallywags produced a new stick with which to beat their Leader I.e. anti-semitism.
Methinks a history lesson is appropriate here:-
“On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first premier”.
“Britain took over Palestine. In 1917”,
“Britain issued the “Balfour Declaration,” which declared its intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Although protested by the Arab states, the Balfour Declaration was included in the British mandate over Palestine, which was authorized by the League of Nations in 1922.
Because of Arab opposition to the establishment of any Jewish state in Palestine, British rule continued throughout the 1920s and ’30s”.
“As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine,{killing British soldiers}, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause.
At the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred the problem to the United Nations, which in November 1947 voted to partition Palestine”.
“The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, although they made up less than half of Palestine’s population”.
“The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but by May 14, 1948, the Jews had secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory.
“On May 14 1948 Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed.
The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded”.
“The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the Arabs and then seize key territory, such as Galilee, the Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem”.
“In 1949, U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent control of this conquered territory. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left the country with a substantial Jewish majority”.
“During the third Arab-Israeli conflict—the Six-Day War of 1967—Israel again greatly increased its borders, capturing from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria the Old City of Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a historic peace agreement in which Israel returned the Sinai in exchange for Egyptian recognition and peace.
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a major peace accord in 1993, which envisioned the gradual implementation of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process moved slowly, however, and in 2000 major fighting between Israelis and Palestinians resumed in Israel and the occupied territories”.
Mr. Corbyn has made no secret of the fact he supports the formation of a Palestine State, sympathises with the Palestinians struggle and is critical of the Israeli Government’s refusal to allow a Palestine state. Despite what his detractors would have us believe, that does not make him a terrorist or a supporter of terrorism.
It should be remembered that it was a Labour Government, under Tony Blair, who consorted with the IRA, a terrorist organisation, to broker the “Good Friday Peace Agreement” by means of appeasement. Mr. Blair is not vilified as a supporter of terrorism, on the contrary he is lauded as a “Peace maker”.
I do not recall any Labour Party MPs, Councillors or other Labour Party luminaries being overly concerned about anti-semitism and raising it as an issue. That is until it was seized upon as a means of bringing about the downfall of Mr. Corbyn. There is no evidence to substantiate the accusation that Mr. Corbyn is an anti-semite just as there is no evidence to substantiate the accusation that he is a supporter of terrorism. To perpetuate these falsehoods is contemptible.
It is the purveyors of such falsehoods who should be expelled from the Labour Party.
The Holocaust was a vile and wicked act but the Jews do not have a monopoly on genocide. Genocide wherever and on whomsoever it is practiced is no less vile or wicked than the Holocaust.
I am inclined to agree with Mr. Corbyn’s view that the anti-semitism issue in the Labour Parliamentary Party was “overstated” for political purposes. I believe there is a faction in the Labour Party, MPs and Members, who can never forgive Jeremy Corbyn for his effrontery, winning the Leadership election with huge majorities, not once but twice. They will continue to vent their spleen until they have driven Mr. Corbyn, and those who support, him out of the Labour Party. Shame on all of them.
General Secretary Evans, if you are scanning the Labour Party Membership with the intention of expelling me, let me save you some time, you are a few years too late.
Frankly I do not wish to be a member of a resurrected “Blairite Blue Labour Party”.
The political “assassination” of Jeremy Corbyn .
David Evans, General Secretary of the Labour Party , has warned all members of The Labour Party, by means of a letter to all Constituency party Chairs, warning them that any motions about Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to withhold the Labour Party Parliamentary whip from Jeremy Corbyn would be ruled “out of order”. Mr. Evans also warns that any “expression of solidarity” with Mr. Corbyn would fall foul of tough new guidelines, which strengthen existing rules that prevent discussion of ongoing disciplinary cases.
This is an unmitigated attack upon the right to freedom of speech and the right to express solidarity with whomsoever one desires. It is nothing other than a threat to members of the Labour Party that they risk expulsion should they show support for critics or attempt to discuss any matter concerning Jeremy Corbyn.
From the very moment Mr. Corbyn was first elected, by a huge majority, as Labour Party Leader there have been those who have maliciously and cunningly sought to bring him down. Not fit to govern, supporter of terrorism, unelectable, divisive and a loser has been the mantra of these disgruntled spiteful and treacherous members of the Parliamentary Labour Party along with other members such as some Labour Councillors and Labour Party Constituency Chairs. Having failed in their endeavours these scallywags produced a new stick with which to beat their Leader I.e. anti-semitism.
Methinks a history lesson is appropriate here:-
“On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first premier”.
“Britain took over Palestine. In 1917”,
“Britain issued the “Balfour Declaration,” which declared its intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Although protested by the Arab states, the Balfour Declaration was included in the British mandate over Palestine, which was authorized by the League of Nations in 1922. Because of Arab opposition to the establishment of any Jewish state in Palestine, British rule continued throughout the 1920s and ’30s”.
“As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine,{killing British soldiers}, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause. At the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred the problem to the United Nations, which in November 1947 voted to partition Palestine”.
“The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, although they made up less than half of Palestine’s population”.
“The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but by May 14, 1948, the Jews had secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory.
“On May 14 1948 Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded”.
“The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the Arabs and then seize key territory, such as Galilee, the Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem”.
“In 1949, U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent control of this conquered territory. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left the country with a substantial Jewish majority”.
“During the third Arab-Israeli conflict—the Six-Day War of 1967—Israel again greatly increased its borders, capturing from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria the Old City of Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a historic peace agreement in which Israel returned the Sinai in exchange for Egyptian recognition and peace. Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a major peace accord in 1993, which envisioned the gradual implementation of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process moved slowly, however, and in 2000 major fighting between Israelis and Palestinians resumed in Israel and the occupied territories”.
Mr. Corbyn has made no secret of the fact he supports the formation of a Palestine State, sympathises with the Palestinians struggle and is critical of the Israeli Government’s refusal to allow a Palestine state. Despite what his detractors would have us believe, that does not make him a terrorist or a supporter of terrorism.
It should be remembered that it was a Labour Government, under Tony Blair, who consorted with the IRA, a terrorist organisation, to broker the “Good Friday Peace Agreement” by means of appeasement. Mr. Blair is not vilified as a supporter of terrorism, on the contrary he is lauded as a “Peace maker”.
I do not recall any Labour Party MPs, Councillors or other Labour Party luminaries being overly concerned about anti-semitism and raising it as an issue. That is until it was seized upon as a means of bringing about the downfall of Mr. Corbyn. There is no evidence to substantiate the accusation that Mr. Corbyn is an anti-semite just as there is no evidence to substantiate the accusation that he is a supporter of terrorism. To perpetuate these falsehoods is contemptible. It is the purveyors of such falsehoods who should be expelled from the Labour Party.
The Holocaust was a vile and wicked act but the Jews do not have a monopoly on genocide. Genocide wherever and on whomsoever it is practiced is no less vile or wicked than the Holocaust.
I am inclined to agree with Mr. Corbyn’s view that the anti-semitism issue in the Labour Parliamentary Party was “overstated” for political purposes. I believe there is a faction in the Labour Party, MPs and Members, who can never forgive Jeremy Corbyn for his effrontery, winning the Leadership election with huge majorities, not once but twice. They will continue to vent their spleen until they have driven Mr. Corbyn out of the Labour Party. Shame on all of them.
General Secretary Evans, if you are scanning the Labour Party Membership with the intention of expelling me, let me save you some time, you are a few years too late. Frankly I do not wish to be a member of a resurrected “Blairite Blue Labour Party”.