Labour MP's harassment

If this is the 'nice and polite way of doing politics' ( hollow laugh) let's have the old way back again!

For the avoidance of doubt - I thought Hilary Benn's speech was excellent. Like rose quartz, I found it persuasive but still feel uneasy about the UK joining a bombing campaign. I share the view expressed by all the military and ex military I've heard, who say boots on the ground will be needed within a few months.

Earlier this evening, I saw a channel 4 interview involving a young female Labour MP and a woman from People's Momentum, a left group that I'm sure Militant would have supported. I'm just watching the news headlines which reports a Labour MP (Neil Coyle?) who voted Yes, has involved the police after he received what he sees as a death threat on twitter . The MP is worried about his staff, his family etc. He is not blaming Corbyn who repeatedly stands against such threats.

Corbyn, Tom Watson and MacDonald calling for calm. Shocking, shocking and shocking.

Yes MP's are elected by their constituents but they are selected by party members, only way to avoid this is stand as an independent

What deselection ?

So the MP who said bollocks to a constituent and told him to take the issue seriously and learn a bit of respect doesn't matter. That's how MPs are supposed to speak to constituents, is it?
These things work both ways.

Except, of course, Iam, that Benn was saying the opposite two weeks ago.
If he'd spoken as passionately for the no vote, he might have won that. There is no reason given for him changing his mind.

Depends on what the constituent said to him in the first place of course.

Perhaps two weeks of thinking about it and seeing the intelligence reports etc had something to do with it? It shows that Benn can change his mind when needed and is not stuck in an idealogical time warp.

I really object to the way that Labour MPs being 'bullied' by members of the public has been made the subject of so much news coverage whilst the Tory MPs who voted against their own convictions because of the whip are being totally ignored. The tactics used by the parliamentary whips to make MPs toe the line are usually much worse than anything that has been sent in the way of messages. It's OK apparently for the Tory party to use any method it chooses. This doesn't mean I approve of the tactics involved just that I would like to see the other side discussed as well.

www.thecanary.co/2015/12/03/bllocks-pro-war-labour-mp-responds-to-email-from-concerned-constituent-with-contempt/

To save you looking back to the previous page, roses. The constituent's message is on here. Nothing nasty or inflammatory.

True Trisher , it is well known whips will use blackmail , no way do they say - please vote with us we need your support , please do. It takes courage to go against the whip , seven Tories did and nine abstained

Most interesting Jen, thank you

Sounds like Labour are going to win Oldham. Some good news.

Ken Livingstone seems intent on making life difficult for the Labour Party.
www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/ken-livingstone-fuels-labour-deselection-row-by-challenging-mps-who-backed-air-strikes-a3129256.html#

This actually sums up exactly what I thought would happen.

I heard a ridiculous interview with Nancy Taafe from the Socialist Party on Daily Politics. She was sparring with Labour MP John Mann . She was so bigoted she accused him of voting for war when John Mann voted against it. Another interview with a Left Unity member on Sky News calling for de-selection of Labour MP's , she wasn't even a Labour member. Again no surprise it appears to be accepted that you don't have to be a Labour member to tell a Labour MP what they should do.

It is rubbish to imply the Tory bullying has not been mentioned , we have had a thread on GN, quite rightly as it is equally disgusting. It has been widely reported in the media both on paper and on t.v.

I am pleased Labour MP Nick Coyle has reported death threats to the police. I am pleased Labour MP Stella Creasy has stood up to the bullies , I am pleased Labour MP Anne Coffey has spoken out against the cowards who hide behind the
anonymity of twitter, social media.

This is not normal behaviour , as Emma Burnell from Labour List said it is
' engaging in abuse '.

Surprised some refuse to acknowledge this is abusive behaviour, no not really. I have watched, listened to the nasty side of politics that churned my stomach many years ago resurface but that is obviously a personal view and will be challenged.

Ken L seems stuck in a time warp. He is not doing his party any favours, times had moved on since Ken's time. Having been given such a golden opportunity to contribute again by JC he's just going from one disaster to another of his own making. Crazy. I am genuinely puzzled.

Annonominity of twitter? Thanks for that. So no one knows the people who wrote abusive or threatening comments , it is possibly they are left wing activists , right wing labour , Tory , media, anyone who wants to keep the bullying of labour MP's running

If any party member has written anything threatening they should be expelled from the party

Thrn more coverage can be given to Tory HQ bullying

Ken L actually made a very reasonable point that the Labour party has always had a policy that involved dropping candidates who didn't agree with the majority view- it happened to him as Mayor of London and he sees no reason why party members shouldn't de-select an MP who hasn't represented their views. What is wrong with that?

I don't understand the mechanisms of the Labour Party and understand others here do but I do think things have moved on so much since KL was London mayor. Rightly or wrongly, I don't follow Twitter or Facebook, things can get ridiculously heated, overblown on both and today's politicians have to think more before letting heart rule head. Ken Livingstone was using LBC Radio to air his views. Others are now having to build bridges on his behalf within his own party. Jeremy Corbyn has just appointed him a controversial post. That should be keeping him busy but I think Ken is so happy to be back in the mainstream he loves making waves, can't help himself.

Well, "he would, wouldn't he?" to use a well known phrase.

I am using the words from an article in the Independent talking about deselection of MP's and it's relativity to now.

BUT THIS SEEMS DIFFERENT.

'It is. Previous deselection battles were usually small and locally focused.

The call to deselect the Labour MP's perceived to be on the right of the party is the first time there has been an 'organised campaign ' to oust sitting MP's.'

The deselection of an MP is not the issue as such. The issue is the threatening behaviour , the almost machiavellien process being used by certain groups who have taken over the Labour Party. They are there through due process I understand that. But their aim is to destroy those MP's who were elected democratically because they do not like them, they demand they accept their view and their view only . They are demanding they must submit to their control or they must suffer the consequences.

It is shameful not only to deploy such tactics it is shameful to agree such tactics have a role in any party and that is precisely what is happening.. I am not surprised there is what is tantamount to defending the vacuous morals of those who choose to get what they want through intimidation when it suits their cause but it is not only those Labour MP's I feel sorry for it is the decent Labour Party member who is watching all this division and rancour that manifested itself during the Labour Leadership contest and has taken a route to control the Labour Party by fair or foul means and bugger anybody who dares to argue with them from the PLP down.

POGS I am not an apologist for those who engage in threatening or abusive behaviour. I have already said "These people are not only vicious but stupid also ........... please don't mistake them for "pacifists" - their actions demonstrate they most certainly are not".

You have already noted that the two women who gave interviews were not Labour Party members - one was from TUSC and the other was from Left Unity. They, of course, have every right to peacefully demonstrate and voice their opinions but they do so on their own behalf.

Jeremy Corbyn said on the Today programme:

"There is no way she [Stella Creasey] should be de-selected. She is an excellent MP and she has my support." He also said that abuse had been directed to Labour MPs on both sides of the debate, that he had received a death threat himself and that such abuse and intimidation was obviously not acceptable, from whomever it emanated.

Making verbal or written threats or behaving in a threatening and intimidatory way is a criminal offence and should be treated as such. As we have seen, there are always people who go way beyond what is acceptable in the name of any cause you can think of - be it animal rights, pro-hunting, etc. etc. etc. That does not mean that sweeping generalisations should be made about everyone else who supports that cause.

Shameful tactics can be found in all parties and in the most unlikely places. In relation to the alleged paedophile investigation being carried out, in July 2014 Tim Fortescue, a former senior Conservative MP and whip, revealed in the Mail how the whips office would try to "get a chap out of trouble" regarding "indiscretions" or "incidents with small boys" in return for loyalty. The current investigation regarding bullying and blackmail in the party may reveal that many years later these sorts of tactics linger on.

David Cameron said in May 2009:

"How has the mother of all parliaments turned itself into such a pliant child ...... it is time to strengthen parliament so it can properly hold the government to account on behalf of the voters ..... and there should be less whipping ...".

Interesting then that he chose to whip his MPs on such an important issue. Did he not think they would, in line with their own consciences and in response to the arguments put forward, vote in favour?

Hopefully the Oldham by-election result will calm things down, a victory for Corbyn as well as the excellent candidate, despite the interesting timing of the Syria debate and the media trying to make the most of this. Should settle the Blairites down and reduce the "we'll never win an election" theme.

I think Stella Creasey is getting a lot of flak because she is young, attractive and had the temerity to stick her head above the parapet and make a pitch for the deputy leadership. So we'll send her threats on social media.
However the story about her has been reported inaccurately and exaggerated re people outside her house.
It's all been a big distraction (maybe a deliberate one) from more important issues like the plight of the poor refugees on the Macedonian border and elsewhere, the doctors dispute, the fact that Osborne is cutting universal credit (tax credit cuts by the back door) the fact that Cameron is panicking about promising an in/out referendum re EU.
No they couldn't have - could they? "I've got a great idea to make things difficult for Corbyn and at the same time distract from the breaking story about the massive Tory bullying scandal... Why don't we..."

Oldham is hardly a victory for Corbyn, it's a victory as usual there for a Labour candidate, Oldham has been Labour forever.

Yes JessM, they could . Little has been reported on the leaked email reporting the bullying a month before the young man took his life, yet they said this week there had been no reports of bully

Corbyn stating that there would be 'no hiding place' for MPs voting for bombing has led Chris Bryant , shadow a leader of the house to request increased police protection for his colleagues and, according to today's Telegraph, Labour MPs are 'now concerned that their physical safety is at risk and being put at risk by their own leadership'.

I hardly think one by-election with a foregone conclusion is going 'calm things down' let alone deflect the seriousness of what's happening within the Labour Party.