FACTION FIGHTING - NOT A FUTURE THE LRC WANTS

In the forthcoming contest for LRC Vice-Chair ( the only one to be contested) I have set up an entirely personal Facebook support group and I think that's fair enough.I would expect other candidates to do the same.
What is NOT fair, to put it mildly, is to suggest there is a joint slate against me. So I would like to thank Andrew Fisher, who is standing as LRC Secretary , for setting the record straight by making it clear he will be supporting me
I am very disappointed that others have chosen to suggest otherwise via what looks like a quasi-official Facebook group but I will happily, if re-elected, work in tandem with whoever else wins one of the two Vice-Chair positions. And the rest of the Exec, National Committee and anyone who has constructive ideas on how to progress the LRC.
At the end of the day, I stand or fall by the work I have put in. And that's down to the people who actually turn up on the day on November 14 to vote for me. But I would like to thank the affiliated groups and individuals who have given me supporting nominations so far.
They include Greater London LRC, Cambridge LRC, Greater Manchester LRC, Lambeth and Southwark LRC and of course my own LRC in West Yorkshire.

ALICE - STILL A COMRADE

I've known for some time that Alice Mahon was considering leaving the Labour Party. At Labour Party Conference in Manchester, I spent a considerable amount of time persuading her to stay and I hope my thoughts helped keep her with the Party a bit longer.

Alice is resigning for a lot of reasons. Most of which are in today's Yorkshire Post. So I won't catalogue them. The final straw for Alice was the treatment meted out to Janet Oosthuysen who won the original PPC selection in Calder Valley. It took six months for the NEC to make its mind up on the issue. Their grounds for doing so, a police caution, was blasted all over the media thanks to a scurrilous campaign led by Janet's opponents in the Labour Party. Not satisfied with that, because the NEC was still undecided , they then besmirched her name further with totally false personal allegations which were splashed in the Mail On Sunday.

Having succeeded in getting rid of Janet, there was then a re-run in Calder Valley, where Party members who supported me are now asking for an inquiry. One of my endorsers was Alice and I was proud to have her name on my leaflet. I am very sad indeed that she is going.

But I cannot , in truth, blame her for being sick of the stitch-ups, the smears, and the tactics of those whose arrogance sickens ordinary Labour Party members.

The Guardian today has a piece on the Rrith and Thamesmead debacle in which I am quoted.

I note today's Times says Georgia Gould, who works for Tony Blair's Faith Foundation, should be the candidate chosen to "send a reassuring message to Labour voters." What nauseating rubbish

People with friends in the media and other high places may think they can ride roughshod over the hopes, dreams and aspirations of those like Alice who have devoted their lives to the labour movement. The truth is that their antics fool no-one - however many strings they are able to pull. In losing Alice Mahon, Labour has lost one of its greatest champions for peace and social justice. But I'm glad to say Alice will still be my friend and comrade.

SEX,LIES AND ANDY BURNHAM

I thought the Crewe by-election stuff was pretty rubbish but New Labour has hit a new low with the suggestive remarks made by Minister Andy Burnham over the political association between human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti and David Davis.
You really have lost the political argument if you resort to sexual innuendo and slander to try and undermine opponents
It's no wonder the director of Liberty has demanded an apology and threatened legal action
after Burnham suggested she had been "seduced" by the former shadow home secretary's opposition to 42-day pre-charge detention and that they had taken part in late night "heart-melting" phone calls.
What is risible, and disingenuous, is that The Culture Secretary's hench people say he insisted he had" not intended" the interpretation that had been put on his remarks. Oh really? Call me old-fashioned, but there is only one interpetaion to be put on such comments .
And the fact the Govt has had to resort to such nasty strategies - instead of actually fielding a Labour candidate - is a mark of how low it has sunk in terms of the moral high ground.

STICKS, STONES AND FIBS

It's been quite a week. Thus far I have been called an "unreconstructed hippy", "grand witch of Hebden" and now my former comrade Peter Kenyon is comparing me to Bernard Ingham , former Press Secretary to Margaret Thatcher.
Beyond the fact that Ingham and I are /were both in the business of journalism, and he was born in Hebden Bridge it's a rather unkind analogy. But, more importantly, inaccurate.
Peter uses the LukeAkehurst blog to suggest I am utterly isolated in opposing the CLPD support for Ellie Reeves. Well frankly, I wasn't going to devote any more time to this nonsense.But if people are going to be downright nasty and tell fibs then I will up the ante.
I attended last week's Centre Left Grassroots Alliance meeting as an LRC representative. So did another female comrade of mine and another from Labour Briefing We ALL spoke out against this.The agreement was we would come back in a couple of weeks and try and reach a modus vivendi. However, the way "democracy" works in the CLGA is that we are then sent mailshots already printed with her name on, rung up, and railroaded in the hope we will back her.
WHY would the LRC back Ellie Reeves? We are not in the business of being apologists for Brownites ( and sorry Pete Willsman there is no difference between them and Blairites) -particularly those who were cheerleaders for Brown's coronation last year and for the abolition of contemporary resolutions.
Peter Kenyon, I seem to recall, gaine left cred by speaking last year on a platform with John McDonnell and Billy Hayes where this measure was roundly condemned. Now he wants the votes of the right so anything goes - even slagging off people with whom you have worked in the Party for years. It seems to me that when men lose the ideological argument they resort to what can only be described as misogynistic, personal attacks. Being sworn at and insulted ( another joy of going to CLGA meetings) is one thing, being misrepresented quite another.

CREWE AND NANTWICH LEAFLETS

I believe these are aiming to win votes by mocking the Tory candidate for being against ID cards. Add such xenophobic rubbish to the nonsense which had people dressing up as "toffs" to try and win Labour votes and you have to ask what kind of political planet are these people on? If Labour loses Crewe and Nantwich, it will be down to the stupidity of the spin doctors. And , frankly, the CLP for allowing such disgraceful tactics to be employed. Gwyneth Dunwoody must be spinning in her grave.....