ON BALLOT FOR NEC!

In the past few days I have had notification of nominations from Tooting, North Arran and Ayrshire, Bristol East , Warrington South and St Helen's South. I hope more will follow but the good news is I'm now on the ballot! Thanks to all. Update: Weston, Brentford and Isleworth and Hayes and Harlington now added to list.....

JUNE 25 2010

This is my dad almost one year ago at his grand-daughters' graduation. He died today after a long struggle against cancer. Brave brave spirit. His funeral will be on his 90th birthday. And - for the moment - I'm not sad. I'm proud of him. I will get back to the politics ( as he would want) soon

DIRTY TRICKS

I won't be blogging for a little while,But before I head off for Manchester this morning I will draw your attention to Peter Kenyon's entirely accurate assessment of the dirty tricks which have been perpetrated by the Campaign For Labour Democracy in undermining two years of negotiations on the slate by issuing a self-styled Grass Roots Labour leaflet excluding both myself and Peter from the list of names. I would like to thank the individual who sent me all the CLP addresses which I have been trying to work my way through. The work will go on.
In the meantime please try and get me as many nominations as possible. The LRC's two candidates for the NEC are myself and Christine Shawcroft and Peter also deserves support and thanks for his hard work on the NEC.

FATHER'S DAY

My dad was a dignified and private person. He's currently in St Ann's Hospice in Heald Green, Manchester, and about to die. I want to thank all those who have supported me. It's bloody hard. I promise one thing. To carry on his bolshie tradition. John Press I salute you. And I will never let you down.............I love you very much. And I will carry on fighting for the socialist values you believed in. To the end.

NEC CAMPAIGN- GAME ON!

I want to thank delegates at tonight's GC for nominating me to go forward to NEC ballot. I know not everyone shares my politics but I also know that the Labour Party has a renewed vision and belief in the importance of everyone having their say and in uniting against the ConDems.
I plan to work as hard as I can to get as many nominations as I can .
But my greatest joy is knowing that we're all going to work as hard as we can in Calder Valley to see the Tories off. And we will be working together......

BLOODY SUNDAY

The Savile enquiry has conceded the deaths of 14 innocent victims were "unjustifiable." And David Cameron has apologised. Some may say what is the point of all this so long after the event - but to the families who have lived so long with so much grief that will be some comfort in the conclusions.
I was 14 on the day in question and remember it well as I had gone round to my grandmother's . She cried her eyes out as we watched the news in stunned silence on her little black-and-white TV. The image I will always remember is the priest who bravely risked his life trying to save those who had been shot. It was clear something terrible had occurred.
Awful things happened during the Troubles. This was one of the worst.
However much the inquiry cost, if it helps heal the scars of decades it will be worth it.

STANDING UP FOR THE GRASSROOTS....

Have just about recovered from a long day yesterday down to London and back for the Compass conference where the lrc/Labour Briefing had a packed fringe meeting. with speakers John McDonnell and economist Graham Turner, who ariculately and impressively argued the left case against the cuts..
Compass, along with the Fabians, LRC and Save The Labour Party organised a massive e-mail campaign to ask the Party leadership to enable all six declared candidates to stand.
In the event, the only reason there were five was because one candidate stood down and there was then the shambolic sight of last-minute horse-trading which had nothing at all to do with Party democracy - and everything to do with face-saving amid the prospect of four fortysomething male candidates with very similar policy ideas.
We are better off with five than four - but it should have been the case that Party members were not effectively vetoed by the PLP. And it must never happen again.
My guess is the rules will indeed be looked at - and that will happen because of the grassroots campaign which made it clear what loyal Labour Party people wanted.
What is rather sad in all this is that only two members of the NEC put pressure on to change the nomination threshold . They were Peter Kenyon and Christine Shawcroft (pictured with me at last year's briefing AGM)
It is my belief that it is the job of all six constituency representatives to act in the interests of ordinary members. Which is why I am standing for the NEC.
Two years ago, my constituency, Calder Valley, did its level best to get that threshold changed at Labour Party Conference. We failed because we were not backed by the big unions. One hopes they have now changed their view. And that the overwhelming call for an end to the stifling of Party democracy which tarnished the Blair years will now be supported by whoever is the new Leader.

THANKS FOR ORGANISING......

I want to thank all the Party members, LRC supporters and socialists who tried so damned hard to get all six candidates on the leadership ballot.
MPs were lobbied , urged by organisationms from the Fabians to Compass and the LRC to allow a free, frank and honest debate on Labour's future.
Yer nearly 80 Mps chose to (needlessly) nominate David Miliband and nearly 60 his younger brother. Ed Balls, to his credit, did not seek any more nominations after reaching the 33 required.
As Dianne Abbott herself said, the threshold was upped from the original five per cent to 12.5 per cent to keep the left out.
The only reason she is on the ballot is down to the selflessness of John McDonnell in withdrawing - and some last-minute horse-trading.
It is not to the credit of the PLP or the NEC that things have worked out this way. They simply did not listen to the views, not just of ordinary Party members, but to major trade unions like UNITE , the GMB and CWU.
I know there are many thousands of disappointed left Labour Party mmebers out there. I urge you all to support Diane Abbott as first preference and make sure theleft gets a creditable vote. But let's not forget either how she got there. And how wrong it is that a candidate supported by thousands of grassroots trade unionists and socialists will not be on the ballot paper.

LETTER FROM JOHN McDONNELL

Dear Comrades

I am writing to let you know that I have withdrawn from the Labour Party leadership race this morning.

I stood for the Labour leadership as the candidate of the Left and trade union movement so that there could be a proper debate about Labour’s future in which all the wings of the party were fully represented. It is now clear that I am unlikely to secure enough nominations and so I am withdrawing in the hope that we can at least secure a woman on the ballot paper.

We came into this campaign knowing that it would be really difficult to obtain sufficient nominations but we knew we had to try. The support we received from rank and file party members and from trade unionists was just overwhelming but we still could not overcome the barrier of gaining sufficient support from Labour MPs.

I appealed to the party leadership to lower the qualifying bar to allow all the candidates on the ballot paper. It was perfectly possible within the existing rules for this to be done. Reducing the bar to 5% would have allowed all the declared candidates to get on the ballot paper and the Party to have a full and open debate about its future direction. The party hierarchy refused and instead threw its weight behind one candidate.

I know that many Labour activists and trade unionists will be disappointed.

I want to thank you for all your hard work in lobbying and campaigning to secure sufficient nominations to get me on the ballot paper. You could not have worked harder.

I am urging everyone to continue the fight for democracy within the party so that in future elections rank and file members will be represented by the candidate of their choice.

We must also now throw our energies into the campaign to resist the cuts that the Coalition government is launching against our community. Providing
leadership in this struggle is critically important in this coming period. We will be convening rallies and demonstrations and linking up with trade union action to resist the cuts. Let’s rise to this challenge.

Yours in solidarity,

John McDonnell MP

15 NOMINATIONS FOR JOHN McDONNELL

Thanks to: Linda Riordan, Katy Clark, Jeremy Corbyn, Ian Lavery, Jim Dowd, Frank Field, Kate Hoey, Dai Havard, Graeme Morrice, Dennis Skinner, Mike Wood, Ronnie Campbell and John Cryer.
It is surely now time for Dianne Abbott to consider standing down. Or for the NEC to do the decent thing and alow all six on ballot.

KENNY EVERETT MAKES THATCHER LAUGH - LET'S THROW MICHAEL FOOT'S STICK AWAY!

Those shedding tears re Thatcher should watch this...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcSmnBfMhRE

JOHN McDONNELL APOLOGISES FOR THATCHER JOKE

To put a bit of perspective on this, a friend of mine is set to quit the Labour Party if John McDonnell doesn't make the ballot. Thousands of people have joined Labour to vote for change.
There will not be change if all the candidates share the same politics,
For decades, the press has hounded Labour politicians. The distortion of John's comments from a jocular quip - which caused no offence - to a trade union audience into a full-on media bashing is regrettable but typical of the tactics of the right.
It is now also being used by rival supporters to try and persuade John to stand down.
Gaffes litter political history. Aneurin Bevan sparked outrage when he said at a rally back in the 1930's that the Tories were "lower than vermin." There were calls for him to be thrown out of the Labour Party. Ken Livingstone got into bother with the Evening Standard. And then there's Boris Johnson's remarks about Liverpool. Liam Byrne....... the list goes on. It happens
The people who are getting so upset about this particular remark, for which McDonnell has now apologised , shoukd recall the upset Thatcher caused to millions of working people, her ruthless destruction of the trade union movement, and her callous disregard for the millions on the dole.
Those calling for John McDonnell's head also need to get a grip - and focus on what matters, Which is the future of the Labour movement - and a concerted campaign against the cuts which look set to whisk us back in that time-machine to the 1980's. Thatcher or no Thatcher. If you want a reminder, she is visiting Downing Street today.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10263076.stm

TRAMP THE DIRT DOWN....

The Tory blogosphere is currently in uproar about a throwaway remark made by John McDonnell about Margaret Thatcher.
I would like to remind those blowing a gasket over what was basically a quip at a trade union hustings that Thatcher "assassinated" the NUM, the trade union movement, the hopes of millions on the dole, and indeed the Labour Party as a Government for 18 long years.
I would also remind those frothing at the mouth that it was the late not so great Kenny Everett who inspired hysterical laughter at a Tory rally when he urged the Party faithful to "bomb Russia" and throw away Michael Foot's stick. My guess is that, like John, he did not expect to be taken literally. But the Tory press will of course use any stick to beat the left with. Their apoplexy is nonsensical.

CENTRE LEFT GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE SLATE

It would appear that a leaflet is being circulated from something and someone calling itself "Grassroots Labour" . It erroneously suggests there are only six candidates aiming to be on the CLGA slate. The perpetrators of this leaflet have clearly learned a lot from their years observing the shenanigans of New Labour because in fact as they know there are EIGHT candidates trying to get official backing from the CLGA. The list also includes myself and Peter Kenyon of Save The Labour Party who to be frank has done far more for "grassroots Labour" than most people on the NEC. In recent weeks his voice has been one of the loudest calling for a change in the rules to enable all six leadership candidates on the ballot. In this he was backed by Christine Shawcroft, who like myself is backed by the LRC, Left Women's Network, Campaign for Socialism , Socialist Youth Network and Labour Briefing. I will be asking my CLP to give its backing to Christine and Peter and urge others to do the same. In the next few days I will also be sending a statement to all CLP secretaries in the country.

WE MIGHT JUST MAKE IT - WITH HELP FROM UNITE

Thanks to Alex for this report from UNITE conference


http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2010/06/04/brothers-stand-fast-against-a-“grand-coronation-”-alex-halligan-reports/

DIANNE ABBOTT - SO MUCH FOR DIVERSITY

Labour's Acting Leader Harriet Harman today called for 50 per cent of the Shadow Cabinet to be women. a measure, to be frank, I do not agree with.
Why? Because I happen to think political principles are far more important than gender and also because the current parlous state of diversity and democratic choice is not being supported by the people in the PLP who seem hell-bent on ensuring neither left candidate is on the leadership ballot paper.
As Dianne Abbott points out here, the current rules are a disgrace. And, yes, it is a worse disgrace that thanks to a gerrymandering procedure dreamed up to keep the left out neither she, not fellow left contender John McDonnell, is likely to be able to meet a threshold set ridiculously high.If Ed Miliband supports Harman's call for equality of opportunity he should put his money where his mouth is and tell male supporters to lend nominations.
In the interests of all of us, male and female, in the Labour Party.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7143741.ece

MEACHER BACKS ED MILIBAND. WHY?

Home from dispensing Labour Party curries to the news that Michael Meacher has apparently backed Ed Miliband. For someone who has recently set up a new blog called Left Futures, this is a profoundly disappointing and irritating move which most of us still fighting for a representative ballot simply will regard as a slap in the face.
Even Ed himself is , I understand, asking supporters not to nomate him as he does not need any more support. Meacher, at the very least, would have been expected to support one of the left candidates if he is to claim any credibility . My guess was he would have lent support to Dianne Abbott.Instead, he's flying in the face of a broad consensus that we need all six on the ballot.In short, it is an unnecessary and seriously unhelpful decision. Bad call, Michael

UNITE BACKS McDONNELL ON THE BALLOT

PRESS NOTICE:FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Unite conference overwhelmingly adopts motion calling for all declared candidates on ballot for Labour leadership election

Following a packed fringe meeting at which John McDonnell spoke, an emergency resolution was put before the Unite conference in Manchester this morning and was overwhelmingly carried calling upon Labour MPs to nominate to ensure all candidates are on ballot paper.
The resolution follows statements of support for John McDonnell's candidacy by a large number of delegates.
Union delegates argued that having a full range of candidates on the ballot paper would give their union members a democratic say over the future of the Labour Party.
The point was forcefully made in the debate that without John on the ballot paper, union members from the Party's largest affiliate would be denied a democratic voice in this election.
John McDonnell MP said:“I’m hoping that Labour MPs will listen to the members of our largest affiliated organisation and nominate so that all declared candidates are on the ballot paper and that trade union members will be given a proper choice.”-Ends-

ONE VOTE MILIBAND - THANKS FOR NOTHING

The other day David Miliband was quoted as desiring " the more the merrier" in the leadership contest. And thousands of grassroots members and trade unionists - from the Fabians to the FBU- have expressed their wish all six should be there.
Today, the actual truth is revealed - if any of the other three make it to 32 he will, in great magnanimity, give them his vote.
With nearly 70 nominations from the PLP. Miliband senior has no need of any more support.
The sad fact is he has ignored the wise counsel that a full and free debate is the one Party members want. If we end up with only three or four) on a ballot thanks to a system deliberately designed to keep the left out and if MPs veto the candidates many of us want to then there will be widespread anger and much incredulity that one so allegedly gifted and politiically savvy can be so stupid and short-sighted.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jun/02/miliband-nominee-leadership-ballot-labour

GUARDIAN SAYS -LET IN THE LEFT!

Labour leadership race: Let in the left
Are Messrs Balls, Miliband and Miliband really best placed to force each other to think afresh?

During the month of May, Labour made two moves to encourage a full-blooded leadership contest – deferring the ballot until September, and extending a deadeningly early deadline for nominations. Both decisions were shrewd because, as the contenders today make plain on our pages, the battered party has a great deal to discuss. It is troubling that much of it may go unsaid, because the two candidates offering the clearest critique of what went before look unlikely to make it on to the ballot paper.
The online nominations ticker last night recorded the leftwingers John McDonnell and Diane Abbott with the backing of six MPs and one respectively. Even if they pool their efforts, as they certainly should, they will probably fail to reach the hurdle of 33 which must be cleared before ordinary members get a say. The pair can sound naive in characterising public opinion, but on specific issues such as ID cards, Iraq and tax their arguments do not merely resonate on Labour's radical fringe, but across swaths of middle England. Perhaps particular policies are less important than the character of a leader. It is certainly true that old Labour bickered over detailed plans while ignoring the need to win over the voters. It is equally true that previous Labour leaders have served the party creditably after studiously avoiding taking distinctive positions during the leadership race, Jim Callaghan's victory in 1976 being a case in point.
Callaghan, however, was strengthened by taking on and beating the leftists Tony Benn and Michael Foot. The prospect of someone called Ed or someone called Miliband prevailing over a namesake is a different proposition. As well as being close ideologically, the leading contenders are united in having spent their adult lives in greater Whitehall. The words that tend to litter their speech – progressive, reform and aspiration – are words seldom heard beyond its borders. None of this is to demean Messrs Balls, Miliband and Miliband, each of whom has an impressive ministerial record and a decent claim to the crown. It is merely to question whether such similar figures are really best placed to force each other to think afresh. Will they, for example, push one another to admit that Iraq did not just "cost trust" but was also a mistake? Will they press each other to explain where they stand on proportional representation, or maintain collective ambiguity?
The Brown coronation was disastrous as it anointed a man without requiring him to define himself. All the leading candidates say they want to renew their party. How better to prove it than to lend their surplus nominations to Mr McDonnell, Ms Abbott and for that matter to the New Labour populist Andy Burnham? If renewal means anything, it is surely a truly open race.

JOHN MCDONNELL IN TODAY'S GUARDIAN

From the Fabians to the FBU, it is a truth now almost universally acknowledged that unless all the six decalred candidates for Labour leader get on the ballot the Party Establishment is set to make another huge mistake.
MPs have been coming under increasing pressure in the past few days not to nominate candidates who don't need any more support - and vote for their chosen preference when it comes to the crunch.
We shall see whether Mps are going to listen to the grassroots - or wilfully ignore the groundswell of support for real renewal - and a real debate. The next few days will tell whether or not we all start to work together again - or whether it is going to be a case of several candidates who basically all agree with each other. But whose views are not necessarily those shared by many in the Party and the trade union movement. John McDonnell argues the socialist case for Labour in today's Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/01/labour-leadership-hustings-john-mcdonnell

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/01/labour-leadership-hustings-john-mcdonnell