This post is a type of part two following on from Tuesday's "Since when was the word TRAITOR so abusive." The above letter was received by the person in Tuesday's story; a Labour Party member who was recently suspended from the party for a handful of angry tweets. Tweets which on the grand scale of abuse would probably be laughed out of court. No swearing, no nastiness and no threats. For me it is ironic that in so many ways Labour's NEC and General Secretary Iain McNicol are acting on a par with the management of American owned supermarket chain Asda. How so I hear you say? Well this is how. When an Asda colleague faced disciplinary action for a silly angry comment on Facebook, with no names but obvious hints that Asda was the target, he was hauled over the coals. As an older man months away from retirement he opted to act with his feet and walked. That person was and still is my husband. But among those hauled over the coals for his indiscretion, calling ASDA "shite factory" and the "head man" useless following a crappy night shift, was an older female colleague who dared to LIKE his post. She in fact was given "counselling" for her sins. So how is the Labour party different? The answer is that at this time it is not. People choose to join the Labour Party and pay for the privilege. They do so for many reasons. They use social media in their own time and what they choose to share and re-share should be down to them. If they break the law or are truly abusive that is a different matter. But if party members share another person's social media comment what then? Will the Labour Party like Asda offer counselling? Will they exclude a member for retweeting? The following was retweeted by our source and forms part of the suspension process in this case: ŷStrong stuff that makes your blood boil? Banter that will be a step too far for some? Hilarious? Silliness or what?
Opinion: aged 64 perhaps I am out of touch. Certainly some of those currently suspended from the Labour Party are my age or older. They have seen life and some. They know first hand real trials and tribulations. They are real adults living in the real world. Do the Labour Party want to be elected or not? Do they only want to be elected if they have removed Jeremy Corbyn? Do they think they can disrespect and or remove members and those same people will vote for them? I am increasingly at a loss as to WTF is going on and why. Do they think this constant "bad news week" will do the party's image any good? Will they say well you should not share it online? Too that I would have to say "on yer bike." Tough working-class people do not always swear but some do. Some are better educated than others. We the people are far from "champagne socialists." But as a point of fact many of those in Labour attacking Corbyn as some sort of "champagne socialist" are far from working class. But it is a convenient tool like allegations of perceived abuse. In much the same way unnamed sources within the Labour Party feed the right-wing mainstream media negative articles those accused and suspended are finding it increasingly difficult to get information from the NEC and are sharing their stories with people like me. Letters and documents legally requesting information are arriving with redactions. What have they to hide? Who is trying to hide? Let's face it any person can screenshot an angry tweet or comment, send it off to the dreadfully named Compliance Unit of the Labour party and have any person suspended. Jeremy Corbyn may not do personal but many ordinary people do. We lash out on social media often following provocation. The above letter received by our source is not the first. As a point of fact that person tells me "they just asked me to appeal. I've already appealed 3 times what do they want? Blood" and perhaps they do; their "pound of flesh" to quote Shakespeare but that is not a politically correct saying these days. Many things about all of this make me angry. As yet I am not directly affected but we lefties traditionally care for and about each other. Seeing the Labour Party act much like Asda chastising employees is more than worrying though. It is a bloody disgrace. OK now do your worst Mr McNicol. Related: Free speech ASDA or lack of it - http://www.wherebuttheuk.com/uk-news/free-speech-and-asda-or-the-lack-of-it
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Op-ed: Unless any other Labour MP declares an intention to stand as the next potential leader of the Labour Party it will be a two-man race between Jeremy Corbyn the incumbent and Owen Smith the challenger. But at time of writing Jeremy Corbyn appears more popular than ever. Angela Eagle crash landed out of the race Tuesday as she withdrew hoping along with other members of the Parliamentary Labour Party that one challenger could beat Corbyn and become a so-called unity candidate. The problem is many words have been exchanged face to face, online and in the mainstream media and although any person can apologise at any time words cannot be unsaid. Unity in the Labour Party will not come easily and division allows the right-wing of politics to carry on their merry way. It is basic common sense that united we stand divided we fall. Apportioning blame continues but does not help. Too many times it is one side's word against the opposing side. Owen Smith only joined the leadership race recently but his reputation is being torn apart as things hot-up. The Labour Party has weeks of unnecessary in-party electioneering that will leave us all bloodied and bleeding. It will not be easy to forgive and forget in some cases. Many people including this writer have voted Labour for decades but sometimes while holding their nose and admitting the vote has been for the lesser of the evils. But it should not be like that. The Labour Party has to stand for and represent something different or people may as well vote Liberal Democrat, Green or even Tory or Ukip. There are many parties available these days in the UK and the rise of the SNP in Scotland has killed the two-party system. Hell if the SNP were to field candidates in other parts of the UK even I might give them a vote. Wednesday ahead of the leadership race Owen Smith has reached out to Corbyn and his supporters. BBC News reports "Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith says he will offer Jeremy Corbyn the role of party president if he wins. Mr Smith praised his rival but said he was "not a leader", saying he had "sloganised" on austerity without setting out what he would do instead." Who knows how that offer will be received by Corbyn, his supporters, Smith's supporters and the PLP. Is it even possible? Is it a genuine reach out or done because Smith knows Corbyn is still likely to win? Then there are what I would say are the most important players in the Labour Party - the voters. Without members of the electorate voting Labour the party can posture and procrastinate as much as it wants but it is finished. In this report we will not go down the road of attacking Smith; that is not Jeremy Corbyn's modus operandi and as a supporter I will follow his lead this time. There could still be another challenger throwing their hat in the ring and as they say in any crisis report the situation remains fluid. But Labour, we the people are watching, and many of us do not like what we see. Apparent self indulgent MPs playing games instead of doing their jobs is not a vote winner. The sooner we are back to a functioning Labour Party the better. Time and patience is after all running out. Op-ed: Following the majority vote for the UK to leave the European Union British politics is in free-fall. The two major political parties the Conservatives and the Labour Party are both experiencing a type of meltdown but the Tories to date have had an easier ride in the mainstream media. That could be changing. Andrea Leadsom is getting some bad press following a Times report that suggests she claimed that being a mother gave her an advantage over Theresa May in the fight to become prime minister. Saturday Leadsom called that report "disgusting." Theresa May and her husband are childless. It would not say much of our politicians if they could only relate to sections of "their" society. It would be difficult finding a black, Muslim of Asian decent with a white British mother from the north of England and a working class background and a father from a wealthy family in the south of England. It is pure nonsense. The Times report has to be aimed at undermining Leadsom's leadership challenge. The two women have real differences in that May is an experienced cabinet member and campaigned for the UK to stay in the EU and Leadsom is neither. Labour supporters who are used to Murdoch owned publications telling half truths, posting anonymous leaks and playing mind games will say welcome to the club! Snatching words out of context may sell publications but they paint a false picture. Murdoch wanted the UK to vote BRexit and we did. He apparently wanted Boris Johnson out of the Tory leadership race and Boris obligingly bowed out. Murdoch is having less success with manipulating who is leader of the Labour Party but it is work in progress. Jeremy Corbyn continues to be verbally attacked, berated, undermined, humiliated sometimes by his own MPs and more but he has shown "True Grit." Thatcher may have not been for turning and Corbyn is not going anywhere, yet. Sadly Jeremy Corbyn still has a huge battle ahead. Right wing sections of the Labour Party are fighting hard to lay claim to what they say is their party. Funnily enough Jeremy Corbyn is one of the few current MPs who has seen all this before first hand. He has represented his constituency for 30 years and watched old Labour spin into New Labour, lose its identity become unelectable and reach a crossroads. Either old new Labour win or true Labour win. Many of the Labour MPs acting like overgrown children right now are hardly old enough to remember a pre Tony Blair Labour era. A party split at that time was a failure for both sides. Long standing Labour voters will be looking on in horror as the party postures, procrastinates, launched a coup with only Plan A in place and has spent weeks infighting rather than acting like the country's official political opposition in the House of Commons. With rolling 24/7 news and online coverage it has been a very public school yard spat. If you add in some Labour MPs kindly feeding the mainstream media a series of negative spin and leaks the conclusion is the enemies are within. Does it make voters, party members and supporters feel good to see an exercise in this self indulgence? Neil Kinnock called by some the Welsh Windbag gave the Parliamentary Labour Party a talking to this week. That was "secretly" recorded presumably by a member of the PLP and splashed across the mainstream media. But if you listen to it expect to hear what resembles a drunken rant in a rowdy room of chavs. Labour games mean the Tories will get a free ride; the PLP have kindly taken the heat from the Tory Party. The Labour Party have been trying to force Jeremy Corbyn to resign since June 24 but the plot was hatched last year ahead of his election as party leader. There are enough msm reports online to confirm that. They had no plan B so opted for public resignations from the shadow cabinet, a non binding vote of no confidence and more. Across the country Constituency Labour Parties have by and large shown their support for Corbyn; that has led to the PLP dissing those party members and discounting their views. Negotiations between a Union boss and the PLP this week have failed. Friday night Michael Crick of Channel 4 news and others reported Angela Eagle would finally launch her long awaited leadership challenge Sunday or early Monday but deputy party leader Tom Watson refuted that to Crick on Twitter. That was because the talks were not complete. But that is the outcome Saturday. Was it always going to be a foregone conclusion? Saturday the Metro reports "Jeremy Corbyn set for Labour leadership challenge as peace talks go down the pan." We could soon have women leading the Tory Party, the country, the USA and the Labour Party. None of the current candidates in any of those elections would get my vote if I had one. There could be a general election in the UK but that is another story. The Labour Party has always aired its dirty washing in public but the last fortnight the majority of the PLP have reached new lows. They have a website dedicated to garnering supporters to remove Corbyn and questionable funding from questionable sources. Blair's old spin doctor Alastair Campbell reared his ugly Twitter head a fortnight ago as the coup kicked off. Has the party used members donations and subscriptions to fund the campaign to oust Corbyn? They have resorted to legal advice on leaving Labour and taking the name with them and even seeing if it is possible to keep Corbyn's name off a leadership challenge battle. But they have some fat friends funding them; are they buying our democracy? As I told my CLP this week I did not vote for Corbyn; I voted for Andy Burnham. But I always said I would respect the vote and I have. I am ashamed of the PLP and have reached a crossroads too. When my 85-year-old Labour Party member and voter neighbour says the same the PLP will have to accept the party has huge problems. Labour Party supporters tend to be well informed and we have been watching and waiting. The majority of the PLP are not happy with Corbyn and the majority of us are not happy with the PLP. Op-ed: If you are British or have a vote in the UK EU In / or referendum there is a fair chance you are sick to the back teeth with scaremongers, threats and downright lies. Both the in and the out camps have been playing fast and loose with the truth. The fact is no person has the benefit of a fully working crystal ball and what happens should we stay or leave is open to debate. Maintaining the status quo could be the best option if you are one of those "better the devil we know" types of vote. If you have been turned off the European Union over successive years and bad news stories you may believe it cannot get much worse if we skid addle. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is between a rock and a hard place on many matters and that includes the EU and the referendum. Some party members and his own MPs simply want him gone and fast and they are prepared to sacrifice our futures and future elections for that end. Saturday the Daily Mirror posted a piece titled” Jeremy Corbyn angers Labour MPs AGAIN by 'hijacking' appeal for unity over EU referendum" which begins "The Labour leader has been under fire over his 'lukewarm' campaigning on the EU issue and his latest meddling has further alienated his own MPs." Note the word meddling! That is a report from the Daily Mirror a left wing supporting publication at this time. It is not truly a Corbyn supporting publication though. That Mirror piece says: Jeremy Corbyn has angered his own MPs again over the EU referendumJeremy Corbyn was at odds with his own MPs tonight - after hijacking an appeal for party unity over the EU referendum. Part of the problem appears to be that Labour officials and MPs are not used to a man with principles leading the party; a man who is a stickler for his beliefs. Then there is the fact that many in the PLP, parliamentary Labour Party neither wanted nor support Mr Corbyn. The mainstream media has been quick to post damning reports on Corbyn in part as they get plenty of eyeballs and make money but in some cases as they prefer a watered down Tory Party in opposition rather than a true Labour Party. Labour MPs should consider blaming the Tory Party for the current EU referendum mess. UK PM David Cameron opted to allow his party to split over Europe; it was the only way to keep them in government. But both sides have said a great deal in anger that will be hard to ignore post the referendum June 23. The Tory Party is not just fractured it is collapsing. The MSM is pushing the two Tory campaigns, leave and stay and by and large ignoring the Labour Party, Lib Dems, Greens and others. So let the Tories get on with it. It is there referendum; Cameron promised it to win the GE2015 and it worked although there are allegations of Tory election overspending which is a criminal offence. Whichever way Mr Corbyn jumps as he tries to remain true to those who elected him party leader and himself he will be castigated. You can never please them all and in many ways Jeremy Corbyn cannot please many of them! Opinion: As the EU in / or referendum hots up Tory PM David Cameron is sharing a platform with Labour's new London Mayor Sadiq Khan but it is not a good look.
Catching a news clip Cameron announcing Khan as the son of a bus driver and himself as the son of a stockbroker was a new low. Slippery Cameron is well practised at using people and this time he is using Khan. It may be by mutual agreement but is damaging. Those who claim the EU referendum is so important party politics are abandoned haven't got a clue how most people's minds work. It looks like throwing your hand in with the devil and alienates many. Those in the so-called Westminster bubble, and this time we include paid political employees around the country, may be applauding but many ordinary folk and a fair few members of both parties will grimace. We have already seen images of an EU referendum photo-shoot with Dodgy Dave Cameron standing above former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown and former Labour leader Neil Kinnock. All three men were laughing but Cameron, used to offering style over substance, was strategically placed standing over the two-seated former leaders to look like he was in charge. One man is at least for now sticking to his guns and refusing to campaign across political boundaries and that is Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. While some have criticised Corbyn for taking that stance his principled determination offers a shining light of hope; hope that there is at least one person in British politics that is not for sale to the highest bidder. Make no mistake there are fortunes to be made or lost in politics and on the EU referendum. Bookies stand a chance of raking money in but so do others. These days it appears as if in many cases politicians and policy advisers in government are bought. You only have to look at policies such as fracking, which is not the best or cleanest way forward in the search for new green energy but is the government's choice. Someone somewhere is making big money out of each and every decision that will be made politically on fracking or else why is the government risking areas of the UK? In 2013 " Lord Howell, Tory, was forced to apologise after insensitive comments regarding fracking. Lord Howell of Guildford, Essex, told a shocked House of Lords fracking should happen in the North East because it is filled with "desolate areas". The gasps his words received should have warned the Lord that he had gone too far but it was probably water of a duck's, or should that be Lord's, back. He carried on digging himself into a huge hole. Perhaps he was looking for shale gas in the House of Lords?" Lord Howell is a former Tory energy minister and George Osborne’s father-in-law. Is there any wonder the electorate is sick to death of politicians and politics and tends to steer well clear of both? Too many people have been left believing our politicians are all the same meaning Jeremy Corbyn is a breath of fresh air to us all or rather he should and could be if in and out party backstabbing was controlled. Crossing swords at the weekend with one Labour MP and a Labour councillor in a Labour Party Forum on Facebook this writer was left in no uncertain terms that she was being derided. It was a double-sided attack and looking at timelines on Twitter it seemed booze may have been playing a part. Confessing that before last year she had never heard of Jeremy Corbyn she was mocked. She was trying to make a point but gave up. (Serious debate was not on the cards. After all she had posted a link to our report and obviously hit a nerve). She is one of that breed of working-class women who has worked for a living never expecting or receiving helping hands along the way. She has always had an interest in politics but no time to hand over apart from consistently voting for the Labour Party. To be fair she was not ambitious and opted to work to live not live to work. But should that make her spot ball for two silly young Labour men who should know better? The two men come from the Blairite camp which is relevant. They obviously have old history with Corbyn though it cannot date back very far looking at their images unless they are fake. My point was for most ordinary voters Jeremy Corbyn was an unknown quantity. They or we will judge him on his actions now. That is why constant undermining by highly paid Labour MPS and others directly linked to the party who are feeding the mainstream media a diet of anti-Corbyn drivel are self-servatives and the very people voters like to say are "all the same". But back to Sadiq Khan. Ed Miliband was persuaded to join forces with Cameron and hot foot it to Scotland to try and impact on the independence referendum. When that referendum was over and Cameron began breaking promises and screwing with the Scottish people their anger turned toward the Labour Party and Ed Miliband. David Cameron was re-elected in the 2015 General Election and as they say the rest is history. Khan may feel he is sitting comfortable as he has just won the London Mayoral election but and it is a big but. During the mayoral race the Tories including Cameron ran a dirty campaign. They accused Khan of sharing a platform with Hamas; of sharing a platform with extremists and I had to note Monday he is now sharing with the biggest extremist of them all David Cameron. The Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith played it dirty from day one but after the election his friends tried blaming campaign managers. While there is something appealing about playing the bigger man or woman joining forces with David Cameron however briefly does not fall into that category. It is many things but overall it is a terrible image. Perhaps Khan does not care as the main damage could be to Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters? The MSM now claim that Khan as mayor is on a footing with the Prime Minister but that is bunkum. All that does is say once again North of Watford clear off. People like this writer living well outside of London will shake our heads in dismay. Twitter Bank Holiday Monday - David Cameron Verified account @David_Cameron 7h Today Sadiq Khan and I will set aside our differences to show how remaining in Europe guarantees we are better off. Is that the Royal WE? Op-ed: Thursday this blogger will be out voting in local council and PCC elections. Paula Baxter, Labour, a local woman who knows and understands the many challenges voters face on a daily basis will get my vote in Boothferry Hull Ward. Humberside PCC candidate Keith Hunter, Labour, will also be my choice. In 2016 local council and PCC elections are more important than ever to Labour voters. The Conservative party is tearing itself apart over the upcoming in / out EU referendum but unless you look closely you may miss that; the mainstream right-wing section of the media is concentrating on Labour party woes which are part of a Tory smear campaign. So first the Tories who are:
But when they are on the ropes the so-called Nasty Party, the Tories, run true to form. In the House of Commons Thursday Chris Grayling, Tory and Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons since 2015, used and abused parliamentary privilege. He made vague allegations against Labour's Humberside PCC candidate Keith Hunter. The Yorkshire Post reported Thursday "Mr Grayling was responding to a question in the Commons today from Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy over whether former police officers standing to become PCCs should be forced to make public their service records.The Leader of the Commons responded: “I am aware of allegations about the Labour PCC candidate in Humberside. “If the stories alleged about that candidate are true, he is unfit for public office, and it is a matter of public interest that the truth should be known before election day."” So there the 'allegation' sits festering in the air ahead of the election. Andrew Percy later tried distancing himself from Grayling's naming and news channels reported Thursday night that Grayling's office had not responded to requests for comment. He has still not responded. Sunday the affair was mentioned on the BBC morning political shows along with the John Mann and Ken Livingstone row that has been grabbing headlines since Thursday. Helped along by backstabbers within the party, those wanting to oust Jeremy Corbyn as leader, the right-wing is having a field day; and that includes the right-wing of Labour. As I type BBC lunchtime News again has Jeremy Corbyn, John Mann and Ken Livingstone as the lead story this time with London Mayor candidate Sadiq Khan thrown in for good measure. The top billing spot should tell you all you need to know; it is a smear campaign pure and simple. In Humberside the current PCC and up for re-election is Tory Matthew Groves. Mr Hunter has accused Groves of failing in the role he has held since 2012. Grayling and his colleagues have a vested interest in ensuring Groves is re-elected and follows the party line on policing. A spokesman for Mr Hunter said: “Keith has an exemplary record from 30 years’ service for Humberside Police with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of the Constabulary stating he made ‘an outstanding contribution to performance in all his posts’. And Sunday the smear hangs in the air possibly affecting how some people will vote. If you are a Labour supporter in Humberside voting locally has never been so important. Tory and Ukip voters will be out in force and we must follow suit. If you support Jeremy Corbyn as Labour party leader ignore the hype, smears, right-wing media manipulation and backstabbers in the party and send a message to the Parliamentary Labour Party and the Tories. Labour often lose out to voter apathy but not this time if you play your part. PCCs are a fairly new and Tory concept. But like it or lump it they are here to stay at least for the foreseeable future. Thursday May 5 get out and vote and make that vote count. Under the terms of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, PCCs must: http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/how-we-work
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/grayling-raises-labour-candidate-allegations-1-7882517 http://www.apccs.police.uk/role-of-the-pcc/ Op-ed: Friday we posted "Not murder when an Israeli kills a helpless Palestinian." It was an opinion piece written by a retired teacher in Canada-a person who could never be seriously accused of being anti-Semitic or racist. It openly shares an opinion and it does not have a hidden agenda nor is it aimed at misleading the reader. That cannot be said for "Anti-Semitism at the heart of Corbyn's Labour Party: Devastating dossier exposes how extensive anti-Jewish bigotry is in Labour and poses profoundly troubling questions its leaders MUST answer" posted by the Mail Online Saturday. That piece begins "To the duffel-coated members of Labour’s ‘loony Left’, one particular weekly newspaper was, for much of the Eighties, required reading" but is that relevant in 2016? That lead into the story however must tell you all you need to know about its credibility? If you want an idea of the standard of journalism at the Mail Online consider that Katie Hopkins, previously a columnist at the Sun, joined the team in September 2015 days after Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party. If you are British you must have heard of Hopkins who has made her name and paid the bills out of abuse and sensationalist headlines such as: Petition against Katie Hopkins passes 250,000 mark Katie Hopkins attacks Kelly Clarkson again Katie Hopkins seeks personal attention out of the death of Cilla Black So how credible is Saturday's piece in the Mail? It uses information from the past, social media and Bitterities within the Labour party to craft an article which sensationalises a perceived anti-Semitic view allegedly running rampant in the Labour Party. You will need to read it carefully and perhaps more than once to see that it is in many ways out of time and a false flag. Are some so desperate to remove Jeremy Corbyn as party leader and John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor that they are prepared to rake up old history and to sacrifice local elections scheduled for May? But in all political parties there are rogue elements. Tory Grant Schapps resigns amid bullying scandal for example. Sometimes it is the young who have a passion for politics, life and fair play. The first, a passion for politics, appears to have been true of PM David Cameron who allegedly in 1985 was a top member of the "Federation of Conservative Students, which produced the "Hang Mandela" posters. In 1989, Cameron worked in the Tory Policy Unit at Central Office and went on an anti-sanctions fact-finding mission to South Africa with a pro-apartheid lobby firm sponsored by PW Botha." The Independent wrote in 2009 "The trip by Mr Cameron in 1989, when he was a rising star of the Conservative Research Department, was a chance for him to "see for himself" and was funded by a firm that lobbied against the imposition of sanctions on the apartheid regime." Two wrongs do not make a right and calling all who criticise Israel - when it invades a neighbouring country and kills many, grabs land, appears to want to squeeze another small nation into oblivion and encircles that small country with a huge wall turning it into the world's largest open air concentration camp - anti-Semitic is plain wrong. This writer is not bigoted but nor is she naive enough not to realise that there may be elements in any political party with hidden agendas, and there may be "double agents" of sorts, trying to help the other side along. And of course money rules. The piece in the Mail Online uses social media posts to attack individuals. In one case it attacks a fair-minded individual who became embroiled in tit for tat debates on social media. During the last Israeli invasion of Gaza passions ran high. Can you really use a social media post in the heat of the moment to attack an individual's credibility? Hypocrisy rules in 2016. Raking up old news to cobble a story together can result in many things but is it really news? Still we have taken a small leaf out of the Mail Online's book of journalism to see where it leads. As for social media it can be many things including interesting, manipulated, funny, abusive, paid for, misinterpreted, taken out of context, polite, vile and at times far from social. And there are many forums online. Those that are closed are rarely invitation only; people tend to ask to join and are accepted or not. Why they join is relevant. Administrators of these groups face huge 24/7 challenges monitoring conversations, watching out for trolls, banning abusers and weeding out those with hidden agendas. That means invariably some problems from time to time but many of the political forums enable people to get together and share ideas and knowledge. Perhaps Labour needs to start fielding members to Tory forums, so they can copy text out of context and allow the mainstream media to manipulate politics ahead of elections? Finding a left-wing mainstream media source however could prove tricky. May 5, 2016, Vote Labour and ignore the right-wing hype. Remember WE are Labour, not the Bitterites or high-profile personalities. Op-ed: John Woodcock, he of the infamous labour list-gate tweet, an MP who claimed when challenged that was not a prompt to the MSM, has given the Daily Mirror an exclusive backstabbing article. As he grumbles about 'in such a week' Labour did not manage to gain the political upper hand you might like this writer be tempted to say 'how could they with self-serving enemies such as you working from within'. Perhaps if the Bitterites spent more time working to unite the party and support their democratically elected leader as he grows into his new role as leader of the opposition we would be getting somewhere. Who fed the labour list to the Times into Cameron's grubby Tory hands - who can really tell? But Mr Woodcock now has to be the prime suspect. Perhaps it was a list he drew up and was keeping as he and his associates continue to waste time, energy and yes our money on plotting a coup to oust Mr Corbyn. This brief rant of mine will not have the style and wordiness of Woodcock's but then he obviously has little real work to do. This retired OAP finds writing reports that try to hold the Tories to account, informing people about what is really happening and writing responses to Bitterite political shenanigans time consuming. But write she and others must. Maybe these Bitterites are going to work by the Tory game plan of he who shouts loudest will be heard. I would say to that empty vessels make the most noise. Few Labour supporters are surprised at bully boy tactics from Lord Snot David Cameron and his sidekick alleged cokehead Gideon George Osborne but from a Labour MP? Woodock may have felt anger at his boss during PMQs but I felt anger at Cameron and his cronies. If Woodcok had not been busy tweeting to his sources he too may have seen Cameron all pumped up, red in the face, hot under the collar and falling back into Tory boy mode. It was not a pretty sight or a vote winner for most ordinary people of the UK. Woodcock may feel Corbyn did not use what could have been political advantage but maybe his different style of politics will allow Cameron and his government to hang themselves. But no little Johnnie Woodcock prefers to run to the media and try to stir up more problems within the party. He seems upset we do not have a Bitterite clone leading the charge these days. Being somewhat older than Mr Woodcock I have witnessed many party leaders stumble along the way as they settle into their new role. That goes for all political parties. But I have never witnessed such open hatred, disrespect and more for a man who has taken on the challenge of leading the Labour Party. Corbyn does right to be the kind of Labour he and his supporters want; no doubt the likes of Woodcock were one reason Ed Miliband was pushed to play the Tory party PMQs games. But how quickly he was dumped when he failed to win the GE 2015. Perhaps the time for a kinder politics has gone and a series of deselections or demotions is the only way forward for Labour. Feel free to comment below but please no urls and links as they are often broken. Keep it polite, within reason, but let's tell the likes of Woodcock what we think right here and right now. |
British political scene
The next General Election in the UK may not be scheduled any time soon but the British political landscape is changing. With that in mind this blog will concentrate on the political scene but with a left wing perspective. Opinion pieces and news will bring you the stories that the MSM prefer to ignore. Archives
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