Bin The Labour Party: Len McCluskey

Showing posts with label Len McCluskey. Show all posts

Thursday, 26 August 2021

BAD DAY FOR RED LEN

Len McCluskey and Sharon Graham

The Unite union leadership contest hasn't quite gone according to plan for outgoing general secretary Len McCluskey. Red Len's anointed successor was supposed to be Steve Turner, but the surprise victor turned out to be the outsider Sharon Graham.

The result is likely to have been greeted with relief from Keir Starmer. Graham is thought to have little interest in internal Labour politics and would mark a significant departure from the troublesome Corbynista McCluskey. The only moderate pro-Starmer candidate in the election - Gerard Coyne - finished third.

Both Starmer and Corbyn congratulated Graham on her victory.

The result was as follows.

Sharon Graham 46,696

Steve Turner 41,833

Gerard Coyne 35,334

Turnout was less than nine per cent, suggesting that rank and file members have little interest in their general secretary.

Thursday, 19 November 2020

STARMER WHIPS UP THE LEFT

Keir Starmer's decision to withhold the Labour whip from Corbyn predictably led to a day of online outrage. Unite's Len McCluskey raged: "This is a vindictive and vengeful action... I urge Keir Starmer in the strongest terms to pull back from the brink". Former Labour MP Thelma Walker announced that she'd resigned from the party after attending her local 'branch meeting'. It's not clear in the midst of a lockdown how this 'branch meeting' occurred. Walker was briefly the MP for Colne Valley between 2017 and 2019.

Meanwhile, Corbyn's current parliamentary comrades put their names to a brief statement condemning Starmer's decision, although it didn't refer to the party leader by name. There were a few absences from the SCG statement - Marsha de Cordova, Imran Hussain, Andy McDonald, Rachael Maskell, Charlotte Nichols and Sam Tarry. These six appear to be treading lightly as a matter of self-preservation. They are all either members of Starmer's front bench or Parliamentary Private Secretaries to frontbenchers. If they are not willing to stick their heads above the parapet now, it's unlikely they'll join any breakaway party - if it comes to that.

Four peers made up the numbers on the SCG statement - Baroness Blower, Baroness Bryan, Baroness Clark and Lord Hendy.

Saturday, 7 November 2020

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 1-7 NOV 2020

01.11.20 - Morten Morland, Sunday Times

01.11.20 - Nick Newman, Sunday Times

01.11.20 - Bob Moran, Sunday Telegraph

02.11.20 - Morten Morland, The Times

02.11.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

02.11.20 - Steve Bright, The Sun

02.11.20 - Steven Camley, Herald

03.11.20 - Graeme Bandeira, Yorkshire Post

03.11.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

03.11.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

03.11.20 - Brian Adcock, Independent

03.11.20 - AF Branco, Daily Torch

04.11.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

04.11.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

05.11.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

05.11.20 - Matt Pritchett, Daily Telegraph

05.11.20 - Graeme Keyes, Irish Daily Mail

05.11.20 -Ben Garrison, Grrr Graphics

05.11.20 - Peter Brooks, The Times

05.11.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

06.11.20 - Jeremy Banks, Financial Times

06.11.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

06.11.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

06.11.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

07.11.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

07.11.20 - Stephen Hutchinson, Spectator

07.11.20 - Graeme Bandeira, Yorkshire Post

Friday, 30 October 2020

JUST TEN MPS BACK CORBYN

The reported 'council of war' held last night between Corbyn and his loyalists shows that the hard left mean business and are not going to take Jezza's suspension lightly. Echoing our own dire prediction, Len McCluskey has warned that Starmer's decision could lead to a devastating split that could derail any hope Labour had of winning the 2024 general election.

This is how members of the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) responded to Corbyn's suspension on Twitter, in the order they tweeted. Not surprisingly the usual suspects were first to stick their necks out - McDonnell, Abbott and Burgon...

NOTE: Webbe is currently suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party pending legal proceedings, but is still listed as a member of the SCG.

There was also a cryptic tweet from Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) who wrote the message 'Justice will pursue' - in Hebrew of all languages. It's not clear who or what she was referring to.

At the time of writing just nine of the 33 members of the SCG have publicly backed Corbyn with a personal statement (excluding Nichols). A tenth MP - Ian Byrne - shared the SCG's solidarity tweet instead of a personal message, leaving the vast majority of members expressing no solidarity with Corbyn at all.

This is the long list of SCG members who have not publicly backed their former leader.

Paula Barker

Apsana Begum

Olivia Blake

Dan Carden

Marsha de Cordova

Mary Foy

Rachel Hopkins

Imran Hussain

Kim Johnson

Clive Lewis

Rebecca Long-Bailey

Andy McDonald (the only SCG member remaining in Starmer's shadow cabinet)

Rachael Maskell

Ian Mearns

Navendu Mishra

Grahame Morris

Kate Osamor

Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Sam Tarry

Jon Trickett

Mick Whitley

Beth Winter

It appears that the Great Leader does not command as much loyalty as he might have once thought, but then how many will be thinking of their salaries rather than joining him in a new (failed) venture?