The real enemies within the Parliamentary Labour Party

Memory, ecstasy, tyranny, hypocrisy

Betrayed by a kiss on a cool night of bliss

In the valley of the missing link

And you have no time to think

 

TEN days have passed since I was expelled from the Labour Party as part of Iain McNicol’s “rigged purge” of Jeremy Corbyn supporters.

I was expelled for publishing a blog piece entitled Hanging from Traitors’ Gate – Progress: Labour’s right wing Militant  some 10 weeks earlier. In my piece, in which I use the proscribed word “Traitor” I listed the MPs who displayed treachery to Jeremy Corbyn, and to us the membership of the Labour Party.

You can read my appeal against the expulsion here.

Yesterday a close lawyer friend of some 24 years standing, described my appeal thus:

“You’ve done exactly the right thing from a legal point of view and you should carry on to the bitter end to exhaust your remedies and keep all your options open.

“And, as you’re well aware yourself of course, you’ve done exactly the right thing from an activist’s point of view by standing up for yourself so eloquently and movingly and by sharing what you’ve done to encourage and strengthen the resolve of others.

“I have no doubt there will be legal action here, and you may well be a good candidate for one of the test cases.”

Anyway, on with the show…

There is some personal irony that just 24 hours after I emailed my appeal letter to Iain McNicol, a member of Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign team leaked a list singling out 14 Labour MPs, including deputy leader Tom Watson, who it claims have abused the leader and his allies.

In the release, Owen Smith, the challenger for the Labour leadership, was accused of being the “real disunity candidate”, who has failed to tackle abuse meted out by his own supporters.

The list, obtained by Press Association, highlighted the behaviour of a number of Labour MPs, including Jess Phillips for telling Corbyn’s ally Diane Abbott to “fuck off”, John Woodcock for dismissing the party leader as a “fucking disaster” and Tristram Hunt for describing Labour as “in the shit”.

Watson was highlighted for calling the grassroots Corbyn campaign Momentum a “rabble”.

The list emerged just hours before the final Labour leadership hustings between Mr Smith and Mr Corbyn, who is the overwhelming favourite to win the contest.

At the Sky News debate, Smith branded it a “deselection list” that would be used by some activists to target MPs considered hostile to Corbyn.

Mr Corbyn responded by defending the accuracy of the release and urging Smith to focus on policies.

“There was information put out there, which is statements made by colleagues on the record and is all out there in the public domain,” the leader said.

He went on to say he would rather Watson had not referred to activists from the Momentum group of Corbyn supporters as a “rabble”.

The others identified on the list were Ian Austin, Neil Coyle, Ben Bradshaw, Frank Field, Anna Turley, Jamie Reed, Karl Turner, Stephen Kinnock and Tom Blenkinsop.

Coyle, the MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, who was among those criticised, said he was “fuming”, while long time vocal critic of Mr Corbyn, Woodcock was similarly angry.

Now the list of names – and offences – is out in the public domain, all the claims can be checked and verified and appropriate action taken.

One wonders, as the information was in the public domain already, why the Labour Party’s Compliance Unit had not taken the requisite steps on its own initiative.

It is welcome to see Owen Smith criticised – after all the times Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of allowing abuse to continue – of failing to tackle his own supporters’ inappropriate behaviour.

As for those who were named – the MPs who have already complained haven’t got a leg to stand on and I’m surprised the list isn’t much, much longer. I would certainly add Luke Akehurst and John McTernan to that list.

 

Neil Coyle, for example, abused Jeremy Corbyn by claiming he had presided over the “Farage-ification” of the Labour Party. Now he is complaining about “trial by troll”. Forget it, Mr Coyle. It isn’t trolling if you did what is claimed.

John Woodcock tweeted that Jeremy Corbyn was a “fucking disaster at PMQs” back in March and quickly deleted the message – but it was caught by the mainstream media nonetheless and members of his own electorate launched a petition calling for his deselection – months before that became an issue in the leadership election.

Now he’s saying a list pointing out this abusive behaviour is “shabby” and is complaining that it “targets colleagues for more abuse”.

Isn’t that exactly what he was doing when he wrote about Mr Corbyn, all those months ago – inviting others to abuse the Labour leader alongside him?

As for the claim that the MPs mentioned are on a “deselection list”: Their future is not a matter for Mr Corbyn or his team. It is for Labour Party members in each constituency to decide whether their sitting MP is representing them in a sufficiently courteous manner.

In Mr Woodcock’s case, alas, considering his constituents are already petitioning for his removal, an apology may be too little, too late.

Of course it is not the first time a list of disloyal and potentially treacherous Labour MPs has been released.

Back in January my blog The Enemy Within – the 28 Labour MPs who Oppose Mr Corbyn listed those MPs who were most likely ready to oust their democratically elected leader.

And of course on 23 March there was the now infamous list of the 36 MPs “most hostile to Mr Corbyn”.

So let’s look more closely at a few of the names on the most recent list of Labour MPs who have gone beyond the call of duty in their hostility.

• Ian Austin – On my original list of MPs who oppose Jeremy Corbyn. Also on the 23 March list of 36 most hostile MPs. Originally a Brownite. Among a hard core of 14 right wing Labour MPs that refused to vote against the Tories on austerity, voted TO BOMB Syria AND for the renewal of Trident.
• Ben Bradshaw – Member of Progress. On my original list of MPs who oppose Jeremy Corbyn. A Blairite and vocal right winger. Among a hard core of 14 right wing Labour MPs that refused to vote against the Tories on austerity, voted TO BOMB Syria AND for the renewal of Trident.
• Frank Field – Member of Progress. On my original list of MPs who oppose Jeremy Corbyn. A Blairite and among a hard core of 14 right wing Labour MPs that refused to vote against the Tories on austerity, voted TO BOMB Syria AND for the renewal of Trident. A long-time vocal critic of Mr Corbyn.
• Tristram Hunt – Member of Progress. On my original list of MPs who oppose Jeremy Corbyn. Also on the 23 March list of 36 most hostile MPs. Blairite. Former chair of the Progress group. Among a hard core of 14 right wing Labour MPs that refused to vote against the Tories on austerity, voted TO BOMB Syria AND for the renewal of Trident. Has previously openly mocked Mr Corbyn. He is infamous for tweeting that Labour under Mr Corbyn was “in the shit”.
• Stephen Kinnock – Member of Progress. Two months ago Kinnock was talking openly about a right wing breakaway from the Labour Party – working title: Continuity Labour if Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected as leader.
• Jess Phillips – Backed by Progress. Mouthy MP who is infamous for telling Diane Abbott to “fuck off”. She also threatened to “knife” Mr Corbyn in the front and suggested she would leave the Labour Party if he was re-elected leader.
• Jamie Reed – On my original list of MPs who oppose Jeremy Corbyn. Also on the 23 March list of 36 most hostile MPs. Blairite. Among a hard core of 14 right wing Labour MPs that refused to vote against the Tories on austerity, voted TO BOMB Syria AND for the renewal of Trident.
• Tom Watson – Originally viewed as a mediator until engineering a motion at the forthcoming party conference to replace the current one member one vote system with an electoral college to elect the leader and for MPs to choose the shadow cabinet. Has been highlighted for calling Momentum a “rabble”. He had previously called shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry a “traitor” in the House of Commons voting lobby.
• John Woodcock – Member of Progress. On my original list of MPs who oppose Jeremy Corbyn. Also on the 23 March list of 36 most hostile MPs. Blairite. Former chair of the Progress group. Voted for bombing Syria. Resigned from the shadow cabinet in January in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s so called ‘purge’ of right wing MPs from his front bench team. Has previously openly mocked Mr Corbyn and is infamous for dismissing the party leader as a “fucking disaster”.

These are some of the most treacherous… it is now make your mind up time.

 

 

Appeal against my expulsion from the Labour Party – an open letter

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

 

Iain McNicol

General Secretary of the Labour Party

Compliance Unit

Labour Central

Kings Manor

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 6PA

 

 

Dear Mr McNicol

 

Appeal against Expulsion from the Labour Party

Membership Number: Lxxxxxxx

 

I acknowledge receipt of your email of 7 September 2016, and the copy letter, received this morning. I wish to appeal against my expulsion.

 

PREAMBLE

I was born into a middle class Tory voting household and to my eternal shame joined the Conservative Party at age 16. Three years later I was elected Vice Chairman of the Northern Region of the Federation of Conservative Students. I even helped Margaret Thatcher get elected in 1979.

But, life is a great leveller and educator, as I am sure you will agree.

My education began in the early 1980s as a teacher in the South Yorkshire pit village of Darton. I lived in the village for four years among miners and their families, and many of my charges were destined to also become miners. I witnessed at first hand the devastation of the miners’ strike and the evil reality of Thatcherism.

My education continued in 1988 when I was hospitalised in Cardiff for four months for surgery and treatment of lung cancer. Many of my fellow patients in the ward and at the radiotherapy clinic were former miners from the south Wales valleys and sufferers from pneumoconiosis and consequential lung cancer. I listened at first hand to their stories of life in the pits and the betrayal of their futures and communities by Thatcher and her minions.

Over 10 years I had changed forever from a right wing Tory into a true blood socialist, and in 1989 I joined the Labour Party.

Such conversions are not uncommon. I am sure you remember Conservative minister Shaun Woodward crossing the floor of the Commons to join the Labour Party, where he was welcomed with open arms by our then leader, Tony Blair.

Fellow Tory MPs Peter Temple-Morris, Robert Jackson and Quentin Davies did likewise.

And today, under Jeremy Corbyn we are seeing many more conversions from the Greens, the Lib Dems and others, which I hope are being welcomed with similar enthusiasm.

As I said earlier: life is a great educator.

Over the ensuing years, unemployment, bereavement, homelessness and a career in newspaper journalism hardened my beliefs as a socialist and supporter of the Labour Party.

One of the proudest moments of my life came in 1994 when 41 Labour MPs signed an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons praising my investigative journalism into the lies then being peddled by the Conservative government. Some of my all-time political heroes signed that EDM: the late and great Tony Benn, the much missed Alan Simpson, Ken Livingstone, Dennis Skinner and ironically Jeremy Corbyn.

These names next to mine remain a personal shield of honour, which will always remain, whatever the outcome of this appeal.

However, in 2003 I left the Labour Party after being disillusioned and betrayed by Tony Blair’s social welfare policies and for leading us into an illegal war in Iraq against the wishes of the British people and the vast majority of Labour Party members.

For the next 12 years I watched and wrote from afar, dismayed by so-called New Labour and the osmosis of party policy between the Tories and Labour. I became unattached to any political party and described myself as a nihilist.

But, Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour Party leader in 2015 reignited a personal belief that things might change and that Labour had rediscovered its soul, cherished under Clem Atlee, Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan and Michael Foot.

Early in July this year I rejoined the Labour Party and on 18 July received my membership card with an accompanying letter which said: “You are the newest member to add your voice, skills and passion to our movement. Labour’s strength comes from its members.”

 

APPEAL

• Your email/letter of 7 September 2016 refers to my application to become a member of the Labour Party… and that my application has been rejected.

I have been a member of the Labour Party from 1989-2003 and rejoined with letter of acceptance and membership card on 18 July 2016. Indeed, not only am I already a member of the Labour Party, but you also accepted my £25 Poll Tax payment as a supporter on 28 July to allow me to vote in the Leadership election.

Your action is therefore retrospective and it could be viewed that you took my £25 voting fee under false pretences.

• Your email/letter of 7 September 2016 says: “The Labour Party should be the home of lively debate, of new ideas and of campaigns to change society. However, for fair debate to take place, people must be able to air their views in an atmosphere of respect. They shouldn’t be shouted down, they shouldn’t be intimidated, and they shouldn’t be abused, either in meetings or online.”

I have NEVER in my lifetime shouted down or intimidated anyone. I have also NEVER abused anyone.

As a victim and survivor of childhood sexual abuse and later domestic abuse, which left me minutes from death, I believe the NEC needs to revisit its use of the term “abuse”.

But, if abuse means bullying, I am a long time campaigner against bullying in all its forms.

Indeed, I was the first to alert NEC member Johanna Baxter on 14 July 2016, that the cyber bully who had reduced her to tears was not a member of the Labour Party or follower of Jeremy Corbyn, but was a far right Nazi troll named Claire Khaw, a former member of the BNP.

• Your email/letter of 7 September 2016 says I am being expelled because “You have made inappropriate comments on social media including a post on 28 June 2016”.

A quick trawl of my own accounts shows that the only comments you might refer to was my blog posting: Hanging from Traitors’ Gate – Progress: Labour’s right wing Militant

I revisited this subject in more detail in another blog posting on 27 July 2016: The right wing incontinence of the Progress plotters

My blogs are always widely shared on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and other social media platforms. These particular blogs are typical of the scores of investigative newspaper reports which won me dozens of awards over a 28 year career in journalism.

They shine a light onto facts about Progress and its members.

If your problem is in the title of the blog piece, maybe lessons in English metaphor and history are required.

A view shared by many is that Progress is as much a right wing entryist party within a party as Militant was in the 1980s.

As for the bulk of the piece, it is written with the same dynamism that former Labour leader Neil Kinnock attacked Militant.

If your problem is with my use of the word Traitor/Traitors, I believe that anyone who has committed the treachery to our leader Jeremy Corbyn and to the 121,751 Labour Party members, 88,449 Registered Supporters and 41,928 Trade Union Affiliated Supporters who voted for him, as observed by the so-called #chickencoup, deserves to be called a Traitor.

I am sure that as a former trade union leader you have used the word traitor or scab to other comrades in times of dispute.

I know that MPs Tom Watson, John McTernan, Luke Akehurst and others have used the word Traitor, and much worse about fellow Labour Party members.

If your problem is about me naming MPs who should face deselection if they fail to ameliorate their treachery, I am doing no more or less than Neil Kinnock did when he named, shamed and threatened with expulsion Derek Hatton, Tony Mulhearn and Lesley Mahmood.

The Labour Party has thrived amid robust and lively debate. To kill or stifle that debate behind claims of bullying or intimidation is to kill the Labour Party and make it into a pink imitation of the Conservatives.

 

CONCLUSION

I vigorously defend my blog post and request that my expulsion is overturned.

I have been increasingly shocked by the actions of the NEC executive board and certain NEC members over the past three months.

This may not help my appeal, but in my opinion the NEC has acted against the membership of the Labour Party and in doing so has damaged the reputation of the party for the foreseeable future.

The top-down NEC dictats bullying the membership can be viewed as Stalinism.

The purge and witch-hunt of members and electors who do not hold a certain beliefs might be seen as McCarthyism.

And the encouragement for members to report other members for un-comradely actions are those of the former East German Stasi.

I never thought I would witness such behaviour from the management of the Labour Party.

 

Please clarify your reasons for my expulsion and confirm when my appeal will be heard.

 

I reserve all rights.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Nic Outterside

These MPs voted Confidence in Jeremy Corbyn

FORTY MPs voted full confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party… in Tuesday’s vote. We name 39 of them.

Updated and revised at 11 August 2016.

Also note that since voting confidence in Jeremy Corbyn, Pat Glass has since resigned from the Shadow Cabinet for family reasons.

1. Andy McDonald
2. Angela Rayner
3. Barry Gardiner
4. Bill Esterson
5. Carolyn Harris
6. Cat Smith
7. Catherine West
8. Clive Lewis
9. Dave Anderson
10. Debbie Abrahams
11. Dennis Skinner
12. Diane Abbot
13. Emily Thornberry
14. Gerald Kaufman
15. Gill Furniss
16. Graham Morris
17. Ian Lavery
18. Ian Mearns
19. Imran Hussain
20. Jeremy Corbyn
21. Jo Stevens
22. John McDonnell
23. Jon Trickett
24. Jonathan Ashworth
25. Kate Hoey
26. Kate Osamor
27. Kelvin Hopkins
28. Margaret Greenwood
29. Pat Glass
30. Paul Flynn
31. Peter Dowd
32. Rachael Maskell
33. Rebecca Long Bailey
34. Richard Burgon
35. Ronnie Campbell
36. Rosena Allin Khan
37. Steve Rotheram
38. Tulip Siddiq
39. Yasmin Qureshi

• We are unsure how Andy Burnham and Liz McInnes voted. At the time of the vote they both expressed public confidence in Jeremy Corbyn. It seems that at least one of them abstained on the vote. We believe that Shadow Cabinet “returner” Sarah Champion probably also abstained.

 

 

 

 

Hanging from Traitors’ Gate – Progress: Labour’s right wing Militant

IT is more than 30 years since former Labour leader Neil Kinnock began his attack on Militant – as a left wing ‘Party within a Party’ seeking to undermine core Labour values.

Within six years Militant had been proscribed by Mr Kinnock and banned from ever being part of the Labour Party.

Now in 2016, his son Stephen Kinnock is part of a sinister group known as Progress – a right wing ‘Party within a Party’.

More sinister and undermining than Militant ever were.

Progress is the Blairite power behind the 75 treacherous MPs now seeking to oust the Labour Party’s democratically elected leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Progress runs on £260,000-a-year funding from Lord Sainsbury.

He used to fund the Labour Party, giving over £6.3 million between 2005 and 2010. But he stopped funding Labour when Ed Miliband got elected. Angry at Miliband’s shuffle to the left, Sainsbury went on a rich man’s strike.

But he didn’t just take his money and go home. Instead of funding Labour, he funds Progress, whose job is to keep Labour right wing and Blairite.

Progress’s income since 2010 is about £1.5 million.

Progress, through its website, its weekend school, its meetings at Labour’s conference and its activist network push the candidates and policies Sainsbury likes.

Tristram Hunt is a particular Sainsbury favourite — he was in fact Lord Sainsbury’s personal spokesman before he became a Labour MP.

Hunt was working for Sainsbury when Progress was formed out of the money left over from the original campaign to make Tony Blair leader of the party.

Sainsbury originally got Derek Draper to run Progress.

He soon disgraced himself and Labour by claiming he could get influence with the New Labour government for corporate lobbyists.

Despite this early link to a lobbying scandal, Progress still relies on money and contacts from lobbyists, alongside Sainsbury’s cash. In fairness, Progress is more open about its income than it used to be. Its website advises that in 2014 it relied on money and support from Bellenden Public Affairs, a lobbying firm that represents privatisers like Serco and NHS outsourcer Care UK.

Progress also took money from Lexington, another lobbying firm whose clients include Interserve, another major privatiser, and the “Giant Vampire Squid” of banking, Goldman Sachs. The City of London Corporation put some cash into the Progress operation as well.

Progress is deeply committed to pro-privatisation and pro-corporate policies. It has also campaigned to reduce trade union influence in the Labour Party.

During last year’s Labour leadership election Progress supported Liz Kendall for Labour leader and Tessa Jowell for mayor of London.

Progress could not pick a candidate for deputy leader — which in fact shows how deeply Progress is embedded in the parliamentary party.  The three deputy leader candidates — Caroline Flint, Ben Bradshaw and Stella Creasy — are all Progress members, so they couldn’t choose which one to back.

Progress’s attempts to shift the party towards privatisation and other business-friendly policies favoured by their funders aren’t hard to find.

But they don’t get reported that much because most journalists both rely on Progress members for their stories and agree with their Blairite arguments.

Only now are people waking up to the sinister nature of Progress’s coup attempt to unseat Jeremy Corbyn.

Paul Flynn MP (Newport) condemned the plotters as:

“Orchestrated treachery. Resignations on the hour by the future Blair Tribute Party. Self-indulgent party games as steel jobs are in new peril.”

Even former SNP leader Alex Salmond – a politician I know personally and someone steeped in honesty – called out the plotters last night.

The mass resignation of senior Labour MPs over Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party is a “disgusting, organised coup”, he said.

“I find it depressing to see people that he appointed, most of whom the public have never heard of, stabbing him in the back.

“I find that is a debilitating sight, and personally I hope he sticks it out and is vindicated, because I’ve never seen such a disgusting, organised coup.

“On the hour, every hour, one of them resigns, and if they think the general public finds that impressive I think they’ve got another think coming.

“I can’t help but have a good deal of sympathy for Jeremy Corbyn and some contempt for the tactics of those who he appointed, who now feel free to stab him in the back,” added Mr Salmond.

But their plotting has been an open secret.

An article in the Telegraph dated the 16 June detailed that the Progress led “Labour rebels hope to topple Jeremy Corbyn in 24-hour blitz after EU referendum.”

Further evidence that these Labour MPs have been plotting against Mr Corbyn and would have assailed his leadership regardless of the outcome of the referendum.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has described the MPs in Progress as a “narrow right-wing clique”, “conservative” and “hard right”.

“They all come from a sort of a narrow right-wing clique within the Labour Party based around the organisation Progress,” he said.

“I don’t think they’ve really ever accepted Jeremy’s mandate. I’m afraid they have to recognise that Jeremy got elected with the largest mandate of any political leader from any political party in our history.

“I’m afraid they haven’t respected that leadership election result.”

Some 30 of the 75 plotters who have so far broken cover are active Blairite members of the Progress cabal.

But while they try and oust Jeremy Corbyn as leader, many more are supporting him and more than 217,000 ordinary members have signed an online petition of total confidence in him.

These plotters must now be put on notice: We are watching you, have noted your actions as traitors to the Labour Party and your time as a Labour MP is numbered.

• Alan Johnson (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) PROGRESS
• Alex Cunningham (Stockton North)
• Alison McGovern (Wirral South) PROGRESS
• Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith)
• Angela Eagle (Wallasey) PROGRESS
• Angela Smith (Penistone & Stocksbridge)
• Anna Turley (Redcar)
• Ann Coffey (Stockport)
• Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) PROGRESS
• Caroline Flint (Don Valley) PROGRESS
• Chris Bryant (Rhondda)
• Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) PROGRESS
• Chris Matheson (Chester)
• Colleen Fletcher (Coventry North East)
• Conor McGinn (St Helens North)
• Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) PROGRESS
• Diana Johnson (Hull North)
• Frank Field (Birkenhead) PROGRESS
• Gloria de Piero (Ashfield) PROGRESS
• Hilary Benn (Leeds Central)
• Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East)
• Ian Murray (Edinburgh South)
• Ivan Lewis (Bury South)
• Jamie Reed (Copeland) PROGRESS
• Jenny Chapman (Darlington) PROGRESS
• Jess Phillips (Birmingham Yardley) PROGRESS
• John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne)
• John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) PROGRESS
• Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge) PROGRESS
• Julie Elliot (Sunderland Central) PROGRESS
• Karen Buck (Westminster North)
• Karin Smyth (Bristol South)
• Karl Turner (Hull East)
• Kate Green (Stretford)
• Keir Starmer (Holborn and St Pancras)
• Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East)
• Kevan Jones (North Durham) PROGRESS
• Liam Byrne (Birmingham Hodge Hill) PROGRESS
• Lillian Greenwood (Nottingham South)
• Lisa Nandy (Wigan)
• Luciana Berger (Liverpool Wavertree)
• Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) PROGRESS
• Margaret Hodge (Barking) Non Progress Blairite
• Maria Eagle (Garston) PROGRESS
• Matthew Pennycrook (Greenwich and Woolwich)
• Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby)
• Michael Dugher (Barnsley East) PROGRESS
• Mike Kane (Wythenshawe)
• Mike Gapes (Ilford South)
• Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Southwark)
• Nia Griffith (Llanelli)
• Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe)
• Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) PROGRESS
• Nick Thomas Symonds (Torfaen)
• Owen Smith (Pontypridd)
• Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East) PROGRESS
• Peter Kyle (Hove and Portslade)
• Phil Wilson (Sedgefield) PROGRESS
• Richard Burden (Birmingham Northfield)
• Roberta Blackman-Wood (Durham)
• Ruth Smeeth (Stoke on Trent North) PROGRESS
• Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) PROGRESS
• Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) PROGRESS
• Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South) PROGRESS
• Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) PROGRESS
• Stephen Twigg (West Derby) PROGRESS
• Steve Reed (Croydon North) PROGRESS
• Susan Elan Jones (Clwyd South)
• Thangam Debbonaire (Bristol West)
• Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) PROGRESS
• Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South)
• Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) PROGRESS
• Vernon Coaker (Gedling)
• Wayne David (Caerphilly)
• Yvonne Fovargue (Makerfield)

At the time of writing fellow Progress members Chuka Umunna (Streatham) and Liz Kendall (Leicester West) have yet to indicate whether they will vote to oust Mr Corbyn.

Watch this space!

• Acknowledgement: The Morning Star

 

 

 

Traitors’ Gate: 28 Labour MPs named as part of Coup

WE can now name and shame 28 Labour MPs who have signed up as part of an undemocratic coup to oust Jeremy Corbyn.

Most have been part of a cabal with a right wing agenda since September 2015, ready to use any opportunity to topple the Labour Party’s democratically elected leader.

Their plotting has been an open secret. As a humble journalist I was able to name 28 would-be assassin MPs as far back as January in  a published article entitled The Enemy Within.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell accuses many of the assassins of being linked to the Blairite campaign group Progress.

“They all come from a sort of a narrow right-wing clique within the Labour Party based around the organisation Progress,”

he said.

“I don’t think they’ve really ever accepted Jeremy’s mandate. I’m afraid they have to recognise that Jeremy got elected with the largest mandate of any political leader from any political party in our history.

“I’m afraid they haven’t respected that leadership election result.”

The move to oust Mr Corbyn is outrageous, and more than 185,000 ordinary Labour members and supporters have already signed an online petition of total confidence in Mr Corbyn – who already has a mandate as leader from the vast majority of party members.

These plotting MPs have no mandate.

Jeremy Corbyn has the support and mandate of the vast majority of the Labour Party and by acting as they are, they are pandering to their own narrow self-interest and political opportunism

These traitors must be put on notice: We are watching you, have noted your actions as traitors to the Labour Party and your time as a Labour MP is numbered.

As at 10pm on Sunday 26 June, we can name:

Alan Johnson (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) *

Angela Smith (Penistone & Stocksbridge)

Ann Coffey (Stockport) *

Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) *

Caroline Flint (Don Valley) *

Chris Bryant (Rhondda)

Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) *

Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) *

Frank Field (Birkenhead) *

Gloria de Piero (Ashfield) *

Hilary Benn (Leeds Central)

Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) *

Ian Murray (Edinburgh South)

Ivan Lewis (Bury South)

John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) *

Karen Buck (Westminster North)

Karl Turner (Hull East)

Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East)

Lillian Greenwood (Nottingham South)

Lucy Powell (Manchester Central)

Margaret Hodge (Barking) *

Mike Gapes (Ilford South)

Peter Kyle (Hove and Portslade)

Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston)

Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon)

Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) *

Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South)

Vernon Coaker (Gedling)

• Those marked * were on the original list of suspected assassins, published in January

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, has been a close ally of Mr Corbyn for three decades, and gave warning to the plotters.

“If your local MP is undermining Jeremy Corbyn, opposing the anti-austerity measures that we want, people should have a right to say: ‘I’d like to have an MP who reflects my view.’ It shouldn’t be a job for life,” he said.

The redrawing the parliamentary boundaries, as part of plans to shrink the size of the Commons from 650 MPs to 600, will provide the opportunity to move against some right wing Labour MPs.

Under the Labour rules for boundary changes, existing MPs have the right to be reselected for a new seat if they can claim a “substantial territorial interest” of at least 40% in the new seat.

But reselection battles could be triggered under the current rules in many of the 206 Labour-held seats in England.

Just 36 will remain unchanged while in 54 of the seats the proposed boundary changes will be larger than 40% of the territory of the constituency, potentially opening them up to new candidates.

Many of these plotters have narrow majorities – John Woodcock’s (Barrow and Furness) for instance is only 795.

But Mr Corbyn still has a number of allies within the parliamentary party, led by John McDonnell, Andy McDonald, Dennis Skinner, Jon Trickett, Ronnie Campbell, Catherine Smith, Graham Morris and Diane Abbot.

In the past 18 hours Paul Flynn (Newport), Emily Thornberry (Islington South), Jo Stevens (Cardiff Central) , Richard Burgon (Leeds East), Ian Lavery (Wansbeck), Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) and Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) have all put their heads above the parapets to support him.

Paul Flynn condemned the plotters as: “Orchestrated treachery. Resignations on the hour by the future Blair Tribute Party. Self-indulgent party games as steel jobs are in new peril.”

And this afternoon, shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham (Leigh) joined them.

“At an uncertain time like this for our country, I cannot see how it makes sense for the Opposition to plunge itself into a civil war,”

he said.

“I have never taken part in a coup against any leader of the Labour Party and I am not going to start now.

“It is for our members to decide who leads our Party and 10 months ago they gave Jeremy Corbyn a resounding mandate. I respect that and them.”

• Please note we cannot do this alone. We as Labour Party members, associate members and supporters must unite around Jeremy Corbyn. Please help add to the list by sharing this article and posting comment on social media so we can expose all the plotters.