Rebecca Long Bailey sacked by Keir Starmer

Tomorrow, Evans begins as the new general secretary, and one if the first things he has to do is oversee the fallout from the EHRC report.

Starmer has said that he will accept all its findings. He will set up an independent complaints process.

It is possible that the party will be severely criticised, with Corbyn as leader taking the lions share of blame.

Quote from a labour front bencher.

“What we have learned in the last 48 hrs is that Keir Starmer is not just a lawyer. He is ruthless too. He will act firmly. If you pick a fight with him, you will lose”

you may not like the trade unions

Now you are putting words in my mouth Grandad. I didn't say I don't "like" them; you are a shining example to the good they do. The way that they do it does seem outmoded to me but that is what would make me chose between joining one or not.

However, when it comes to the amount of control they have over a political party I find it hard to differentiate that and the money going into the Conservatives from donors who expect something back from them.

However, it would seem that those with such views have been long prepared to accept the huge scale of funding that those unions have given the Parliamentary Party for over one hundred years.

Except … I have never been a member of the Labour Party so I have not accepted anything. I am probably a fairly easy vote for a party on the left to capture and the LP needs those as much as they need party members. They also need more who are not as easy a capture as I am.

I sincerely understand and applaud your backing of the Trades Union movement. I don't know the answer to the funding problem. I would rather no party could take large sums from anywhere, but maybe that's a little naïve.

growstuff Nandy's message could be regarded as a criticism of both Corbyn and Starmer We’ve got to be present in our communities and we have shrunk as a movement, into a small handful of people, largely men, dare I say it, in London, central London.
“Not even most of London, but central London, who commission focus groups and polling, who go out and sell a message to the rest of the country.
She seems to be asking for more regionalism and more women involved in Labour policiy making.

Of course it wasn’t a trap set by RLB....in my view that is crediting her where it isn't due.
It looks as if the report into anti-Semitism within the LP will be worse than many thought, and of course, there were some on GN who denied any anti-Semitism at all not so very long ago.

Trisher It's been Nandy's "selling point" for ages. I was asking a genuine question. Starmer hasn't been leader for that long, but he would do well to listen to what she's saying. I think she does genuinely engage with and understand the people she represents.

I must admit I have a problem with some of what she says - not the stuff about London-centric men (she's probably right), but other things she's said in the past about immigration. I actually don't think it's just London men. I've had experience in the past of misogyny within the Labour Party and the unions.

There's tension between the more liberal (small l) elements within the Labour Party and some of the more "traditional" (for want of a better word) elements. Starmer needs to reconcile that somehow.

lemongrove I think part of the problem is that different people have different interpretations of anti-semiticism, which has definitely come to mean much more than discrimination against Jews.

I believe it was trisher who was requested to start another thread because she had drifted off the subject of this one.

And yet this thread has certainly drifted away from RLB's sacking to dishing the dirt on trades unions, Corbyn, Abbot, Momentum, etc, etc.

I notice no-one has responded to my post where I point out that in 2016 the Jerusalem Post published a glowing article confirming that members of the US police force had arrived in Israel and were due to "participate in multiple "counter-terrorism" training exercises".

This apparent collaboration between the US and Israeli police authorities has now been denied by some of the organisations and publications that originally reported it and is now being referred to as a "conspiracy theory" but it is there in black and white in the Jerusalem Post.

No growstuff there has been thread after thread on this subject and there were those who consistently denied any antisemitism within the LP.The distinctions ( the State Of Israel) and being anti Jewish were all discussed time after time. Some posters just wouldn’t have it said.

Presumably those posters will change their minds when they read the report.

Eleothan I don't think it matters how much proof there is about the actions of Israel and the connections between their right wing government and other right wing authorities. The concept that anti-semitism is at the heart of all criticism of Israel is firmly rooted in the collective psyche. It is worrying for some of us and of course devastating for the Palestinian people.

I am on and off at the moment Eloethan and didn't see that post but it adds another layer to the issue.

I have to admit I don't find it easy getting my head round "tropes". Is it still a trope if it's true or only if it wasn't?

lemongrove

Presumably those posters will change their minds when they read the report.

I guess it depends what it says. I admit I'm still a little uncomfortable with some of the acts which have been deemed anti-semitic.

I don't regard criticism of Israel's annexation of parts of the West Bank as anti-semitic, but some people do because it's a criticism of Israel, the only explicitly Jewish state. Sorry, I don't buy that argument.

I have just come offline from a WhatsApp meeting of the activists from within my own Unite Union Branch. The main point of that discussion was the reformation and reorganisation of "Don't Leave Organise" which was a group that originally formed to promote the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader in 2014.

John McDonald called for the left in the Labour Movement to affiliate to the group following the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey last week and our today's activist meeting agreed that an affiliation motion to DLO should go forward to the next full Branch meeting on the 7th of July.

It is hoped that many of the very good activist organisers that did so well for the growth of Momentum will now transfer those skills to "Don't Leave Organise" especially as McDonald and Corbyn will be active in the group.

With Jon Lansman no longer on the Scene, it is felt that the "personality clash" that has been in existence between Corbyn and Lansman will now be no longer a problem in the advancement of the DLO group.

Of course, the grouping will require a main leadership figure, and a number of names were "bandied about" at the meeting. There are quite a number of Unite and other trade union activists online meetings are taking place today, therefore other names will obviously come into the frame.

So a fresh path seems to be emerging for the left in the Labour Party and wider movement with much to be debated on and achieved.

I would imagine the fresh path you might all be taking leads you into a deep, dark forest Grandad1943 where the echo chamber generated by your activist group will convince you all that you’re on the right road.

However, you’ll all be so distanced from the mainstream that the rest of us won’t hear you. Or vote for your protagonists.

Urmstongran, in regard to your post @19:50 today, who ever said the DLO group would be "protagonists" of any sort. I am sure that as the group
develops all will be all sweetness and light with the Parliamentary Party leadership.

However, one item that opinions were strongly expressed on was that Unite should not give any funding above the normal political levy to alleviate the oncoming financial insolvency the Labour Party is facing.

The above situation has been entirely created within the party and therefore it should be by large scale economies and reorganisation carried out by the executive within the Labour Party that secures Labours finances it was felt.

As the compensation claims by employees and former employees for negligence in employers duty of care are estimated to be in the region of six to seven million without the cost of fines etc added to that figure. I could not see how just reorganisation and economies can possibly rectify that position.

Still, we shall see Urmstongran.

The next few months are going to be very interesting it seems Grandad1943!

For anyone who, like me, hadn’t heard of “Don’t Leave Organise” www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/26/keir-starmer-faces-backlash-from-leftwing-mps-over-rebecca-long-bailey-sacking?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

“Set up in the spring, the group says its aims include “to prevent any rightward drift that may occur within Labour under Keir Starmer”.“

“But Friday’s meeting underlines the fact that a well-organised leftwing caucus has been preparing to act as a focal point for dissent against Starmer’s leadership.“

No change there, then!

Thanks janeainsworth. It's disappointing to hear that they have apparently learnt nothing from the last election and are set to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Looks like another 4 years of Boris then.

I think you are crediting them with more power than they actually have chewbacca this is the last flailing against the dying of the light.

Lessons will not be learned.

Fair enough but they risk never being elected again and their legacy will be keeping the Tories in power for the foreseeable future and beyond.

janeainsworth -yes indeed, no change.

Eloethan, American police officers spent time in Glasgow to learn more about policing by consent, policing without firearms ( most of the time). It is common for various police forces to send representatives to forces in other countries for training purposes and exchange of ideas.

Why say it didn't happen then?

eleothan I think if you read my post page 1 25/6 18.14.

You might understand why RLB was asked to remove her tweet.

Anti-Semitic tropes are used by both extremes of the political spectrum. They are insidious, particularly where dog whistles are clearly understood by the audience.

I think we have to be vigilant in all areas of race hate and stamp down hard as soon as they appear.