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.

TROOPS OUT CALL AT LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

One for Brighton delegates to watch........


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/sep/06/gordon-brown-afghanistan-pullout-motion

THE CENTRE-RIGHT GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE

I am , in a word, horrified that the Campaign For Labour Party Democracy -lynchpin of the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance - has thrown its weight behind Ellie Reeves.

For years, I have been going to Labour Party Conference and hearing people like Pete Willsman and Christine Shawcroft banging on about how bad the Blairites are and how they are "puppets" of the leadership. Well, bugger me because now they are asking us on the left to SUPPORT one of the biggest New Labour clones in the business.

Trade union lawyer Ellie Reeves is straight out of central casting. Articulate, middle-class, attractive, and obviously on her way to a safe Parliamentary seat. Actually, she doesn't need the help of the CLPD or anyone else to get onto the NEC.

So why are these alleged lefties giving her the time of day - and making themselves look bloody ridiculous in the process? Last year at Labour Party Conference the CLGA fought in vain to save contemporary resolutions. Who was one of the biggest cheerleaders in Bournemouth for their abolition? Step forward, er, Ellie Reeves. Ellie also told us 12 months ago that Gordon would be a "fantastic" Prime Minister and Leader. Clearly also a woman of great political acumen. Frankly, CLPD should be ashamed of itself. In backing Reeves, it has also become a "puppet" of the New Labour leadership. But she won't be getting my vote, nor that I wager of many others in the LRC.

LEFT UNITED IN OPPOSITION TO CONFERENCE CHANGES

Some stirrers on the right of the Party are trying to suggest that the LRC is somehow isolated , indeed "hysterical" in its opposition to Gordon Brown's proposals to render Party Conference utterly ( as oppose to only semi) impotent. This is , of course,utter rubbish.
On Tuesday night, the LRC, CLPD and Save The Labour Party staged a joint fringe meeting on the theme of Saving Labour Party Conference. I understand about 80 people attended. The special supplement of Briefing brought out over the summer explained cogently and in measured terms why the Brown document would take away, not extend, Party democracy. I quote.
"During the Blair years, Conference managed to pass some policies which were in opposition to the government line, most notably on the "fourth option" for council housing.Brown (having been moved to act on housing by the strength of feeling at Conference) is desperate to ensure his Government will suffer no such upsets.
"If the Brown proposals were really about democratising the Party, we would be having a debate between the various rules amendments promoted by CLPD and the LabOUR Commission. These include pushing for CLPs and affiliates to have rights to amend NPF documents at Conference and for Conference resolutions to override NPF documents ."
And Kelvin Hopkins MP also gets it absolutely right in the latest CLPD newsletter:
"The centralisation of power within the Party has seen a mass haemhorraging of members and the hollowing out of the Party's internal political activity. To see oceans of empty chairs at Conference,with visitors invited down from the gallery to fill up the gaps and lsten to boring speeches prepared by Party apparatchiks ( and delivered by New Labour delegates being groomed for slotting into safe Labour seats) illustrates the utter contempt with which the New Labour leadership regards the Party and its grassroots membership." And, if Brown gets his way, it will be even worse....