An open letter to Angela Eagle

5/7/2016

Dear Angela

I read about you saying that Labour members and voters want rid of Corbyn and you can do it.

I live in a small deprived working class town in an area where 72% of people voted to leave the EU.

At the turn of the millenium it had a strong Labour presence running the town council and a number of councillors on the district council and had narrowly failed to take the safe Tory Westminster seat.

By the middle of the decade the party had been wiped out totally and a few years ago was replaced by UKIP as the party for working class voters. Many of those UKIP voters hate Cameron and the Tories but would not turn to Labour again at the last general election, instead they voted UKIP.

Over the past 9 months the membership of the local party has more than doubled, some new, some returning.

We were just beginning to connect with local voters again when along comes this ridiculous, unconstitutional, undemocratic coup. There was no lack of confidence in Jeremy until you lot of plotters started creating yet another lie.

If you think that Labour will be more electable without Jeremy Corbyn you have about as much nous as a duck that makes its home in the desert.

When people attending the local foodbank, where I used to volunteer, tell me they felt betrayed by Labour nor would vote for them again, that is the Labour Party that you were part of, take notice.

That is why we could not win the last 2 elections.

Getting rid of Corbyn is no magic wand in fact just the opposite.

You, Cooper, Hilary Benn and others are all part of the New Labour that decimated the Labour party amongst deprived working class people.

No leader could overcome the legacy you left this party, in just 9 months. It is time you stopped going on national media talking about you being able to solve the problems in the Labour Party.

It is like trying to put out a fire with petrol. The ordinary working class voters rejected you and your policies at the last 3 general elections and in the EU referendum. Stop behaving like a Tory and blaming someone else for your failings.

If you want to make Labour electable at the next election it is time for all MPs to get behind the leader and campaign for anti-austerity, anti-neoliberal polices.

It won’t be easy, but it is impossible, with a traitorous PLP in the party’s midst.

It is time to rid this party of the malevolent shadow of Mandelson, Campbell and Blair if we want to be relevant to the future of this country.

Regards
Sue Dockett
Member NE Cambs CLP

angelaeagle2015@outlook.com
eaglea@parliament.uk

117 Comments

Andrew Hutchings

6/7/2016 12:10:29 am

The above letter speaks for the real Labour party and it's members.
It is time that the likes of Andrea Eagle realised who they actually represent.
It is time that the PLP tail stopped wagging the party dog .
What these rebels are doing is at best undemocratic, becase it is a coup against a leader who was voted in by the grass roots members by a huge majority.
At the end of the day the opinion of the likes of Angela Eagle is worth no more than any other party member and the opinions of the vast majority of the Labour party members is that she should empty her desk, pack her bags and leave.

Claudine

6/7/2016 11:07:10 am

Concur..

The opinions of the vast majority of the Labour party members is that MS
EAGLE should empty her desk, pack her bags and leave.

Ann Mulqueen

7/7/2016 08:31:17 am

Please reply to this plea Angela.

Ann McNee

6/7/2016 02:21:47 pm

thank you Sue just how I and many other Labour Party Members think

Ann Mulqueen

7/7/2016 08:28:58 am

I would dearly love Angela to reply to this plea.

Ruth Behan

7/7/2016 03:11:31 pm

Its no good being electable if this means you are a liar .People are not as stupid as some politicians think and they are totally fed up to the back teeth of smarmy expense fiddling career politicians . You should just be grateful that you have Jeremy Corbyn who so far as anyone can make out is an honest and intelligent person who has the experience to lead the party.

Zarina Bhatia

8/7/2016 03:11:31 pm

If only she would understand people's opinion on her!

7/7/2016 03:47:18 pm

Just like to agree all that's been said.The Labour party need to remember who voted for Jeremy Corbyn. Grass roots Labour voters who continue to support and respect him

Trisha

8/7/2016 03:45:10 pm

I understand many people were paid £3 to join & vote Labour!! Oh yes Corbyn is honest!!

Ian

9/7/2016 06:11:10 am

Trish just 1 error in your statement, people paid £3 to have a vote they didnt get paid £3.

Yvette Holden

7/7/2016 04:57:12 pm

Totally agree the PLP are put of touch Eagle, Watson etc need to go they no longer share the members views and their bully tactics was beyond belief! They are deluded out of touch traitorous liars who will rear their ugly heads again!

Joseph Paglia

8/7/2016 04:56:44 pm

QUOTE YOU...Trisha8/7/2016 15:45:10
I understand many people were paid £3 to join & vote Labour!

Are you having a laugh???

You need to try using whatever brain cells you have left and do some thinking.

People paid the £3 to become Labour supporters and then vote whatever way they chose!!!

James

7/7/2016 09:14:05 pm

I hope My Eagle reads this and the comments. I have never voted labour in my life,but after JC became leader I became a member. I and many of the people I know have a renewed interest in politics. They have a renewed interest in the Labour Party all because of Jeremy. He is an enigma. He is quite clearly a thoughtful and fair minded man. Above all he is honest. A rarity for politicians and perhaps why the Blairites hate him so much. They think he is unbeatable. Quite the opposite. He's the most electable politician of any party. The Beauties are clearly out if touch with the electorate. We are sick of lying politicians. We are sick of politicians who are out for themselves rather than for the constituents they serve. We are sick of policies that attack the mist vulnerable, that spread divisiveness and hate by demonising sections of society, so that no-one cares how they are treated. We are sick of disloyal politicians, backstabbers and plotters.
We need someone who gives anxious consideration to the country's situation and does so because he cares. We need Jeremy Corbyn. If Me Eagle and her peers would not only support Jeremy, but truly follow his lead and emulate him, they would wipe the floor without Tories. He has my vote for the first time in my life. Without him I'm not so sure.

James

7/7/2016 09:21:17 pm

My my I hate auto correct. Hope people can make sense of above. Unbeatable should be unelectable. Beauties should be Blairites. Etc etc.

Andrew Marsh

7/7/2016 11:11:04 pm

Well said! Your definition of a labour party member is spot on. And Angela, you and all the other BACKSTABBING COWARDS should hang your heads in shame and apologise to your DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED LEADER and settle back down again - cos you have done some good work in the past before you got above yourself - to do the job you get paid very handsomely to do. And remember, voters are fickle. They remember the things they read and hear about an MP because, unlike what lots of you turncoats think, we voters DO have working brains in our heads and can usually spot a bullmucker wuite easily. So your next electoral campaign may just not be a given, for you to keep your seat. Now go back to work like a goid girl.

Nat Stapping

11/7/2016 11:50:57 pm

You were doing so well until you decided to be patronisingly sexist, Andrew. Whether or not you approve of Angela Eagle's membership bid there is no call for your last sentence. You just negated everything else you wrote, with those nine words.

robert brian king

8/7/2016 05:51:12 am

you forgot to mention lying deceitful jealous callous and stop telling everyone you are receiving homophobic letters and death threats from corbynites

Annie Weatherly-Barton

10/7/2016 11:15:05 pm

I cannot believe she would try that on. Pink News Twitter feed was full of it last night. Did they get a pasting from other tweeters.

How anyone can believe her now I don't know. Given that she cried in front of news cameras having to resign from Corbyn's cabinet, and then we're told she put up her leadership blog 3 days before? How utterly deceitful can you get. It is truly sad all this stuff.

I cannot help feeling she is being used by the coup and she will be humiliated in this election. As they say: be careful what you wish for!!!

Jack Harrison.

8/7/2016 06:24:53 am

I agree with the Open Letter and the 1st reply above.

It may be my cynicism, but haven't the PLP traitors gone very quiet since Wednesday? Hmmm.
Frightened they'll come for you as well as Blair?

Could it be, that the past two General Elections and the EU issue have taught the PLP rebels nothing; or are they incapable of realising (on their cosy Commons salary), that they are SO out of touch with the UK's poorest people?

The Cameron regimes, went for the most vulnerable citizens, whilst New Labour not only stood by, but also agreed with their policies. See Hansard for the record.
They might find the record [since 2010] hard to swallow, but not as hard as the Chilcott Report, eh Angie?

Cameron= a millionaire, went for the poorest and most vulnerable; knowing they are least likely to hit back. How can someone warm and well fed, understand someone who is not?

Eagle and her gang of PLP traitors stabbed both Corbyn AND the nation in the back. BUT we have a long memory. And what goes around always comes around. We CAN re-call MPs besides elect them.

Jack Harrison.

Annie Weatherly-Barton

10/7/2016 11:16:04 pm

YES YES YES.

Zarina Bhatia

8/7/2016 03:05:39 pm

Spot on, No place for PLP

Bob Entwistle

9/7/2016 09:34:55 pm

Angele’s voting record:
For:
• The invasion of Iraq
• Airstrikes on Syria
• Airstrikes on Iraq
• Increase in University Tuition Fees
• Introduction of ID cards
• Stricter asylum laws
• Detention without charge for 90 days
• Heathrow expansion
• Retention of Trident nuclear weapons

Against:
• Investigation into Iraq War

Abstained:
• Workforce (forcing jobseekers to do unpaid work)
• Tory Welfare Bill with £12bn of cuts to public services

Alan Donovan

9/7/2016 11:30:00 pm

If this is seriously the best they could find to go up against Jeremy Corbyn they are having a laugh

Cynth Merseyside link

11/7/2016 01:03:38 pm

Thanks Bob, you have helped put things into perspective. She is my MP and I have been absolutely in despair at her voting pattern...her disloyalty to her leader and to her own grass-roots I find despicable. I am a Green Party activist, and every one I come into contact with has similar or stronger views on her disloyalty. Many like me historically disaffected from the Labour Party because of right-wing, hidden allegiance in voting by what we may suspect is a cabal?

Paul Unwin

13/7/2016 10:10:49 am

She was following the party whip. JC never did. Of course their records are different.

Annie Weatherly-Barton

10/7/2016 11:09:14 pm

This is just a corker of a letter. Thank you so much Sue. Loved the turns of phrases, ducks in desert & fire with petrol. Sensational stuff.

You are talking my language Sue.

I wrote to Neil Kinnock yesterday as I was so fed it with all this stuff. I put it on Twitter - but Kinnock was fake, so sent it on to constituency office and to the Guardian. There is another corker piece on FB. People are absolutely incensed with this stuff.

BBC spoke to Angela Eagle's CLP tonight and asked him what he thought of Ms Eagle taking on the leadership. He said: "She's a fine MP and she has the right to stand, but she is not a leader!" Not a ringing endorsement aye? Mind you, Ms Eagle's CLP supports Corbyn!!

Brilliant piece, Sue. Just brilliant.

Barbara Williams

6/7/2016 06:32:22 am

Well said, the only way for Labour is to get behind Corbyn!
PLP members have been holding safe seats for far too long they have forgotten what life is like for ex-industrial areas of the U.K.

Ann Mulqueen

7/7/2016 08:34:07 am

I look forward to a reply!

James Birkett link

7/7/2016 04:12:06 pm

The reason for the lack of industry in the uk is simple. The Tories and new labour have devastated our hard fought for industry. While ushering in the evil of Agenda 21. Other wise known as The New World Order. Keep these red Tories on the run.

Eileen

6/7/2016 11:24:07 am

Well said Sue and I think you speak for many of us

Martyn Wilkins

6/7/2016 08:57:32 pm

She does!!!

linda Webb-Thornton link

6/7/2016 11:34:17 am

Brilliant piece. You speak for us all. Thank you. Corbyn is the leader end of. In my opinion those who resigned should leave the party and the rest of them who followed like sheep should go as well.

Adam Powell

6/7/2016 12:36:32 pm

I think that is an excellent letter, Eileen. I don't think that Angela Eagle and her 171 followers have yet connected that Jeremy Corbyn is successfully weaning people off UKIP when they themselves have no strategy for this.

carole hope

6/7/2016 01:44:01 pm

l fully endorse the contents of this open letter, we have suffered badly and need change, l think the only solution is to move forward, and rid the party of the remnants of the Blair era, they have bought nothing but shame and division, l am so disappointed in the people involved with the #labourcoup, they now must hang their heads and leave.

Martin Price

6/7/2016 01:44:08 pm

Angela, just leave our Jeremy alone.

Lesley Bees

6/7/2016 07:15:53 pm

Great letter, I think you speak for a lot of people. It will be interesting to see her response.

Emma pickering

6/7/2016 07:21:13 pm

I fully concur with all this letter states.

Dave Quinn

6/7/2016 09:06:33 pm

Spot on! Well done

Andrew Adams link

6/7/2016 09:23:47 pm

On this momentous day of the publishing of the Chilcot report the despicable actions of PLP Labour Mps and in peticular Ian Austin heckling their Leader Jeremy Corbyn in his response to the findings of this enquiry is an affront to democracy and insulting to the War in Iraq victims and families .Sadly a line was crossed today by these so called representatives of the electorate and they must be held accountable for their deporable actions.

Ann Mulqueen link

7/7/2016 08:53:54 am

No one should be above the law. People in positions of power and authority who cross the line should be brought to justice for any wrong doing. Politicians who deceive the public should especially be brought to answer in a law court for their grievous crimes of misleading the public which could lead to wars and other great atrocities.

ARNOL JAMIESON

7/7/2016 09:27:09 am

I have voted Labour for over 50 years as a working class person. This is a very good letter & I hope she does read it & the comments, then do the right thing stand down from the party then resign as MP.
Blair fooled us all for a short time until we realised he was a red tory & almost destroyed our party, as it was proved in Scotland. If they did win then Labour would be consigned to the history books.

Maggi Adams

7/7/2016 10:04:32 am

The rebranding of the Labour Party is inevitable. It should be called (under Jeremy Corbyn) THE REAL LABOUR PARTY. Whaddya think? Treacherous Blairites can stick with the thoroughly discredited New Labour.

Paul Gifford

7/7/2016 10:08:39 am

Excellent letter, I agree 100% with your comments.

Ellie

7/7/2016 10:24:40 am

Extremely well written and on point. Well said. I think you speak for the majority of labour voters when you say that.

Ms Eagle however will not reply, there are many reasons for this, the first of which is that she resigned from her duties but still expects to be paid, absurd,".

The second is as already displayed by her behaviours ms Eagle is nothing more than a coward. The undermining, embarrassing, bully boy tactics that she has shown over the last 14 days have been utterly disgusting and I speak for a large majority when I say that if mr Corbyn was forced out due to these despicable behaviours many would never ever vote labour again. Her behaviours toward a man who has managed to almost treble the labour party's membership speak volumes about her and her "coup" than they do of mr Corbyn.

Personally I would like to see these career politicians, who don't really want to do any work put their money where their mouths are and pack up and go. We need a fully supported Labour Party and leader and the leader has our full support where you and your fellow accomplices have lost our support.

Ms Eagle was only favourite because Andy Burnham wouldn't stand against our leader and wouldn't indulge in the games they played. At best ms Eagle was a consolation prize.

I wouldn't expect a reply from her for the reasons I've listed.

But I have to say it's extremely well written and on point.

Thank you

Elaine Pattison link

7/7/2016 10:44:51 am

Change is always opposed, Corbyn is perceived as a threat to the traditional political classes. He does not fit the political mold therefore he must be removed.
We need the likes of Jeremy Corbyn, we need reform, there is no one else in Parliament who is even remotely capable of bringing about change. However, he cannot work alone, a new broom needs to sweep away old debris. Where are the capable like minded labour MP's? I for one would like to see more more Corbyns at his side.

Kate bennett

7/7/2016 11:06:38 am

Grow up Angela Eagle. Stop the fighting & whinging. You don't seem to realise what a treasure we have in Jeremy Corbyn.
The lot of you need to support him , so stop the petty jealousies none you that started this ridiculous so called 'coup' aren't fit to kiss his feet.
Just get on with it or sod off altogether .

Tony Kitchen

7/7/2016 11:19:56 am

Well said , agree wholeheartedly.

Yvonne Douglas

7/7/2016 12:40:28 pm

Pooped in your own nest, time to go.

Michelle McKay link

7/7/2016 03:28:07 pm

Jeremy Corbyn as leader is the only way Labour wil win the next election! How deluded must she be not to see this?

Ruth Sharpe link

7/7/2016 04:35:48 pm

In view of Blair's alleged duplicity when in power, the Brexit Leaders neo-nazi lies and propaganda, Cameron's scam to get more money from the poor (more subtle than the Lottery), Leadsoms claim to be Brexiter when she had asserted her EU loyalty three years ago, and May's assertion now to be a Brexiter despite campaigning for remain , wouldn't it be wonderful to have an honest politician, one who stood up to Tony Blair over Iraq and challenged him , a prime minister of integrity, vision, and constant in what he stood for and believed in and give politics a better name. What a pity that that we can't find someone for the Labour Party like that? I remember now the PLP doesn't like honesty and integrity and will break their own rules to vilify that hideous monster that is rarer than the Yeti - a politician of principles.

Louisa St Bartholomew-Brown Morgan

7/7/2016 04:13:23 pm

The O'Jays "Back Stabbers" song is very befitting.

Victoria Priestley

7/7/2016 04:44:49 pm

A great letter. Thank you..

Gaynor Wall

7/7/2016 05:20:44 pm

Angela have you even spoken to the constituents that you are paid to represent regarding this attempted coup? Have they encouraged you to turn on Jeremy Corbyn? Have you ever seen such an outpouring of support for any other leader. How on earth do you think you or anybody else could replace Mr Corbyn? It is time to search your heart and put the people of Britain before your own prejudice. Remember you and all politicians are servants of the public - it seems that Mr Corbyn is the only politician who acts for the greater good.

Annie Weatherly-Barton

10/7/2016 11:19:51 pm

Therein lies the rub. None of these people come out to meet people in their area. Too busy trying to find what they can claim through their expenses; How much money they can shift offshore so they don't pay tax; how many times they can flip their homes in order to claim more money from the taxpayer.

Unbelievable.

Sav

7/7/2016 05:13:07 pm

I fully agree with everything said above, it's time for the whole labour party to get behind the elected leader, those days of the MP's deciding are long gone, if you and any other MP aren't happy with JC then I would suggest that you leave the party, go work at McD's or something and give the proper labour candidates a chance so we can get this country back on it's feet, keep hassling JC to resign and all of your jobs are on line, no one likes a back-stabber.

Clair

7/7/2016 05:38:43 pm

I'm sick and tired of these people trying to oust the one person who is inspiring new membership and is bringing Labour back to where it started. If they dislike it so much, how about they leave? They're trying Tory tactics to get rid of him but are so stupid as to be caught out in lies and cheating!!
Just leave, we the actual Labour members, don't want you!

Pam C

7/7/2016 08:06:45 pm

Angela, you are seriously deluded if you think you can take the Labour Party forward. Jeremy Corbyn has connected with the people of this country, we like his dignity. We don't want spin, we want a person who will lead this country with decency and honest values.

John

7/7/2016 08:16:34 pm

I was a lifelong Labour voter but have, for several years now felt disenfranchised. I could not contemplate voting for anyone else, but neither could I vote for what Labour had become. It is only now, with the opportunity to support real change, in the form of Jeremy Corbin, that I feel able to join the Labour Party and fight for an honest, principled, compassionate leader with true Labour Party values

dave thawley

7/7/2016 08:34:32 pm

Great letter. I am 100% behind you

Bridget Maingi link

7/7/2016 09:10:01 pm

Sue, you hit the nail where it supposed to be
You have seen hearts of many and spoke on our behalf
Angela need to speak to the majority to understand the feelings of middle working class.
It will be nice to support Jeremy, he has the answer to our problems and rebuild our economy
Thanks Sue

Beverly Brown

7/7/2016 09:40:12 pm

I agree 100%, they all need to grow up.

SUSAN PHILLIPS

7/7/2016 09:52:53 pm

I agree totally with every word of the statement above from Sue Dockett and it SHOULD be sent to Angela Eagle. The attempted overthrow of Jeremy Corbyn by the Blairites is against what I believe the Labour Party stands for.

Wendy Whiteman

8/7/2016 12:18:10 am

This letters sums up my own experiences in Kent. People have been so turned off by the labour party having virtually the same policies as the Torys in recent years. The phrase Tory light is entirely apt and entirely derogatory. If we wanted Tory policies we would have voted for them. The Blairite PLP had no alternative policies just very slightly watered down version of the same.
Then along came Jeremy Corbyn who was prepared to come up with some real alternatives. Well thought out policies to stop the insidious redistribution of wealth to the capitalists and the dreadful erosion of rights that were hard won by unions over many years.
He is a breath of fresh sir and has totally invigorated the party and set it back on the right track.
If you are honest you must admit you have never even given him a chance. He is different and does things differently and none of you and your fellow plotters liked that. The electorate however is sick to death of the silly behaviour of MPs. PM question time was like some silly toff school debating society and we welcomed someone who actually behaved like a grown up. We will continue to support JC and under his guidance we could have a good chance of winning the next election.
If you successfully depose Jeremy that is an impossibility. We will never vote for you and the party will dwindle away to obscurity. For gods sake woman even your own constituency isn't backing you.... see some sense!

Jack Harrison

9/7/2016 12:03:03 pm

What a wonderful reply. And clearly with the same theme and feelings here.

I cannot rejoin the party in it's current for and I'm not moving house politically again. BUT that said, I support JC in spirit, and unlike the unhealthy coven, we never sold or gave our principles away.

Outside an Election Count in 2011, I asked a group of labour members about Clause 4; all old enough to remember it; and they replied "What's that"?
No more to be said I thought and quickly moved on. lol.

Some in Labour were told they no longer need to struggle after 1997, but the struggle is still on for the soul of the LP and the working class NEED protecting and representation again the Eagle clan and her sort; meaning closet and OUT Tories.

Jack.

can ice hogan

8/7/2016 02:22:41 am

It's so blantently obvious that corbyn is telling it as it is one hundred percent if Tony Benn were alive he'd be so proud of him me thinks the ones that protest the loudest against corbyn leadership are the very ones that are doing most of the damage .Theresa may will be the new pm and the debates will be charged with corbyn and herself it's now more important than ever to have a person of conviction during the next few years as UK changes post EU

MR M D BUTCHER

8/7/2016 06:38:36 am

Well said, very well said.

Lee Nixon

8/7/2016 08:03:25 am

Nail on the head. Totally agree. I'm not only sick and tired of the self-serving careerists and their political style, I'm also sick of being told that people don't support Corbyn. Saying it won't make it true.

Noel

8/7/2016 10:06:31 am

+1 please do us a favour and clear your desk, you clearly misunderstand the shift in public opinion and are completely detached from the membership.

John

8/7/2016 10:50:05 am

Angela Eagle should note what happened to back-stabbing Gove in the Tory Leader election.
Those who wield the knife rarely win the crown.
A snowball in a hot oven has more chance than her.

jim pugh

8/7/2016 11:02:00 am

Spot on.

Rob Conlin

8/7/2016 11:10:36 am

The disgraceful attacks on Jeremy have been given credence by the government propaganda service, the BBC.
You know he has the blue and red tories on the back foot when Davy Cameron tells him he to go.
I STAND BY JEREMY, the traitors Must resign NOW.

stephanie mcalea

8/7/2016 11:38:36 am

Agreed. I find it a little odd that Angela keeps asking for jeremy to "do the right thing" when she keeps ignoring her own constituency who want her to do the right thing by Corbyn.

Martin Hughes

8/7/2016 12:21:59 pm

I am in favour of a leadership election. I am not in favour of a protracted campaign of undermining of the current Labour Leader. The political environment has changed massively since JC was elected and the party has been through a lot of turmoil. In 1988, Tony Benn put himself forward for Leader of the Party. It is not anti-democratic to trigger the procedure for an election, it is in the rules. What I don't like though is the sniping and plotting and attempts at destabilisation. If there are those within our Party who think they can do a better job, then they need to apply for the job. Then the members will decide. If I were JC I would trigger it myself. This is the way to resolve the issue.

M Jervis

8/7/2016 09:07:24 pm

I totally agree with that letter. The past year since I started noticing Jeremy Corbyn I joined the Labour party this being the first and only political affiliation in my long adult life. Utterly frustrated that Angela Eagle and her band of bad losers have tried to ruin the the newly new and refreshed progressive political party at the very time they should be seizing the opportunity to fill a gap and draw attention for their (Corbyn's) relevant policies instead they have decided to draw attention to their utter lack of integrity.

Ijaz

8/7/2016 10:26:42 pm

Shamefull Angela

It seems it's time for you to do the honourable thing and resign

Val moon

8/7/2016 10:33:59 pm

Thank you Sue and all those who have rallied to her cry.. It is interesting that there is no response from the PLP.
I wonder if anyone would have the courage to address the very real home truths presented in Sues letter

Janet MacIntyre

9/7/2016 12:08:06 am

Really stonking open letter to Angela Eagle, I heartily agree with everything said.

Jonathan Russell

9/7/2016 01:58:35 am

This Green Party member, a Labour voter in exile, couldn't agree more. The failed coup was a squalid little affair, a pathetic attempt to put a pro-war, pro-Blair poodle at the head of the Labour party. I haven't voted Labour since 1997. Without Jeremy Corbyn as leader that will be unlikely to change. Take heed, Benn, Eagle, et al.

Nurul Kadir

9/7/2016 11:18:54 am

I wholeheartedly agree with the above statement . I made similar comment before on Facebook pages .
Those disgusting PLP should leave and join Tory and other Parties and allow JC and his team to rejuvenate the Labour Party .
The New Labour was rotten and now moriband
and will die soon .
Britain and World would be a better place if these crooks could be eliminated from the body of British Labour Party politics .

Ross Davies

9/7/2016 08:05:47 pm

How can we take these people back? The Labour Party is about democracy and inclusion. Here we have 171 people who think their votes are worth more than 250,000 members. They have demonstrated that they think they are some sort of elite that can operate outside our democratic institutions. We don't need these Blairite oligarchs. Give it up, knuckle down or face deselection. Split the party? Where would they go?

Hyder Dastagir

9/7/2016 08:33:42 pm

Completely agree with the views expressed in this letter. I returned to the Labour party precisely because in Corbyn we at last have a leader who speaks and acts in the way that commands respect and generates trust. These members of the PLP have been waiting for this moment like a pack of hyenas from the moment he was elected. The idea that any policies left of the "Tory lite" of New Labour renders a party unelectable is nonsense - give the public a clear alternative , argue the case for your policies and get behind the leader . If only this energy was directed at the Tories. Shameful behaviour by the PLP.

Linda Vaux

9/7/2016 11:18:33 pm

Ms Eagle. The membership card of the Labour party refers clearly to a 'democratic socialist party'. There can be no obfuscation or distortion of that principle for MPs elected as representatives of Labour. Jeremy Corbyn embodies those words as do those members who voted for him. We expect his mandate and our democratic choice to be respected by you and all other members of the PLP, no exceptions. You will not win a leadership contest with Jeremy because the members will ensure that. I fully endorse the open letter from Sue Dockett. Like Corbyn she speaks for the majority of Labour party members.

Rick

10/7/2016 01:56:22 pm

Jeremy Corbyn does not inspire any confidence in winning an election he is like a wet limp lettuce and needs to be challenge to see if he has any get up and go to inspire leadership, for as it stands at this present stage I will not be voting to back him in an election.

John

10/7/2016 04:52:13 pm

You are entitled to your opinion - wrong as it is.
You are free to vote how you want in a democracy.
Labour is a democratic socialist party.
Always remember that - as Jeremy does.
We and he are in the right party for us.
The question is, "Are you?".

John

10/7/2016 05:18:54 pm

Erm... your in the minority on that one comrade!

Veronica Zundel

10/7/2016 03:57:14 pm

Totally agree with this letter. New Labour did not speak for me - and I am a middle class graduate! What is the use of electing a Labour party that is not actually Labour and has no Labour policies? Corbyn has proved himself electable not only repeatedly by his constituency, but also by the membership and supporters. What part of 'democracy' do Eagle and her fellow Blairites not understand? It does not mean 'government by the Parliamentary party regardless of the wishes of the country'.

Annie Weatherly-Barton

10/7/2016 11:23:28 pm

They don't want democracy. Too busy feathering their nests to be bothered. They have become part of the Establishment now and that is where they all want to stay. What happens if Labour split and Tories get into this new party that Shirley Williams wants. It won't be that easy for Labour to do win anything with these right wingers.

Jimmy nicolaou

10/7/2016 05:52:26 pm

There should be a reselection, how can we do this

Mike Rowan

11/7/2016 01:03:12 am

Who is standing up for the poor and the struggling? You are as bad as the tories. Abstaining? Abstaining? You are only standing up for yourselves. Well hell mend you. If you win the leadership you will lose your seat.

Charlotte

11/7/2016 06:27:53 am

Totally agree and I have been saying similar all along. Growing up in the blairite era I never really voted as I could honestly see absolutely no difference between the two parties and felt that none of them spoke to me - a Masters graduate struggling to ever get on the property ladder (still haven't and in fact have had to move back in with my elderly parents) and doing a job that to be honest you really didn't need a degree to do, spending my time being bullied by bosses on power trips who found me a threat because I was vaguely intelligent.

I've since become disabled and was so shocked that before Mr Corbyn, the party was all for the tories austerity narrative and voted along with them....

I joined the party after the general election last year finally with hope for the future, hope for me and for everyone else, hope for a new kind of politics and a kinder, fairer, more equal world where I didn't feel like a second class citizen just because I cannot work at the moment after years of being a 'hardworking' statistic.
Where I won't be called a scrounger by people who should be serving their country in the best way possible and not only serving big business, the media barons and the banks.

If the PLP cannot and will not stand behind Jeremy then they should leave the party. Maybe I'll even stand myself one day!

Sam

11/7/2016 06:50:11 pm

I've been Labour my whole life but I do not like Corbyn or the direction he is taking the party in. I am fed up of people claiming that the rebel MPs are out of touch. They are certainly not out of touch with me and anyone else I speak to. I also hate the aggressive reaction directed at anyone who dares to criticise Corbyn. He is a puppet of the far left who are determined to control the party even if it makes it unelectable or even if it tears the party apart. I for one would much prefer a left of centre Labour government than a left wing party perpetually in opposition. You cannot win an election by only appealing to people who will vote for you anyway. The party has to be able to appeal to the swing voters who vote Tory one minute and Labour the next. You don't achieve that by becoming more left wing.

Kirk

11/7/2016 10:03:58 pm

You can't win an election by focussing so much on the centre ground/swing voters that you completely alienate and lose your traditional support. You really need to pay some attention to recent events!

Beverly Brown

11/7/2016 10:33:45 pm

For many years now the Labour party has been nothing more than a 2nd rate Tory party, they don't give a shit about the working class. Then finally along comes someone who does care and who wants to put it back to where it should be. The party is full of self serving opportunists, who will never help anyone but themselves.
My local Labour meeting is exactly the same, anyone who doesn't worship Tony Blair is automatically excluded from anything.

Colin

11/7/2016 07:36:14 pm

Since Jeremy Corbyn took over for the first time in my life there was a Labour party I could believe in. Someone who actually genuinely cares for people. Someone who cares for the working class and has something to say. Someone who is honest and has integrity. Not many politicians like that and something Labour has long forgotten. Sadly it's this integrity, this ability to speak to real people and into their lives and problems that the Blairites who are opposing Corbyn find so offensive. Their view that they don't think he's able to lead the party is just a smokescreen. He's shown he has the support of the real grass roots members. It's the fact that he actually has integrity that grates.
On the other hand if you want to know how Angela Eagle sticks to her principles just read this what she wrote a year ago. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so sad
http://labourlist.org/2015/07/the-political-elite-need-to-lay-off-jeremy-corbyn/

Shani Rhys James

12/7/2016 06:24:53 am

I don't understand why labour party is being so vindictive to Jeremy Corbyn,why??? He is their asset. He has revived the labour party and made people believe there is someone in politics with principles. But frankly if the labour party destroy Corbyn and make him step down I will vote Green. I feel disgusted with this behaviour. He was against the Iraq war, against bombing Syria, he wants to create more houses to stop people living on the street, stop students paying for their education, preserve the NHS, nationalise the railways etc. Well aren't these policies? Whether it is possible to do all these things, but his heart is in the right place and he speaks with unpolished conviction, he hasn't had a PR company moulding his image. He is a man with principles and I think it is appalling the lack of respect he has been shown by his own party. Jeremy is strong and won't budge and he will be seen as a martyr, so you are doing immeasurable harm to the labour party by using him as a scape goat. Is it your desire to destroy the labour party?

Beverly Brown

12/7/2016 08:42:52 am

That's exactly why they're being vindictive. Think about it, along comes a man who can't be bought at any cost, he's showing them all up for what they really are.

Paul Unwin

12/7/2016 12:31:27 pm

I disagree with this letter and many of the comments. Jeremy Corbyn is not proving to be a leader who will appeal to the nation at large. It is right to be mistrustful of polls but the ones at the moment are so beyond the margin for error.

Most profoundly worrying is a real confusion about history. For one second imagine the Iraq war did not happen and that Blair did not lie to the nation. Labour's record in government would be better than anything since the 1946 Labour Government. Further, had Gordon Brown not been PM in 2008 the economy would have been more devastated than it was.

The real enemy in all of this is Cameron and Osborne. Their austerity was both cruel and fantastically ineffective. Where was the Labour attack on that? And where is it now? Yes more people have joined the Party and some - by no means all - are supporting Corbyn but to what end? He does not speak to the nation - a nation that is desperately divided. He has not seized the situation either before the terrible Referendum or after. He has not offered new and clear policies. He has not been in the debate and when it comes to him he hides. So I will support Angela Eagle and while I am far from resolved that she is the best leader Labour will have she is far better than Corbyn.

Joseph Paglia

12/7/2016 01:34:55 pm

You are profoundly wrong in your analysis, Jeremy is the breath of fresh air that will take us into power in spite of people like you who don't support him, and work against him, Angela Eagle is a deluded woman that will fail miserably.

Paul Unwin

12/7/2016 02:31:33 pm

I hope you are right because I would love to see a Labour Government. But I doubt it.

BTW calling Angela Eagle a deluded woman is sexist.

Joseph Paglia

13/7/2016 05:47:36 am

Hahaha...

"BTW calling Angela Eagle a deluded woman is sexist."

what should i say

Angela Eagle is a deluded man?
Angela Eagle is a deluded female?
Angela Eagle is a deluded person?
Angela Eagle is deluded, yes yes I got it right Yippee!!

You comment is a bit silly, really, and you know it.

Stephen Collins

13/7/2016 04:10:38 am

I've been a Labour voter for all of my life and I'm brokenhearted at what's happening at the moment. I'm afraid that if Corbyn remains as leader, I just can't vote Labour again. I can't support a party that's been taken over by so many militant left-wingers. That's not the Labour party I've supported. I just find the man so arrogant now. He and his supporters will destroy the party. He should stand down for the sake of the party NOW! Everyone I speak to feels as I do. We're just ordinary voters, not militant members.

Beverly Brown

13/7/2016 09:19:24 am

It's not Jeremy Corbyn who's destroyed the party, but the blairites. Labour used to mean something for the working class, not anymore though.
The party is more a poorer version of the Tory party now.
And by the way, I'm not a militant left wing.

Shani Rhys James MBE

13/7/2016 08:34:21 am

well i am not a militant left winger, neither is my husband, I am 63, nor is my mother or father, or any of my friends. Or my sons and their partners. We are disillusioned with the labour party not having the principles they set out with, Blair had such a majority, we saw him as a shining light until he started to erode all the principles labour stood for as has Angela . And now this is the last straw not allowing people who joined the labour party in the last 6 months to vote! What has happened to the labour party? You are merely pink tories or worse as you are hypocrites, wolves in sheep clothing
Angele’s voting record:
For:
• The invasion of Iraq
• Airstrikes on Syria
• Airstrikes on Iraq
• Increase in University Tuition Fees
• Introduction of ID cards
• Stricter asylum laws
• Detention without charge for 90 days
• Heathrow expansion
• Retention of Trident nuclear weapons

Against:
• Investigation into Iraq War

Abstained:
• Workforce (forcing jobseekers to do unpaid work)
• Tory Welfare Bill with £12bn of cuts to public services

Paul Unwin

13/7/2016 10:09:17 am

Thank you for your response.

Of course, Angela Eagle has a different voting history than Jeremy Corbyn. She followed the party whip. It is what MP's have to do.

To accuse me of being a hypocrite implies my actions don't match my words. I find this surprising as I have come on this site to challenge what I believe is a movement that will guarantee a Tory Government for many years to come. My actions and my words match.

I wonder if part of the tone leveled against me in your and other comments (and to other opponents of Corbyn) comes from the fact that you know you need to set me, and others, as targets to blame when it becomes clear that Corbyn cannot win the country.

I opposed the war in Iraq,passionately, but I will not traduce the Labour past. Corbyn comes out of it scot-free because he opposed virtually everything.

Deep at the heart of this all is a simple choice. Do we have a Labour Party for the nation. One that will encompass the millions who don't want to vote for the Conservatives, see a better and fairer way but are not radical or do we have a Party that celebrates itself, that loses power, that isn't on the national stage and views the 'rest' as a vicious Blairiate/Murdoch... you name it as I am sure in time you will ... conspiracy?

Joseph Paglia

13/7/2016 12:02:26 pm

Very well said.

John

13/7/2016 12:12:27 pm

To those using the 'militant' word: most of those now taking an enhanced interest in the Labour Party are not militant or Militant.
What they are is democratic socialists.
That we means we all believe in the principle of socialism, which is achieved and sustained through democratic means, rather than - as has historically happened - through revolutionary means.
Accusing Jeremy Corbyn of being arrogant seems - to me at least - to be inverting or upending reality.
It is the careerist politicians like Eagle et. al. who are the ones consumed by their own arrogance.
Labour belongs to its party members, not solely to a new aristocracy which has arisen within the ranks of the parliamentary party.
The aristocrats of labour must realise this is a new era; one in which all party members have equal rights and powers within the party to set policy.
The "ordinaries" - as fictional MP B'Stard called us - are now in charge, rather than the traditional metropolitan elite around Westminster.
If they don't like it they should leave and seek more honest employment elsewhere - if they can get it.
It may well be a good cliché that we not only want our country back; we also want our party back.

Joseph Paglia

13/7/2016 02:48:31 pm

So well put John, this the reality as opposed to the fantasy that the anti Corbyn brigade conjure up, they deal in fear and scare mongering, and I'm pretty sure they don't actually think through their arguments, but react from some deep seated misguided emotion.

Paul Unwin

13/7/2016 03:00:13 pm

If you really believe that it is fantasy and scare mongering to say that I don't believe Jermy Corbyn will get elected and that I and other don't think through our arguments you are ignoring all the polls. Labour should be shattering the Tories at the moment but hours after Brexit was announced JC said that Article 50 should be triggered immediately and revealed the attitude he'd held throughout the referendum as a at least a serious sceptic; if not an outer. I believe that leaving the EU will do huge damage to this country (the UK) and most the working people. But of course that too is scare mongering and part of a Blairite conspiracy. Thanks for your time, kind regards.

Joseph Paglia

13/7/2016 05:11:53 pm

The right wing of Labour are tearing the party apart, if you don't want to see that, that's your problem, not mine.

Jeremy will win the next general election, in spite of people like you that are trying to destroy our "Socialist" party and have it replaced with a weak and groveling establishment party.

John

13/7/2016 05:37:14 pm

Based on Ipsos-Mori July 2016 poll data, the Tories have 36% public voting support with Labour 35% - a minor and insignificant difference of -1%.
Writing-off Labour and Jeremy Corbyn is simply not supported by empirical facts.
From your remarks, it seems you are principally motivated by the Brexit referendum outcome.
You will have to put this issue behind you.
By 2020, it will no longer be an electoral issue.
If you want real and better change, get behind Labour and get behind Jeremy Corbyn.

Paul Unwin

13/7/2016 05:49:36 pm

Let's not trade polls. I can show you nightmare ones for Labour.

My point is: I hope you are right but think you are wrong. If Jeremy Corbyn wins the General Election and becomes Prime Minister I will absolutely concede that I am wrong.

What worries me is that many good Labour supporters despair of him - some who supported him, others like myself who did not. Like everyone I maybe wrong. But when a leader loses the confidence of his PLP, when people are weeping about what happened at the NE last night - hear the BBC lunchtime news - when bricks are thrown through Angela Eagles Office I feel we are in trouble.

When the language is of treachery, liars, Blairite snakes, something is being unleashed. It is not that I want a soppy kind of politics. I want a robust determined politics but too much of what I see surrounding Corbyn feels like it's ears are closed. Just read up and down this correspondence and tell me you are comfortable with the messianic confidence
there in. The nation needs leadership that isn't Tory.

Finally, there is an assumption above that to challenge and question is treacherous. It isn't. It is discussion and politics.

John

13/7/2016 06:23:50 pm

Paul: I agree that we should all temporize our speech, if that is required.
We can engage in robust debate without engaging in insults and smears.
I think too many people are rushing to judgment over Jeremy Corbyn.
He has barely been in place for less than a year and has been subjected to unremitting attacks from the mass media - no great surprise there! - but also from people in the parliamentary party, while enjoying massive support from party members all around the country.
We don't want the pinkish or pale blue politics of Tony Blair any more.
It did not do the country any good and this kind of spinning political management ended up discrediting the Labour Party.
We need someone with honesty and integrity to lead the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn is one of the very few able to provide such leadership.
All the aristocrats of labour have tried it their way and they have clearly failed. Their politics-as-usual way of doing things is a failure.
We want to win for a purpose, which is to distribute the benefits of economic growth to all in our society in an equal way. If this upsets fat cats and asset strippers in the land - too bad!
As for bricks going through windows - inside or out - I would be careful about making any judgments on that issue. It smacks of being a false flag operation - just like the whole false alleged antisemitism scam perpetrated against the Labour Party by elements no doubt associated with Mark Regev.

Shani Rhys James

13/7/2016 06:33:13 pm

I think the current labour party has to wake up to the fact that there are a lot of intelligent people out there -professional, young, middle aged old etc who have become so disillusioned with the labour party. Now whether Jeremy Corbyn can deliver is another thing, but how can he when the team who voted him in as Shadow Prime Minister won''t support him? I think this is a wake up call to the labour party that they need to stand for something which has been sorely missing from politics, integrity, principles, standing up for what is ethically right and not just pandering to the whips, but saying No !! war is wrong, we should not even enter the middle East and cause total and unending chaos, death and misery. No !!students should not pay to be educated. No!! people should not pay for health or transport. You see this is what Jeremy Corbyn represents and how his party can stab him in the back is unbelievable!! well in a sense his party who left his side are worse than the tories because at least we know tories are for self interest, privatisation etc. I suggest the labour party have a good long hard look at themselves and where they are going, and maybe join up with the greens and the demoralised Lib dems and stop needing to find a scape goat for their woes, people are more intelligent than you think, serve the young, the future, our hope!!

Andrew Richards

15/7/2016 10:38:30 am

As an impartial observer, I see a fundamental problem here. Your leader is elected by the party membership, who are mostly activists, but your MP's are elected by the whole of the electorate. The vast majority of people voting Labour are not party members. It's possible that the Labour voting public may be less enthusiastic about Corbyn than the party members. I've heard a lot of Labour supporters saying they won't vote for a Corbynite candidate. You're not going to find out for sure until there's a general election. That may be four years away. You may feel this is well worth the risk, but in the meantime I can't see why you're all wasting so much energy slagging each other off, when you could get busy persuading the public at large that Corbyn is the man - because that's the real task that faces you.

Beverly Brown

16/7/2016 08:21:49 am

While I agree to a point, I feel I must stress that I'm a Jeremy Corbyn supporter, but I'm not an activist or a trot, troll, rabble or the great unwashed ( I know you're not saying this), but I have been called so many names it's unbelievable. This whole farce is getting totally out of hand now. Jeremy Corbyn was democratically elected, but God forbid we have a socialist government, it'll be the of the gravy train for the blairites that's for sure.

Paul Unwin

15/7/2016 10:42:07 am

Thank you for your comment Andrew. Your analysis is correct. However the 'slagging off' as you call it is between the people who believe Corbyn can win the next election (which may happen sooner than we think) and those who believe he won't. I believe he won't and am therefore trying to persuade my friends in the party to vote another candidate. Simple, no?

John

15/7/2016 11:06:32 am

The real villian is Iain Nichols, Secretary of the Labour Party. He should be dismissed and replaced by someone who will work for the party members and not for malign outside forces.
A re-elected Corbyn as party leader should make replacing Nichols the very first order of business at the very first meeting of the new NEC.
It is high time the labour career aristocrats were forced out of the Labour Party. They are where they are due to the hard work of local party members.
Voters vote along party lines not because of the "sparkling" personalities of candidates.

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An open letter to Angela Eagle

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