A MESSAGE FROM VICE-CHAIR OF THE CENTRE LEFT GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE

Before I leave for Ireland today and a well-earned rest, I feel compelled to point out, as a Vice-Chair of the CLGA, that for this year's NEC election purposes it does not exist.
This is a great shame but I felt it needed clearing up as most CLPs will be circulated in the next couple of days with a leaflet from "Grassroots Labour." This is in fact the CLPD/Compass slate and it would have been helpful if they had used that tag .
The confusion needs to be sorted out as myself and Peter Kenyon of Save The Labour Party and the CLGA are not on the list. However, the other constituents of the CLGA are the LRC, STLP, Labour Briefing, Left Women's Network and the Socialist Youth Network.
All of the above have expressed their support for me and Christine Shawcroft.
I would urge all activists who want to be well represented to vote for Peter as he has done sterling work for many years - long before he was elected to the NEC.
Having cleared that up, I have a long jouney to the West of ireland and am packing my case. A good Bank Holiday to all.......

BLOOD BROTHERS

To say I'm angry is putting it mildly. While the ConDems cut fuel allowance, tax credits, welfare benefits and come out with the most reactionary Budget in decades we poor souls in the Labour Party witness the spectacle of a Labour leadership contest which has become a farce.
Remember all that hooey about it being a pluralist contest which would give everyone a chance to vote for candidates of all shades of opinion.
We might as well have cut to the chase three months ago because from beginning to end it has beena two-horse race.
The latest twist in this endless saga is that "leading left winger" Jon Cruddas has come out for David Miliband. The very same Jon Cruddas once touted as a future left-of-centre leader.
Now returned, strangely to the Blairite fold.
It beggars belief that anyone allegedly left-of-centre in the Party would back a candidate who wants more of the same policies which have consigned Labour to opposition. The same policies which will give Cameron a landslide at the next election because there is nothing whatsoever to distinguish David Miliband from CamClegg .
What is even more cynical is that it was Cruddas who enabled Diane Abbott to get on the ballot. Likewise David Miliband . Left cover for both while, obviously, the game was to deliver another Blairite leader.
Now you know and I know there is very little to distinguish any of the candidates who have a hope of winning from each other.
That said, a victory for David Miliband will be, symbolically, a disaster for all of us who want some semblance of change. So, like most people I know my second preference will go to Ed Miliband.
What angers me most of all is that the left were denied a chance to vote for the candidate of their choice - and have a real debate with a credible contender
These Machiavellian right-wingers not only denied John McDonnell the chance to get on the ballot, they are trying to ensure we have Blair Mark Two. UNITE has answered Cruddas's call by urging members and trade unionists to vote for Ed Miliband. They are right to do so.
But Jon Cruddas has blown whaetver left credentials he had ( and I never thought he had any anyway) right out of the water. Hobson's choice - but sadly our only one if we want to rescue Labour .

BROTHERS IN ARMS

I have been away in Whitby for a few days and come back to some important tasks before I head for Ireland on Saturday.
Task One was to get in touch with all the CLPs in the country for the NEC hustings.
Which i have now done and thanks for the messages of support I am getting.
As the final countdown begins for the Labour leadership, it is clear the final choice will be between the Miliband brothers.
David Miliband's latest statements confirm that if he becomes leader there will be no retrenchment from New Labour policy and he will go for the centre-right ground. It is therefore very important Miliband Senior is stopped in his tracks. I am sure we will all vote accordingly.

RAMSAY MAC WOULD BE PROUD....

But most Labour Party members are surely horrified - if not surprised - at the spectacle of Frank Field, John Hutton, Alan Milburn and David Blunkett all getting into bed with the ConDem "National Government" . Milburn and Hutton, arch-Blairite to the core, were inevitably going to jump ship as they quit Parliament the minute Opposition and the absence of fat Ministerial salaries went. Blunkett, centrist though he might have become, is rather more of a disappointment. The word loyalty clearly means nothing to these people in their pursuit of wealth, power and influence. The sad thing is that two of them are still, in name only, Labour MPs.

THE SUMMER'S GONE......

And all the leaves are dying.......which kind of fits the bill as far as this year is concerned.
My strategy for coping with what has been an awful year is to read copiously, sort the house out and indulge myself with nice food, beauty products irresistible to women of a certain age and keep on keeping on as much as I can but there is no denying as autumn fast approaches my mood is not a good one.
This week I was asked to do 1500 words for the Yorkshire Evening Post on Macmillan Cancer Support - very glad to be able to boost their PR fir the World's Biggest Coffee Morning in September but it is not a great way to stop thinking about how much people have to go through - and how the spectre of illness, once it has touched one's family, just does not go away.
Those who have not yet faced losing loved ones (lucky them) live life in a way which is irredeemable to anyone who has seen mortality. And what it means.
I find I am angry. Unreasonably so. A lot of the time. I wonder why humans are forced to go through unreasonable suffering when animals are humanely put out of their misery.
I sometimes also wonder what the point of life is - though I am very far from thinking that at some stage mine will not get better.
It has been hard at times to summon up the will for mundane tasks or mobilising myself politically. But I'm doing what I can because I know just crawling under the duvet will make me feel worse.
Having lost my mother, elder sister and now my dad to awful cancers, there is also the selfish fear of an inevitable fate that I will fall prey to similar.
Not being morbid, but realistic.
But there are good days too, and in time there will be more.
However, to anyone else out there also coping with bereavement, my fullest sympathies.

JIMMY REID AND KENNETH WILLIAMS

I meant to write something earlier in the week about Jimmy Reid.

It was hard to imagine him as an old man of 78 as to those of us who remember him wiping the floor with the ultra reactionary Kenneth Williams on Parkinson he will be forever the young and charismatic firebrand of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders.

In those days, chat shows were not just an excuse to plug the latest book, film or TV series. Parkinson on a Saturday night was a highlight for millions who liked the intelligent chat and star guests Parky was able to command.

One night the usual Hollywood contingent couldn't make it and the Carry On star began a tirade against trade unions and three weeks later he was invited back to debate with Reid. His performance was excruciating - Reid's was brilliant.

Jimmy Reid should have been a giant in the labour movement. He was a great orator, would ( after he left the Communist Party) indeed have been a great Labour leader but never got the breaks which would have taken him to high office. Right man. Wrong time. Sadly he shifted over the years, wrote an iffy column for the Daily Mirror, and joined the SNP some years ago.

But his contributions to the cause in the long years before were head and shoulders above most in the current political generation.

STRAW BACKS DAVID MILIBAND

The ludicrous nature of the PLP nominations process is again highlighted today as Jack Straw reveals he is voting for David Miliband.
The MP for Blackburn and former Home Secretary was among the band (including D Miliband himself) who gallantly rode to the rescue of Diane Abbott and got her on the ballot paper.
As the September 1 deadline for the ballot papers going out aproaches, one can only ask why?
Even on the left, the ranks are divided. I note with some surprise that the Irish Post has a double-page spread from Campaign Group member Linda Riordan explaining why she is voting for Ed Miliband
The irony is that the only MPs who are likely to vote for Diane are those who originally supported John McDonnell. And not all of those transferred their vote.
And some of those who did, like Linda, don't seem to be exactly supportive.
I think Diane will get a reasonable vote from the constituencies but she was set up at the outset by MPs who never had any intention of voting for her.
However thrilling it might have been at the outset to have been parachuted onto the ballot, I bet she's not feeling so euphoric now.
The sad fact is she has been used as a token nod to inclusive politics in a contest where the winner was always going to be white, male, and middle-class I don't think it's good enough. Next time, we have to do it better. And really mean what we say about being inclusive

NEC SUPPORTING STATEMENT

The LRC is backing two candidates for the NEC - myself and Christine Shawcroft.I'm going to be doing my best over the next few weeks to maximise my vote and give the left a real say in the elections. If you support my candidacy, please download the leaflet which is now on the LRC website and let's get our message out across the country.More here...

http://www.l-r-c.org.uk/files/LRC_susanpress.pdf

PAST LIFE

Today over to Manchester to collect a box of photos and family memorabilia.
Will i ever play the recorder again? Probably not. but I'm keeping it anyway along with tatttered exercise books and school reports. Were the 1960's another age? Seems that way, looking at the First Communion photos of 30-odd little girls in veils and white dresses. Most of whose names I can still remember. A far-off, innocent time.
Even my graduation photo is now 30 years old but I've hung it in the front room as a memento of times when university education did not put students in hock for the rest of their lives.
The Coalition's latest proposals for a graduate tax are nothing short of scandalous.They will mean fees will rocket through the roof.

WHY DIANE ABBOTT ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH

AT this stage in the game, I think most of us have made our minds up how we are going to vote in the leadership election. Some, I know, are not going to vote at all.

But I don't believe in paying £38 a year for the privilege of disenfranchising myself.

When the ballot papers arrive, I will cast my first preference for Diane Abbott and my second for Ed Miliband. and I will do so with no illusions whatsoever.

My vote for Abbott is to stop the left being humiliated. Her candidacy, however, was designed to ensure it.

An MP who had only two nominations after three weeks of campaigning was suddenly railroaded onto the ballot because of the real prospect of a credible left challenge.

As the grassroots clamour grew for John McDonnell to go on the ballot paper, so did Abbott's support in the PLP.

Mysteriously, people like Phil Woolas, Harriet Harman, Jack Straw appeared from nowhere and effectively - with the final vote from David Miliband - nailed a candidacy which they knew was no threat whatsoever to the status quo. And so it has proved.

At recent hustings, Abbott has agreed cuts have to be made (50 per cent rather than 60 per cent ) and ignored the socialist alternative of progressive taxation and nailing the tax dodgers .She has not impressed the grassroots outside London and many LRC members I know up here are simply cutting to the chase and backing Ed Miliband.

I will not do that.

Abbott's stance on Iraq, immigration and civil liberties distinguishes her from the rest

Buty had she really been interested in promoting the cause of Labour Left, she would have supported John McDonnell and done her best to get him on the ballot. He withdrew with dignity. The truth is he would not have had to withdraw at all if she had not stood at the eleventh-hour.

I don't think the Labour left will gain much in the long-term once the ballot papers have been counted. Those in the PLP who aided her appearance on the ballot will actually vote for others. The big trade unions have already swung behind Ed Miliband.

Reluctantly she will get my first preference. But don't expect me to be a cheerleader .

As LRC Secretary Andrew Fisher explains in this article, it could all have been so much better.

And once the contest is over, and Abbott is back on the sofa with Portillo, we will have to keep arguing the case for a real left alternative.

http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/only_a_socialist_vision_can_defeat_the_cuts/

NEC RUNNERS AND RIDERS

NEC member Peter Kenyon has outlined why this year there is no Centre Left Grassroots Alliance slate. but there will still be a plethora of people to vote for. On the centre. And on the left. The bottom line for me I suppose is whether candidates really are of the grassroots and will put in the work.
The LRC is officially supporting two candidates - Christine Shawcroft and myself. On a personal level, I will definitely be supporting Peter who has worked his socks off for the past two years on the NEC on behalf of ordinary members. At the end of the day it is down to all of us as individuals to maximise our vote and put forward the best case we can.
I don't know what the final tally of candidates is but it is likely to be more than 12. No-one can argue they don't have a fair choice.......

NEC NOMINATIONS

My thanks to the following 27 constituencies who have nominated me. During the pre-nomination period, I was almost wholly occupied with family illness so contacted not as many CLPs as I would have hoped to. That will change in the coming period.
Alyn and Deeside
Barnsley Central
Bournemouth West
Bradford South
Brentford and Isleworth
Brigg and Goole
Bristol East
Bury St Edmunds
Calder Valley
Cambridge
Cardiff South and Penarth
Christchurch
Hayes and Harlington
Hazel Grove
Hyndburn
Leeds Central
North Ayrshire and Arran
North West Hampshire
Peterborough
Portsmouth South
St Helens South and Whiston
Tooting
Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Warrington South
Weston Super Mare
Workington
Wyre and Preston

HOMES FOR LIFE

It was a throwaway few seconds on last night's Channel 4 News and I would have blogged straight afterwards but post-work exhaustion set in. But I still want it on record that David Cameron's plans announced for fixed term social housing rank as aming the most despicable ideas yet the ConDems have come up with.
Back in March we faced the painful task of handing back my dad's house to the housing association and I believe it's now occupied by a young family complete with new renovations and a satellite disc . Strange to think the place we knew as home for 35 years has gone but that's how it works. Or rather, should.
The idea people who are unable to afford to buy somewhere ( or maybe don't want to) should be kicked out is pretty disgusting. So much for Cam's concern about 'broken Britain.'
At a time when millions more homes are needed for social housing, he is proposing the very opposite. How compassionate. And how very Tory.

MONEY CAN BUY YOU SUPPORT......

On Saturday I got a txt message from Ed Miliband asking if I was supporting him. Being a realist, I clocked that Miliband Junior was not actually at that minute staring at his mobile anxiously waiting my reply. He gets his minions to do it from Labour Party records.
By way of contrast, in the current crop of NEC elections, I did my best to contact as many CLP Secretaries as possible, with no help, and no money, just a wodge of second-class stamps donated by a friend and a list of CLPs donated by a well-wisher. The rest I did for free on the internet.
A few notches up the scale, there is a bit of a hoo-hah over the money David Miliband has put into his campaign. Around £200,000 or thereabouts.
Diane Abbott is right today to complain at the unfairness of canddates being able to buy support, infleunce and possible power just because of rich supporters.
The Labour Party apparently put a "modest" cap of £156,000 on the amount each leasdership candidate could spend. No-one apart from D Miliband has remotely approached that figure.
His camp say loftily it's all AOK because he just happens to be someone who has so much popularity that the money pours in. Wrong. Miliband has rich supporters which the others don't.
In fairness, David Miliband would be in a pretty good position to take a pop at the leadership with or without pots of money. So whuy does he feel the need to blatantly smash the opposition with expensive mail-outs .
Far fairer for the Party to allow each person the same access to membership records, CLP secretaries , envelopes and stamps. And a level playing-field. This contest has turned into an American-style contest where money is in danger of deciding the result.