A leadership contest!

Anniebach, Momentum with the help of others grew out of the grassroots of the Trade Union Branch structure. Those Trade Union Branch activists that supported those initial changes that brought forward the present Labour party and its policies did so because twelve years of Labour government under Blair and Brown had not repealed even one sector of the five anti-trade union bills that had passed through parliament under the Thatcher and Major Tory governments.

Blair and Brown were content to see the Trades Unions pay the vast majority of the Labour party bills throughout their years in office, but never once gave those bodies anything in return, with Blair not even once attending any of their conferences.

You reap what you sow, and in that, you have today's Labour party.

Well...as I am not a voter for Liebour, Cons, Inde or Green, I can't comment on the machinations behind their closed doors. I'm content to read your many, varied, often insightful and informed opinions and wait patiently for the final outcome that none of us can safely predict. It's been interesting and I think some of you may have, in your salad days, chosen the wrong career path.

Oh, so they only pour money into the Labour Party to get what they want and not for the good of of the country .

I knew this though, they robbed the people of Aberfan of justice and money from the fund , Blair gave it back all those years later and now it is invested for upkeep of the memorial garden on the site of the school ‘ which could have been saved’ and the graves of the children.

Some of those children could have been posting on this forum now

I do like a bit of irony GG54......GN is more Joe Soap leaning on the bar pontificating though.

'Oh! The irony'... I can just hear Frankie Howerd saying that and rolling his eyes.

No Anniebach, the Trades Unions are the foundation of the wider Labour movement in the country. The Labour Party was born out of that movement as its political wing when it was realised that not all the ambitions of working people could be accomplished in the workplace.

That is the Labour Parties history, and it's present and will be its future paid for by the affiliation subscriptions of those often poorly paid Trade Union members.

Tony Blair & Co forgot the above, which is now looked on as totally disgusting by all activists within the Labour movement.

The ambitions of Len McClusky being top of the slag heap, his former girl friend and mother of his son on the NEC , another girl friend employed as advisor to Corbyn .

Quite sometime ago Anniebach I posted about the links between politician's families and you told me it was bound to happen because they mixed in the same social circles. Apparently it happens with union people as well but that isn't acceptable. It simply isn't logical to claim to support Labour and not accept trade unions and their membership. The two are closely linked and always have been.

What were the links between politicians families Trisher?

Yes Corbyn’s son works for his father, some wives of politicians work for their husbands. Rather different to ex lovers of a union leader being in the NEC and working as advisor to the leader , the same union leader who has a desk in Labour HQ and who is telling the media when and when not the Labour Leader should call for a vote of no confidence in the government , no matter than many labour MP’s wanted that vote.

Just go to wiki and list of politicians families Annie but I give you as an example the Callaghans
James Callaghan (later Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, Prime Minister 1976–1979)
Margaret Jay (née Callaghan, later Baroness Jay of Paddington, Leader of the House of Lords 1998–2001), daughter of James
Peter Jay (British Ambassador to the United States), husband of Margaret
Douglas Jay, Baron Jay, father of the above and former Labour MP and Peer
Peggy Jay, wife of Douglas, Labour Councilor
Virginia Bottomley, Conservative politician, niece of Peggy.
Peter Bottomley, Conservative politician, husband of Virginia (see Bottomleys)
Julian Hunt, Baron Hunt of Chesterton, nephew of Peggy, Labour life peer
Tristram Hunt, son of Julian, Labour MP.
Interesting I thought that it's cross-party You can continue with the Bottomleys if you wish. But I believe last time I posted about this you thought it was just because they mixed socially. Seems its OK for some but not others.

Thank you for posting it Tricia, Yes offspring and husbands/wives of politicians .

But ex girl friends of a union leader in the inner circle of the party ? Not the same.

But it's exactly the same Annie, they would meet socially. Or is it the lack of a marriage certificate that bothers you? If it was an ex-wife would it be OK? Or does a union official have to restrict his relationships to people who aren't union members?

It is not exactly the same.

Anniebach, you really do post a huge amount of inaccurate information on this forum. Regarding your posts in this thread I can only assume you are referring to Jennie Formby and her relationship with Len McCluskey, and in that, linking the relationship to her appointment as General Secretary of the Labour Party.

Jenny Formby is very much a self-made woman in regard to her advancement through her career. As any online search will demonstrate she became involved as a Trade Union activist while working at William Hill the bookmaker. Formby then became an elected on site union rep and Branch Secretary for the then Transport & General Workers Union (now Unite) while employed by British Oxegen in the late 1970s.

In the above position, Jenny Formby then gained the educational accreditations necessary to be appointed to the position of a full time district organiser for that union, and the went on to gain appointment as food drink and tobacco sector regional organiser. All the forging appointments were made by the T&GWUs South West regional committee and by way of no other body within the organisation.

Jenny Formby then was appointed as the South East Reginal Secretary for what was to become the Unite Union, with her and Len McCluskey setting up a personal relationship in the late 1980s from which they had a son. That relationship ended in the early 1990s and she married her current husband in1998 and they had two further children.

Formby then gained political organising experience while holding the office of Unite Political Organiser, and from there was later nominated as the replacement General Secretary of the Labour party following the resignation of Ian McNicol. Formby was then appointed to that position by ballot of the 48 member Labour Party National Executive (which I believe Len McCluskey has no seat on) in March of this year.

Therefore Anniebach, your derogatory unfounded statements on this forum in regard to Jenny Formby I find totally disgusting. You also claim a fifty-year membership of the Labour Party but demonstrate little knowledge of its constitutional structure and internal appointment process.

Jenny Formby came into what was a very male-dominated trade union in her initial years and then has gone on to become a groundbreaker in regard to gaining positions for women and equality in that environment throughout her continuing career.

Someone to be celebrated and applauded by way of her actions in gaining equality in an often hostile male environment, and not to be "slagged off" by way of her personal life.

I said ex , I repeat ex girl friend of Len McClusky who is the mother of his son.

Did she conceive by IVF?

did you realy another epistle to claim I made a degoratory unfounded statement only to repeat what I said . Any chance to post a load of uninteresting detail . ?

Interesting to know

To say a woman is an ex girl friend of Len McClusky and mother of his son

Is this slagging a woman off ?

Annie you are entiled to your views about marriage and relationships and your christian ethics, what you are not entitled to do is to discriminate against other women who choose not to have such views. If you are going to claim you do not discriminate, just as you claim you are not slagging someone off I quote you the words you used
some wives of politicians work for their husbands. Rather different to ex lovers of a union leader being in the NEC and working as advisor to the leader
The personal relationships of any woman are her own and she is at liberty to legalise them or not without criticism from anyone.

Reminds me that song from the late fifties ‘let’s twist again ‘

That is the Labour Parties history
I hope you are taking note of the lesson on the Labour Party's history Anniebach.
It's never too late to learn

Annie has been a member of the Labour Party for 50 years Jalima1108 so she must be fully aware of its history (although she seems to think it is farther left now than it has ever been, which would be quite a surprise to people like Aneurin Bevin who once advocated joining with the USSR to form an anti-fascist block! In fact to any of the early socialists who built the party)
And she has some old fashioned ideas about women.
Did you know the details about Jenny Formby? I confess I didn't and I am quite shocked that any woman should equate another woman's success to the man she slept with. She's right it belongs in the fifties.

Jalima I must correct you , I claimed to be a member of the party*, ?

Had no interest in the epistle , just the bits which were an attempt to patronise me, and twist my post,