By John Pickard
For the head-bangers on the right of the Labour Party, nothing is more important than a purge of the left. It is more important than having any policies, having a membership, or even winning elections. There are growing signs, however, that they are not going to get their own way forever.
Since fraudulently winning the Labour leadership, Keir Starmer has wielded the apparatus of the Labour Party in a way that defies all the norms of Labour democracy or even its own rules, suspending members, suspending constituency Labour Parties and banning any candidates with even a sniff of radicalism to their name.
The most recent example of the dead hand of Labour’s bureaucracy has been the appalling decision to ban the popular mayor of North Tyneside, Jamie Driscoll, from the list of candidates seeking to be North East Mayor. The rationale for leaving him off the ‘longlist’ is so ludicrous that is doesn’t really warrant a response. Indeed, by the same logic used, Starmer himself should be banned, not to mention a lot of right wing Labour MPs [see this article, for example].
Democracy, logic and party rules do not figure in the equation at all here. We need to cut to the chase – there are only two real reasons for Jamie Driscoll being barred, and they are related. Firstly, Jamie is too much of a left for the Labour apparatchiks to stomach, and, secondly, the post of North East Mayor has already been quietly promised by the right wing to Kim McGuinness, Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumberland.
Half of CLPs have refused to nominate
But the outrage against this blatant manoeuvring by Labour North has probably taken them by surprise. On June 9, issuing a long statement to justify their decision – but basically protesting the ban on Jamie – Easington CLP refused to put forward a nomination. The day afterwards, Blyth Valley CLP did the same. The City of Durham Labour Party resolved not to debate or vote on the North East Mayor nominations, without a single person speaking or voting against.
According to the Twitter account of People for Jamie Driscoll, [See picture, top] half of North East CLPs have returned no nominations for North East Mayor and eight are in active protest against the decision to exclude him. “Three are not even meeting. Some of the 11 making nominations saw bullying and threats of disciplinary action leading to member walkouts”.
Not surprisingly, some trade unions, like the North East region of the FBU have also protested, as has the Socialist Education Association. Having said that, we have to ask, where is the GMB – officially engaged in a campaign for a national minimum wage of £15 an hour (opposed by Starmer, supported by Driscoll), and UNISON, whose members on strike were supported by Driscoll, but not by Starmer?
In a statement on Facebook, Jamie Driscoll spelled out the sort of politics he was offering. “There’s a lack of trust in politics,” he wrote. “Second homes. Second jobs. Cash for questions. Not me. £0 expenses claims. I pay for my own phone. I gave up my car and use my bike or public transport so I see what everyone else has to deal with. Politics needs to change.
“We need a new direction. Power must reside in the North East, and in every region of Britain. Not in Westminster and Party HQs. I have a vision of a Britain that’s run in the interests of the people who do the work”. To Labour’s right wing, such ideas are dangerous.
Executive committee resigned en masse
The quasi-Stalinism displayed by Labour North in the Eastern part of the region is well matched by its dictatorial decisions to the West, in Cumbria. North Cumbria has four CLPs. When the Executive Committee of Penrith and the Borders CLP resigned en masse over the suspension of long-standing (but left) councillor Alan McGuckin, Labour North appointed its own executive – not saying, of course, what qualifications were needed to get the ‘nod and wink’ from Regional Office.
Carlisle CLP is suspended. Copeland CLP Executive also recently resigned en bloc after a very popular local councillor was – yes, you’ve guessed it – barred from the parliamentary selection shortlist. Now, Labour North has a full house, because the fourth CLP in North Cumbria, Workington, in Allerdale, is also protesting against undemocratic methods in the selection of candidates.
It is not just in the North, of course, but in every region of the Labour Party where the baleful influence of the Labour bureaucracy is felt. It is primarily in the selection of candidates for parliament and high-profile mayoralties that it is most evident – most recently in Birkenhead and Merthyr Tydfil, where the right wing are trying to edge out popular (but left) standing MPs.
Using CLPs as political punch-bags
The constant undermining of local labour parties and their prohibition from selecting candidates of their own choice runs directly counter the pledge made by Keir Starmer when he was running for Labour Leader. It is not without its consequences. Many Labour Parties are either suspended or inactive as demoralised members fail to turn up at meetings, let alone do election work.
Labour lost council seats in Leicester, Peterborough, and Liverpool in the recent elections directly as a result of local popular candidates – including sitting councillors – being banned by unrepresentative committees making decisions behind closed doors. We should not forget that Labour’s overall gains in early May were smaller than the total of gains made by the Lib-Dems and the Green Party together, the latter including many disaffected former Labour members.
The deliberate intention of Labour’s right wing is to demoralise the left and hope – because they cannot expel us all – that hundreds of thousands more will walk away. That is their aim. But one also has to wonder how much damage this will do to Labour in the next general election. The overall political climate, living standards and mass public perceptions are more decisive than the numbers who turn out for canvassing and leafletting in an election.
The question is however, can the right wing go on forever doing this – gouging holes in the party, strangling any kind of natural democracy and using CLPs as punch-bags – without it undermining the likely election result? But the next question is, do they care? Set against the ‘danger’, as they see it, of a left revival, probably not.
