Rebecca Long Bailey sacked by Keir Starmer

Ah, now the whataboutery begins....

Wrong question Trisher.
6 million Trades Union Members or the proportion of the 45 million electorate needed to get Labour into power?

What use is it Keir Starmer having the support of the Trades Unions members if the rest of the electorate are alienated because they perceive, rightly or wrongly, that the leader of the party is merely doing the Trades Unions‘ bidding and doesn’t have the interests of ‘the many’ in their view?
(Jenrick’s behaviour is indefensible, and reprehensible, but he isn’t the subject of this thread.)

Over 6 mill TU members or a few millioaires was the question I asked janeainsworth

Trisher Sorry, I thought the thread was about Rebecca Long-Bailey and the Labour Party.

I’ll go and look for one about corruption in the Tory Party - perhaps you could start one.

This was part of an article in the Jerusalem Post (by DANIEL K. EISENBUD SEPTEMBER 9, 2016):

" US police delegation visits Israel to learn counter-terrorism techniques, hold 9/11 ceremony

We’re involved in a global war on terror, and we need to work together and build solidarity between law enforcement officers from around the world,’ says US officer.

"Citing Israel’s pre-eminence in counter-terrorism – and the fact that it is the only country outside the United State to have a 9/11 memorial honoring every victim – a US police delegation said it wanted to visit the country on the 15th anniversary of the attack.

"Fifty-two officers from seven states arrived on Wednesday for one week to train with multiple units, visit the new state-of-the-art police academy in Beit Shemesh, and hold a ceremony at Jerusalem’s 9/11 memorial on Sunday………..

"During their stay, the US officers will reside at the Beit Shemesh academy, where they will participate in multiple counter-terrorism training exercises, and meet with Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich, Zeitak said……..

“We had demonstrations on different ways they stop vehicles with terrorists, different fighting techniques, including Krav Maga, and how to utilize it, and how they use multiple tactics,” he said, adding that the academy is on par with the finest US federal law enforcement facilities…………

"The delegation includes male and female officers from New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado, California and Nevada.
Moreover, despite international criticism, Floyd cited Israel’s law enforcement’s ability to protect citizens and provide security while protecting “the rights and freedoms of the people that live here, just as we want to do in the United States.”

Yet the Spectator, and other news outlets, claim:

"As Amnesty itself admitted, the programs that took American officers to Israel were for ‘police chiefs, assistant chiefs, and captains’. Amnesty’s report contained no evidence that American officers received any information, let alone ‘training’, from their Israeli peers on relevant matters such as the militarising of the American police, targeting minorities for traffic stops and minor violations, or using deadly force in routine encounters."

There seems to have been a revision of what actually took place and now, apparently, saying that US police officers received training in Israel equates to being anti-semitic. If the people who attended received some sort of training, what was the point of demonstrating such techniques if they were not to be considered and possibly implemented in the US?

I agree with granddad that the Labour Party should have a strong relationship with the trades union movement but that should not be the sole focus of the party. In the past, trade union members and their leaders were much like every other part of the establishment, that is not particularly supportive of women or mindful of the rights of other countries and ethnic groups. I think that has changed but other perspectives and interests still need to be considered. Trades unions tend to support anything that provides or maintains jobs, even if it might be considered to be detrimental to human life and/or the wellbeing of the planet - eg a country's reliance on the arms industry for providing jobs and profits.

Ramblingrose22, there is just one problem in regard to your above post @20:30 today. The trades unions, the Labour Party and the Parliamentary Labour party (PLP) are all integral sectors of the Broader Labour movement in the country

In the above, the Labour Party was born out of the trades unions over one hundred years ago, and those unions have continued to fund the PLP throughout those years.

In the last forty years those union members have received nothing from a continuously squabbling PLP, and even when the Party was in government Blair did not repeal even one sector of the fifteen anti-trade union acts brought forward by successive Tory Governments.

In the above, is it any wonder that those trade unions are not prepared to see their organisations and their elected members within the Labour Party structure pushed to one side by a right-wing establishment. In the foregoing, it is alleged that establishment used the trade union funding received by it to act against an elected party leader even to the extent of working against a victory in a general election.

Therefore, it is obvious that the trade unions relationship with the Parliamentary Labour Party has now reached an all time low and cannot, i believe, continue in the manner that it has in recent years. The PLP could go its own way outside of the wider Labour movement, or it could agree to undertake major reform and once again take up its place and responsibilities as a sector of the wider Labour Movement.

The choice has to be made, or made for them.

janeainsworth who funds the Conservative party? Is it just a puppet of rich men/ Does it represent the interests of the country as a whole or just a few rich individuals? Well that's obvious. £12000 buys you planning permission and saves you £45 mill.
There are over 6mill trade union members and that seems a bit better than a few millionaires.

So Grandad - are you saying that the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition should be a mere puppet, to do the bidding of the Trades Unions?
Does the Labour Party seek to represent the interests of the country as a whole, or just those citizens who happen to belong to a Trade Union?

So there we have it.

A "large section of the Labour movement"- i.e. the trade unions - who can pull the financial strings of the Labour Party and the billionaire donors to the Tory party who can influence planning decisions that professional planners had turned down.

We need better and transparent funding arrangements for political parties, which could take years.

In the meantime, I doubt if Keir Starmer regrets his decision to sack RLB or that he would allow himself to be blackmailed by the trade unions to reverse his decision.

It would probably not be in the trade unions' interests to pull the plug on their financial contributions to the Labour Party. It would look bad and will do nothing to help them to secure the improvements they wish to see in workers' rights, which look set to only get worse due to leaving the EU and now the pandemic.

Blackmail is a dirty deed

janeainsworth

What if Keir Starmer (note spelling please Grandad) hadn’t sacked RLB?
He, and the rest of the Labour Party, would have been accused of propagating and endorsing dangerous fake news.
He had no choice if he wanted to gain the trust and support of the electorate.

janeainsworth in regard to your above post, I will repeat a section of a post I made in this thread earlier.

That being, Starmer is seeking the approval of an electorate that cannot have any influence on the governance of this country for in all probability the next four years.

However, Starmer has fallen out with a large section of the Labour movement that will have a huge say on if the Parliamentary Labour Party is going to financially survive over the next twelve months.

Kate Green, OBE

I read that she was head of the Child Poverty action group.

Why was she awarded the OBE?

Urmston - I wondered if you'd have knowledge of your MP. She's a new one to me but, a group I'm on has a number of her constituents, all like you, impressed by her. She has, they say, a good rep in supporting families with children who have special educational needs - excellent.

What if Keir Starmer (note spelling please Grandad) hadn’t sacked RLB?
He, and the rest of the Labour Party, would have been accused of propagating and endorsing dangerous fake news.
He had no choice if he wanted to gain the trust and support of the electorate.

From the Guardian:
“The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has appointed Kate Green MP as his new shadow education secretary.

The Stretford and Urmston MP replaces Rebecca Long-Bailey, who was sacked from the opposition frontbench this week.

Starmer said: “I’m delighted to appoint Kate Green as shadow education secretary. Kate has spent a lifetime campaigning against child poverty and educational inequalities.”

She is our local MP. whenever I’ve spoken to her I’ve been impressed.
?

Absolutely right varian.

Whatever you think about Starmer, there is no doubt that he could make the Labour Party electable in a way Corbyn never could.

Kate Green has been appointed the new shadow education
Secretary

Another good post ramblingrose

It's early days for Starmer and I believe he would prefer to run a unified Labour Party despite comments here that his sacking of RLB proves otherwise.

I am not saying that he has impressed me with everything he has said and done. For example I was disappointed that he welcomed the recent relaxation of the lockdown restrictions without adding any sort of caveat like "if social distancing can be maintained and properly enforced". But I only saw a brief excerpt on TV of what he said and I haven't looked at Hansard to see all that he said.

I am eagerly awaiting the ECHR report on how antisemitism was dealt with under Corbyn's leadership and its recommendations and also the results of the investigation into who leaked the internal report about the response to be given to the ECHR.

These will help to expose who inside the Labour Party is really trying to bring the party and the PLP to the brink of disaster.

Whitewavemark2

Starmer approval rating within the Labour Party is also increasing, with words like insightful, commanding, admiral, confident and assured used to describe him by his large majority if backers.

You mean the right in the Labour Party Whitewavemark2. You know the same people that have brought the PLP to the brink of the disaster it now faces.

Starmer approval rating within the Labour Party is also increasing, with words like insightful, commanding, admiral, confident and assured used to describe him by his large majority if backers.

lemongrove

That’s true enough Grandad but a new leader has to start as he means to go on.The money issue will be solved, there is no will for a split within the LP.

lemongrove, the trade unions have received nothing whatsoever from the Parliamentary Labour Party in the last forty years. The Blair and Brown administrations did not revoke one section of the anti-trade union acts brought in by Tory government throughout their entire twelve years in office despite all the funding received from those unions during that period.

If anyone believes that those unions will stand back and watch the same occur again under Starmer, I would very much inform them they should think again.

That’s true enough Grandad but a new leader has to start as he means to go on.The money issue will be solved, there is no will for a split within the LP.