Sir Keir Starmer, You Are A Disgrace

Well, hasn’t that been a week of absolute astonishment? 

I’m not talking about the Priti Patel bullying scandal, or the emergence of yet another Covid-19 vaccine, and I’m not even talking about the amazing ‘Letter To Corbyn’ song that made the iTunes Top Ten. 


But I am talking about Sir Keir Starmer, General Secretary, David Evans, and the crisis cutting its way through the Labour Party leadership. 


Just one month ago, Starmer’s position was secure. Today, it is anything but secure, and this, my friends, is entirely of his own doing. 


The Labour Party members expected a leader, not a control freak. 


They expected a competent, safe pair of hands, not a naive, inept pair of unfunny Laurel and Hardy type characters such as Starmer and Evans.


Labour Party members expected the Leader of the Opposition to vigorously oppose the nastiest and most useless government we have ever seen, instead, Starmer has competed with Johnson to see who can get the friendliest headlines from the Daily Mail. 

They expected Starmer to stand by the ten pledges that he made prior to winning the party leadership - after all, Starmer pledged to make the “moral case for socialism” - but those ten pledges are long forgotten, as if they’re just a figment of your imagination.  


You expected a leader that would stand against human rights abuses. I know I did. But what have you got? A coward that insisted his troops abstain on on the Spycops bill.


And this is before I’ve even got on to this week’s catastrophic handling of the case of Jeremy Corbyn. 


Allow me to give you an idea of what really happened during the last week. 


Sometimes I’m lucky enough to overhear a bit of information, or a source will pop up out of the blue, and I can usually share that information with the people that follow me. 


I established Jeremy Corbyn’s case was due to be heard by a panel of five Labour NEC members - 3 moderate members (if that’s the right description for them), and 2 left-wing members. While most people would consider this to be a huge issue, the people I was chatting with didn’t seem unduly alarmed, which made it pretty obvious a deal had been reached behind the scenes. 


The panel met, and they unanimously agreed to reinstate Jeremy Corbyn’s membership, and restore the whip to the veteran Labour MP, and former Party leader. 


Now here’s the interesting bit, which I established from talking with people who know what’s going on. 


An agreement was made between a key staffer at Team Starmer and a representative of Mr Corbyn, prior to the NEC meeting, which involved the NEC readmitting Jeremy to the Labour Party, and restoring the Parliamentary whip immediately. For his part, Jeremy needed to release a statement prior to the NEC meeting, which he did. 


As we all know, the NEC unanimously supported Jeremy’s return, and as far as we knew, Jeremy was back where he belongs.


Then it would appear Sir Keir and his team, didn’t like the celebratory reaction of the numerous online “Corbyn outriders”. I’ve no idea who they mean. 


Other reports suggested Blairite relic, Margaret Hodge, contacted Starmer and made it clear she would leave the party immediately. Talk about a wasted opportunity. I mean, if he can’t deal with a discredited relic, how do you think he’ll do on the world stage? 

But anyway, in an act of what can only be described as spiteful, divisive and entirely unnecessary, Starmer went back on the agreement that had already been made with Corbyn’s representatives. 


I have spent much of the last couple of days asking Keir Starmer to release the WhatsApp messages between his key staffer and representatives of Mr Corbyn, unsurprisingly, I haven’t got anywhere. I doubt he really cares about a ranty nobody from Swindon. 


But I will keep asking, because I am aware of what was said and what was agreed before Starmer’s act of naivety. I won’t name the individual, but that person knows as well as me that these crucial WhatsApp messages reveal something that they really wouldn’t want everyone to know. 


Political interference. And it’s blatant


Sir Keir Starmer was elected on a pledge of unifying the Labour Party. Seriously. 

Starmer and Evans have infuriated vast swathes of the Labour membership. Local Labour branches and CLPs have been passing motions of support for Jeremy Corbyn, as well as no confidence motions in Sir Keir Starmer and David Evans. The anger is palpable, and there’s a lot more to come yet. 


Labour members are sick of being told what they can and can’t talk about - this didn’t happen under the leadership team of Jeremy Corbyn and Jennie Formby. They both believed in democratising the Labour Party, whereas Evans believes the opposite. 


Then things got worse for Starmer and Evans. 


Fourteen members of Labour’s NEC fired off an absolutely furious, but quite brilliant letter to David Evans. This is what was said: 


Dear David


On Tuesday 17th November a Disputes Panel of the NEC sat to consider current discipline cases one of which was the complaint against Jeremy Corbyn MP. The Panel after many hours of consideration and deliberation, including advice and guidance on process from the Head of Disputes in GLU and an independent Barrister provided by the party, established that there had been no breach of Labour Party rules. As such the Panel determined that Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension should be lifted.


As with all other cases considered by the Dispute Panels, as soon as the panel’s decisions have been ratified as per the agreed process, Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension was required to be immediately lifted. Any consequence of the suspension, namely the suspension of the whip, was of course to immediately fall away as a consequence of the NEC panel decision.    


The decision of the Leader the following day to withhold the whip from Jeremy Corbyn MP is an act of deliberate political interference in the handling of a complaint. It defies the decision of the NEC panel, is a matter of double jeopardy that flies in the face of natural justice, it undermines the Rule Book and it is precisely the type of action found to be unlawful indirect discrimination by the EHRC report.


We would remind the leadership that the political interference criticised by the EHRC included interference intended to speed up the disciplinary process.


The Leader of the party in addition made commentary that the Jewish community have no faith in the process of the Dispute’s panel. Although intended to be a damning comment on the Dispute’s process generally it is of course a direct criticism of the decision reached by the Dispute’s Panel on Tuesday. This criticism has been joined by other MPs, no doubt following the lead of the Leader.


Neither the Party nor the Leader have made clear that the Disputes Panel in question received legal advice on the day and as is the norm that includes a recommendation from the GLU staff, in particular the Head of Legal appointed by the Leader as to the sanction that should be awarded.


This is an unacceptable attack on the lay volunteers elected to uphold the Rule Book, it is direct political interference and it is unacceptable.


We understand that the Party will now face legal action as a result of the decision of the Leader to undermine the disciplinary processes. This will inevitably mean that members of the panel are asked to give evidence in a Court of law. It is unconscionable, given that the Leader is Queens Counsel and must have read and digested the EHRC report, that members of the NEC should be placed in this position by his actions.


As members of the NEC with responsibility to uphold the Rule Book we require confirmation that the General Secretary will now write to the Leader of the Party to admonish him for interfering in the NEC processes, for levelling public criticism intended to undermine confidence in the dispute process and for taking a decision that is directly contradictory to the NEC Panel decision. The General Secretary must demand that the Leader upholds the decision of the Dispute’s panel and immediately reinstates the whip to Jeremy Corbyn MP.


Signed


Howard Beckett

Jayne Taylor

Ian Murray

Andi Fox

Mick Whelan

Andy Kerr

Pauline McCarthy

Ellen Morrison

Lara McNeill

Mish Rahman

Laura Pidcock

Yasmine Dar

Nadia Jama

Gemma Bolton


That’s how to write a letter, and a massive well done to the NEC members that won’t be taking any nonsense from Starmer and Evans. This one paragraph is utterly devastating, so I will repeat it. 

“We understand that the Party will now face legal action as a result of the decision of the Leader to undermine the disciplinary processes. This will inevitably mean that members of the panel are asked to give evidence in a Court of law. It is unconscionable, given that the Leader is Queens Counsel and must have read and digested the EHRC report, that members of the NEC should be placed in this position by his actions.”


What an unbelievable position for the Labour leadership to end up in. Starmer is wounded, but the fact the wound is self-inflicted isn’t lost on any of us. It seriously didn’t have to be this way.


I caught up with a senior Labour Party source last night, they said to me - 

"It's been an atrocious week for Keir and entirely of his own making. A revolt is growing among members around the country and the only reason he's not already on the verge of falling is the media giving him an easy ride while he gives Boris Johnson an easy ride. That won't last if he continues as appallingly as he is." 


This really should worry you, Sir Keir. This is coming from WITHIN the Party.


Let’s be absolutely clear. Jeremy Corbyn shouldn’t have ever been suspended from the Party. It was an unsightly factional move designed to temporarily placate the screaming potty hasbeens on the Labour backbenches, and Starmer’s many anti-socialist backers. No more, no less. 


Starmer has predictably forced himself into an impossible position. He was warned what would happen, time and time again, and now the ‘unity candidate’ finds himself in the middle of what can only be described as all-out war. 


The unity between Starmer and the right of the Labour Party won’t last long. They will be gunning for him soon, take my word for it. 


Call it a sneaky feeling. 


This is far from over. Jeremy Corbyn won’t just walk away, and the left won’t just walk away. Yes, at least 50,000 people have left the Party, but they haven’t left socialism, and socialism hasn’t left them. 


You will have the perfect opportunity to make your feelings known tonight (Sunday 22/11) from 6pm, by adding #WeSupportCorbyn to your tweets. Get involved, tell other people, and show your solidarity with Jeremy.


I predict some utterly explosive days ahead. 

Enjoy your day, and thank you for your ongoing support out there, it really is appreciated.


Rachael 



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Comments

  1. As usual @rachael_swindon you nailed it with your knowledge and insight of the Labour party factional war.
    #istandbycorbyn and always will, he opened my eyes to the corrupton, and lack of moral duty our so called representatives inflict on the UK.
    I always look forward to your blogs. Class!
    #wesupportcorbyn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, that’s very kind of you. Have a lovely day x

      Delete
    2. Thank you Rachael, a comprehensive analysis of the actions of inept new leadership.

      Delete
  2. It's Starmer who should be suspended from the Labour Party for his silence on Israel's crimes against humanity, his discrediting of critics of Israel's crimes, his refusal to have policies to put effective economic and politic pressure on Israel to change, and his condemnation of BDS campaign. He is therefore complicit in Israel's racist policies which are diametrically opposed to Labour Party values.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's Starmer who should be suspended from the Labour Party for his silence on Israel's crimes against humanity, his discrediting of critics of Israel's crimes, his refusal to have policies to put effective economic and politic pressure on Israel to change, and his condemnation of BDS campaign. He is therefore complicit in Israel's racist policies which are diametrically opposed to Labour Party values.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great piece once again Rachael. I love the way you strive to bring out the truth. What a lowlife we have at the top. Corbyn back Lowlife Tory Wannabe Out.

    ReplyDelete

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