A CONVOCATION OF CASSANDRAS?

It's a lovely turn of phrase. the kind of thing I used to dream up in my days as a Diarist for the Manchester Evening News. However, today's piece in the Guardian on "Labour's Death Row" was a bit of a misrepresentation of the LRC "Not The Labour Party Conference" rally held on Monday night.
I see no point in pretending this was a major triumph. We got about 60 activists out in a very large ballroom where in previous years the numbers would have been in the hundreds.
The same was true of ALL events this year at Conference. Attendance was down, the mood was sombre.But unlike some events, the LRC rally told the truth. And it's dire.
For at least the past two years, and probably more, we have warned of a Government "sleepwalking to disaster" because it refuses to change direction.
Repeatedly, the LRC has outlined the policies needed to bring back voters. The need for honesty. The challenge of admitting some things were wrong - and that they needed to be put right. The People's Charter, endorsed at the TUC Congress, would be a bold step away from the likelihood of a Tory Government.
Instead, Conference saw speaker after speaker claiming we had a "great story to tell" and that somehow we could win back voters' trust by repeating the same tired old mantras. And hoping that past policies would somehow transmogrify into present day successes.
But the game is up. And, much as I loved the pictures of Tony Woodley tearing up the Sun on stage, the truth is that the union leaders have colluded in the conspiracy of denial which is seemingly, inevitably, leading to a General Election defeat.
As Mark Serowtka said on Monday night, Gordon Brown could still come back from the brink of disaster by taking on the bankers, rallying round the public sector workers, scrapping the Sun-led agenda , and fessing up that it's time to turn left in the interests of the vast majority of working-class people. Instead, the spin doctors thought that wheeling on the wife to tell everyone how great Gordon is would somehow turn things round.
Now the vile Sun newspaper has ditched Labour, perhaps those in the Downing Street bunker will realise it is five minutes to midnight and they have one last chance to claw back from the abyss. If they don't, as Alan Simpson put it, Gordon Brown is a "dead man walking" And in 12 months time, when we gather in Manchester, the numbers will be even more decimated - and we will be in Opposition

GORDON'S SPEECH- WHAT HE DID NOT SAY

I listened today with some care to Gordon Brown's speech. It was crafted meticulously - he is no Tony Blair ( thank God) but he did it well. If you listened to the rhetoric there was little anyone would disagree with. Much to applaud too. More aid to the developing world, past achievements like the cutting of NHS waiting lists, more nursery care, , scrapping of compulsory ID cards, and then the undoubted truth that a Labour Govt is better than a Tory one.
But,unlike Eddie Izzard, I was not in tears. Because you see good as things sound they could be so much better. Labour cuts because it has to, said Brown. The Tories because they want to. I do not doubt the latter statement. The end result, as far as the public sector is concerned, will however be the same. And Labour COULD make cuts which many of us would cheer to the rafters.
Cuts in tax to the low-paid, cuts in expenditure on Trident ( cut all of it) . Cuts in defence expenditure in Afghanistan ( by bringing the troops home).Cuts in subsidies to the private sector.
We could also reap rich rewards to the economy by cracking down seriously on the tax dodgers and bankers in the City, attract thousands of votes via a mass house-building programme. And maybe even more as winter beckons by stopping the rank profiteering of the private utilities. By taking them back into public ownership.
Couching what is a basic acceptance of the capitalist crisis bail-out - without radical solutions - and couching it in quasi-socialist rhetoric is clever strategy . It may even be sincere. But the British people ( to use a Gordon Brown phrase) see little difference between us and the Tories. Clear red water could only help in giving us a fighting chance at the Election.
And please in future years can we be spared Leader's partners waxing lyrical at the rostrum. I do not doubt Sarah Brown adores her husband. It is very little to do with the business of running the country.It may have been lapped up by the Party faithful. The wider general electorate find such stunts rather manipulative......
As I pack my bags for Hebden Bridge I suppose my abiding memory of this conference will be its funereal ambience, the low-key security, the general air of resignation. And if, in 12 months time Labour has secured a jaw-dropping victory well yes I will be happy to be proved wrong. I think those who predict Labour will die at the next election are wrong, too. The truth, I suspect, will be somewhere in between. And we will battle on.......

HAS LABOUR LEARNED TO LOVE MANDY?

I was not in the conference hall for Mandelson's speech - not excactly on the top of my to do list yesterday. But according to reports I have had from those who were, he was received rapturously.
Delegates who have been missing Blair's bravura performances were no doubt entranced to see another great political vaudeville act. But thousands more in the Party continue to fight Mandelson's privatisation plans and "intensely relaxed" attitude towards the rich.
Tomorrow, the leadership will ty and quell hopes of making the elections to the National Policy Forum OMOV and are trying to pressurise the unions to cave in. Let's hope for once the unions stick to their guns - and their promises to the grassroots.
Mandelson's message may have been slick and assured. However, at last night's LRC rally MPs John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn and Katy Clark spelt out a rather starker message. Which is this - unless every MP goes out into their constituencies and holds true to the policies which help our core voters - and continues to fight within the Party for them - we face oblivion. My thanks too, to the young delegate from Brighton Pavilion, a staunch campaigner for Nancy Platts, who was so cheered up by the fact at last he'd bumped into some socialists here in Brighton. There are not, amid the suits and boots, many of us around.......

FIN DE SIECLE.....

The flags fluttering in the Brighton air are significantly devoid of the New Labour brand. Too late I fear. Two days into the Labour Party Conference and the mood is very much fin de siecle......there is much brave talk and yesterday new PPCs were rolled on stage and rightly applauded for their commitment to the battle ahead. But most sense it is already lost. However as a regional Party organiser said to me this morning we just have to fight on.
And I have a question for the SWP hordes who hijacked yesterdays trade union demo for "Jobs, Education and Peace" They brought their own banners, they " Ragesd against New Labour. They shouted "Labour Out".....What exactly do they think is going to be the scenario in a year's time......Do they really prefer the Tories?

LEFT EVENTS AT LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

I will be heading off to Brighton at the end of the week for Labour Party Conference:
The following events are musts for activists:

Saturday September 26: Convention Of The Left, Brightelm Centre, Brighton:
10.30am-5pm Speakers include Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, and Prem Sikka from LEAP.

Grassroots Umbrella Network: 4.45pm onwards, UMI hotel ( previously Belgrave) .A chance for Labour Left delegates and activists to get together and discuss contemporary issues, getting contemporary motions restored......and emergency motions on the agenda.

Sunday September 27: Labour Against The War: 7pm, Friends Meeting House, Brighton.Speakers Alan Simpson MP, Christine Shawcroft, NEC

Monday September 28. LRC "Not The Labour Party Conference" 7pm, Ramada Jarvis, Brighton.

THE PARROT ISN'T DEAD

Derek Simpson asserts that New Labour is as dead as Monty Python's parrot. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Far from it. Indeed he is as guilty as anyone else in colluding with the right-wing machine which is still very much in control of the Labour Party.

The rhetoric Simpson cranks up every year at Conference time, however amusing and astute it may be, only translates in real terms into unconditional support for the Brownite wing of the Party. Ed Miliband is touted by Simpson as the best hope for Labour. Who will it be next year.......

Far from backing the Left, UNITE and its 'political officer, Charlie Whelan, runs a tight Parliamentary ship which backs candidates who are often as far from "old Labour" as you can possibly imagine. And, according to my contacts in the union, it also does its best to scupper the Parliamentary hopes of even its own left activists.

Six years ago in Bournemouth, I recall being greatly cheered at an angry meeting of the "Big Four" union leaders with the rousing theme of Get Labour Back.

Simpson and Woodley, who despite their personal animosity to each other share great public speaking skills, were cheered to the rafters as they pledged to re-claim the Party and do their damndest to bring it about. In my innocence, I believed every word.

In the years since, their stated opposition to Blairism has gone very little beyond jokes ( at which Simpson excels) about the" Blair witch project." In 2007, despite the talk of "not doing coronations in the Labour Party" Simpson 100 per cent backed Gordon Brown becoming Leader without a contest. Both Woodley and Simpson's calls for radical policy changes have largely been ignored.

Berating Mandelson and the other Miliband and making pointless pleas for Old Labour to return is playing to an increasingly empty gallery as Party members give in to apathy or despair at the prospect of annihilation at the General Election.

Yet, in Brighton in a couple of weeks' time, we will be treated to the same of script - with the same result.

In previous years, I've looked forward to the fringe gatherings, late-night arguments, and general bonhomie which almost cancels out the fact that Conference itself is a stage-managed farce.

This year, I expect there to be even less opposition , less Left delegates, and less reason for actually being there. The results of UNITE's supine support for the New Labour establishment will be seen at the General Election and in Manchester in 12 months' time we will be surveying the subsequent political wreckage. Maybe by then the parrot really will be dead - but it will be squawking all the way to the hustings. And how many Labour Party members will be around to witness its final demise?

NUJ BACKS DEMO AT LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE

See details on link below

http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1333

INTO THE REAL WORLD...

I'm far too tired and drained of adrenalin to write much today but just to note Brown's speech has been undermined completely by the leak of Ruth Kelly's resignation. The left often gets accused of treachery but the Blairites and right-wing are positively Machiavellian in their intrigue. How deeply dispiriting it all is.
By way of contrast, last night's Convention Of The Left meeting got around 250 people, enjoyed a sparky debate, and the mood in the pub afterwards where I stopped off briefly before getting train home was positively euphoric. Thanks to all the organisers, particularly John Nicholson, for inviting the LRC to take part. I know when we started out in January some people were sceptical the Labour Party still had socialists. Or that Labour Party lefties could work with others without falling out. Just one small point. Miles, stop asking when we're all going to up and leave the Labour Party. As Bob Griffiths said so pertinently, that route has already been tried quite a few times recently and it hasn't, er. worked.......

DON'T EXPECT THE UNIONS TO SAVE US

The Guardian's Helene Mulholland is at TUC Congress- today her blog suggests that some MPs reckon the only way that Brown will go is if the unions step in. She quotes an anonymous MP ( and I have no idea who it is) suggesting that is in fact the PLP's only hope of avoiding disaster. The plain fact is, they won't do it. Earlier today the Independent reported how Woodley, Simpson et al sat down for a cosy dinner with Brown (chicken tarragon and chocolate tart, sounds great... ) and were impressed with his conciliatory tone. Why won't they do it? Well, they loathe Milband (Simpson apparently called him a smug a******* at a Morning Star fringe meeting and they will not, either, swing behind a left candidate for the leadership. Sio what's the point because another new labour leader won't help us one jot.
They are, as Mrs Thatcher used to say, "frit." At Warwick, the unions had a REAL opportunity to make Brown and the NPF change policy direction. They blew it. So no matter how much they huster and bluster, I won't believe a word of it. The last time I believed Derek Simpson was at the Conference in 2006 when he publicly said " we don't do coronations in the Labour Party." Six months down the road he helped Gordon Brown step quite effortlessly to the throne. The trade union leaders are the architects of our misfortune - and they are even more cowardly than the PLP. At least some of the MPs occasionally rebel on principle. If Gordon is going to go, it really is down to the people in Westminster.

MESSAGE TO NEWS OF WORLD - CHECK YOUR FACTS

I have come to this late because I got home very late last night from London and have spent most of today to-ing and fro-ing from Manchester but it seems my journalistic colleagues on the News Of The World have picked up - inaccurately - a story about my constituency's resolution to annual Conference
Yesterday, the NoW reported that "rebels are plotting to hijack the Labour Party conference with a spectacular protest against Gordon Brown." It also stated a resolution backed by CLPs would aim to unseat Gordon Brown. Wrong on both counts. The resolution from Calder Valley states quite clearly that the proposition to lower the threshold is when THERE IS A VACANCY. It's been tabled in the interests of democracy and the interests of a proper, transpsarent debate. This, of course, is not exciting enough for the News Of The World so they have been economical with the truth - and told a fib. Let me be absolutely, 100 per cent clear.
This resolution aims to rectify the mistake made last year when there was not a contest - it is about giving all wings of the Party a say. It is NOT about" hijacking" anyone. But it might of course annoy New Labour.......

BACK ON DUTY

Very heartened by comradely messages . Thanks again.
Long day today backwards and forwards to Manchester but politically back on duty as managed to fit in crunch meeting of the Convention Of The Left. Only three weeks to go till this and of course Labour Party Conference. Where did the summer go.......now have to frantically catch up on stuff I should have done several weeks ago. Will report back more when I have fine tuned some thoughts tomorrow......

MOBILISE TO CHANGE THE RULES !

I am currently in the process of contacting several other CLPs who have tabled the following resolution on the leadership for Manchester 2008. Our constituency secretary will be writing, if possible, to every CLP in the country (please send me your details if you can) and as many trade union branches (ditto).What is this about?

Well, first off it's not about toppling Brown or stalking horses. This is a serious attempt to ensure that NEXT time round we have a leadership and deputy leadership contest in which all wings of the Party can participate. Which means left, right and centre. It would be utterly disingenuous, of course, to deny that it would not benefit someone like John McDonnell . But likewise Jon Cruddas, Alan Milburn, Charles Clarke, or whichever MP is left to stand after the next General Election or whenever.We sent this off a year ago (you have to wait two years to get rule changes debated)

But in the light of what has happened to the Party since then its appeal is clear and all-embracing. It is up to us, the grassroots, to ensure this resolution is debated, listened to and voted on. The rest of the Conference will be a talking-shop. This resolution could, literally, save the Labour Party from oblivion. Dull as it may sound.......My e-mail SsPre2@aol.com

Proposed rule change:4B Procedural rules for elections for national officers of the Party.Paragraph 4B.2b(1)Nomination reads as followsIn the case of a vacancy for leader or deputy leader, each nomination must be supported by 12.5 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void."Amendment: Delete 12.5 and insert 7.5

LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE PASSES

I have just spent a fruitless 30 minutes trying to find a way of downloading a Party Conference visitor application pass - but it seems this facility has disappeared from the official Labour website. As I've just invested £3.50 at the Post Office in a particularly hideous passport-type photo, and my digital images are not sufficiently grimacing according to the guidelines, I'm reluctant to apply online. And there must be lots more Party members who would prefer hard copy forms. But mpURL no can do it seems. Yet another way of ensuring it's as difficult as possible for ordinary members daft enough to still want to invest their hard-earned cash in this circus to actually get their credentials in time. If anyone does know a way of downloading a hard copy form perhaps they can let me know...........

FIGHT, FIGHT AND FIGHT AGAIN....

A poster suggests there may be a "purge" in the Labour Party. I think he (or she) means me. Which raises an interesting question. Exactly how would I feel if I were no longer in it?

Until fairly recently, it is no exaggeration to say I would have been distraught. Since 1976 I have been a Party member through thick and thin and since Iraq I have spent what most people would regard as a ridiculous amount of time tying to convince people to re-join and arguing the case for staying in and fighting.

I still subscribe to that view. Those who counsel Left MPs to leave and form a new Party are still wrong. Without the socialist MPs we have left in Parliament this Party is well and truly over.

But it is becoming increasingly hard to see how Labour can truly be "re-claimed" as we optimistaically thought just a couple of years ago.

I think the 10p tax rate cut is the tipping-point for many. As Frank Field (hardly a cheerleader for the Left) points out, punishing the poor is not what we joined this Party for.

Again outraged this morning to read a Government source in the Guardian arguing people should "get it in perspective." A well-paid Civil servant would obviously have difficulty understanding the concerns of ordinary folk who are battling with inflation, credit crunch, house prices, and all the rest of it. And so, it seems, do Ministers. Most of whom have never ventured outside the Westminster bubble and earned their spurs as Spads or apparatchiks to new Labour.

rather than as trade unionists or local councillors.

Labour in Government has simply lost touch with the real world.If the PLP does not rally round, rebel and stop this terrible policy getting through, it will be the last straw for many.

We have a leader whose brilliance does not extend to empathising with the working-class or changing course away from neo-liberalism. A Leader who is a grave disappointment even to those who enthusiastically supported him. Purge those who disagree with Labour's current direction and there will be no Party left. Instead, it will be run by those like James Purnell who say that Labour is "ideologically neutral." A man , by the way, now being touted as a future Leader. I find that truly terrifying.

This autumn at Party Conference, we have one last chance via Calder Valley's resolution to ensure that a future Leadership contest will be drawn from all wings of the Party and that trade unions, affiliates and members might have a socialist candidate in a future election. I do not envy our delegate as he will be put under tremendous pressure to withdraw the motion, will have to get up on that daunting rostrum and argue the case, and cope with huge media interest. Last Sunday the resolution was already the subject of speculation. That puts us all under the spotlight. I make no apologies for that. Because, as Tribune points out this week,"

"This is not the ideology of a Labour administration but of one that has come to accept and champion that of a dominant ruling economic force which offers greater inequality, social divide, a wider wealth gap and a grim future for cohesion in society and humanity. It is time now, rather than after an election defeat, to break with the market-obsessed, neo-liberal agenda that has been the “new” Labour hallmark.

THEY MARCHED THEM UP TO THE TOP OF THE HILL.......

Great picture of the UNITE march in Bournemouth last Sunday. And what a shame Joint General Secretaries Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson marched only hours later right over the cliffs to chuck out the last vestiges of Party democracy .Shame on them......

HOME AT LAST......

Took nine hours to get back from Bournemouth due to unreliable vehicles which have a habit of breaking down.... So what to make of this week? As Tony Benn said at a fringe meeting the other night, it was basically a pre-election rally. But it still managed to be seriously bad news for the Labour Left .Not only, thanks to the unions, did we lose the vote on contemporary resolutions. No Centre Left Grassroots Alliance candidates were elected to the NPF so even if our "issues" get referred back they will of course be thrown out such is the make-up now of the Policy Forum. The only hope as far as that goesn now is possibly OMOV, which manages to consistently elect 4 centre-left candidates. I will now pause while the right-wingers have a laugh. But as they gloat they should ask themselves exactly what have they achieved ? The Labour Party has been shut down as a policy-making body in any real sense. No wonder less and less constituencies are sending delegates. Is there any point in us going next year? In may ways, possibly not. But the fringe remains a source of interesting debate and it's always great to meet like-minded people etc etc. For now, I wil refer you to 2 events which WILL allow our voices to be heard. One is on Saturday here in Hebden Bridge .
Details of 21st century Socialism are on John McDonnell's blog . On Saturday November 17 there is the annual LRC conference in London . There are awful struggles ahead. Let no-one underesimate how bad this week has been. But on an issue by issue basis, we will continue to fight for the values we believe in.
PS:The serious lack of posting was down to computer traumas which I won't bore anyone with.......

JOHN McDONNELL SPEAKS UP FOR THE GRASSROOTS

Peter Hain wrote a disingenuous piece in yesterday's Guardian Comment Is Free. John McDonnell has an excellent riposte today. Follow this link and VOTE NO!!!!!

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_mcdonnell/2007/09/remember_the_members.html

IS BLUE PETER CAT METAPHOR FOR CONFERENCE

It suddenly occurred to me this morning that the tale of the Blue Peter Cat could be analagous to Sunday's vote on contemporary resolutions at Labour Conference. You set up a consultation, people tell you what they want . And then ...... you completely ignore what they say and do what you wanted to do anyway. Or maybe in the tradition of famous socialist and footballer Brian Clough, who said he had a style of management as follows : "I say what I want, they say what they want, and then we agree I was right all along and do what I was going to do in the first place." Am I going mad? Possibly.......

CONFERENCE CREDENTIALS

Here we go again....three days to go till we set off for Bournemouth and my conference pass has not arrived. No, I don't think it's a conspiracy to keep out rebels. Just pure, shambolic mismanagement. I have just had a message from a member of the National Constitutional Committe who is staying inside the secure zone at the five-star Highcliff. She's been told she will have to queue for late accreditation - despite the fact she applied SIX MONTHS ago. Of course, she won't be able to get into the hotel without her pass. Last year, the CAC promised they would try and sort this out. If you recall, an entire union delegation (ASLEF) went home in disgust after not getting their credentials in time. Many others had to queue for hours. I have tried ringing the number ( they are not answering) rung the Labour Party direct. And no-one seems to know what on earth is going on.
UPDATE: Just spoken to soemoene and if they don't arrive tomorrow, it's time to join the queue. FYI the late accreditations office will be open from 8am on Saturday at the Pavilion, Exeter Road.