Defend Democracy in Islington North CLP and the Labour Party
JVL Introduction
Keir Starmer’s vindictive feud against Jeremy Corbyn took another nasty turn with the NEC decision to grant Starmer his wish at the end of March and endorse the motion he proposed which blocked Jeremy from standing as a Labour candidate at the next general election.
It’s a further step towards making Jeremy a non-person and re-writing history to expunge his leadership from the record.
It is also an attack on all us, the hundreds of thousands motivated by Jeremy to campaign for a radically transformed, egalitarian society.
The response of his Constituency Labour Party was rightly one of outrage.
It rejected the “undue interference in Islington North, which undermines our goal of defeating the Conservatives and working with our communities for social justice” and gave full support to Starmer’s February 2020 statement, “Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.”
Like Starmer’s 10 pledges, this would seem to be another statement of principle to be shredded opportunistically when the whim takes him. And Starmer seems very prone to whims as his new campaign to turn Labour into a pro-business, pro-Nato, neoliberal, “party of law and order” suggests.
Islington Friends of Jeremy Corbyn have issued a statement on the situation they face, reposted below.
This article was originally published by Labour Hub on Mon 10 Apr 2023. Read the original here.
Defend Democracy in Islington North CLP and the Labour Party
Democracy is contingent upon those holding power agreeing to abide by the rules and to accept results they don’t like. By blocking Jeremy Corbyn from standing for selection in Islington North, the Labour Party leadership has jettisoned these principles and abandoned any pretence of member democracy in the party.
This move has stripped the CLP of its democratic right to select its candidate and undermines its efforts to defeat the Conservatives, support its Labour council and work with the local community for real change. While it is a grossly unfair personal attack on Jeremy Corbyn, the wider significance of this move is the intention to silence one of the few voices in Parliament standing up to austerity and the neoliberal political and economic consensus that drives it.
In response to the NEC decision, the CLP issued a statement rejecting the “undue interference in Islington North, which undermines our goal of defeating the Conservatives and working with our communities for social justice”. Instead, the CLP gave its fully support to Keir Starmer’s February 2020 statement, “Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.” This principled response is indicative of the strength and clarity of purpose and vision that the CLP has been able to maintain, despite the current climate in the Labour Party.
Islington North CLP has deep roots in its communities and has retained its strong activist base and its tradition for enthusiastic engagement in local campaigning. This has made an enormous difference in Islington where, in 2022, CLP activists campaigned tirelessly alongside Jeremy Corbyn to achieve a Labour majority on the Council of 48 out of 51.
The idea that Islington North should not be allowed to select its own candidate on the grounds of electability is farcical. Islington North has had a Labour MP since 1935, and for the past almost 40 years that MP has been Jeremy Corbyn. In terms of Labour’s electability, Islington North has been getting it right for many decades.
In their assessment of blame for national electoral failures, the Labour leadership have conveniently ignored the fact that Labour’s vote share dramatically increased under Jeremy Corbyn and that the Labour right helped engineer the defeats in 2017 and 2019, preferring a Tory to a left Labour government. Other Labour leaders have lost elections and far more of the vote share than Jeremy Corbyn, but factional assailment, rather than defensible points of principle seem to be the order of the day in today’s Labour Party. With the state of the country and the Tory party – weakened by scandals and without the Brexit card to play – is it not possible for Labour to present a compelling enough vision to win without the theatrical bullying of Jeremy Corbyn?
Of course, the abandonment of democracy in the Labour Party did not start with the NEC motion to block Jeremy Corbyn from standing in Islington North. While the CLP is currently in the spotlight, its treatment is a far from isolated incident in today’s Labour Party.
Up and down the country, selection committees have been disbanded and taken over by regional officers, trampling on the views of local CLP members (Camberwell and Peckham, Bolton East and Broxtowe to name a few). Candidates from the left of the Party, including Maurice Mcleod and former MP Emma Dent Coad, have been barred on factional grounds from selections.
Members have been suspended in unprecedented numbers, often due to tangential links to organisations banned by the Labour Party. Against all principles of natural justice, some of these suspension and expulsions have been for association prior to the banning. Newly elected NEC member Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi was suspended before she could take up her place on the NEC.
Serious matters including Party democracy, racism and financial probity have been documented in the Forde Report and the Al Jazeera Labour Files. These issues have not been addressed by the Party and have been almost completely ignored in the media.
Blocking Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a candidate in Islington North seemed like the nadir of Labour’s descent, but, as we see from the recent dog-whistle advert against Rishi Sunak, they will go lower. This is gutter politics based on fear and hatred rather than respect and hope, and we must be aware that unethical actions justified by electoral expediency are not the answer.
The move to stop Islington North CLP from selecting Jeremy Corbyn as its candidate is based on the conceit that anti-democratic tactics are necessary and warranted because the people who hold the democratic right to choose cannot be trusted to make the ‘right’ decision. This is a dangerous precedent for the future of democracy in the Party and the country as a whole.
The Labour Party as a vehicle for real change is not dead, but it is in a critical condition. We need real change, and MPs and activists in the Party who are committed to the social and economic transformation that we can and must achieve. Like Jeremy Corbyn and Islington North CLP, we should not be intimidated into silence.
Reversing the descent of our party must include an end to this undue interference in Islington North’s selection process and a recommitment to member democracy across the party. As Jeremy Corbyn said: “At a time when the government is attacking our rights to strike, protest and vote, the Labour leadership should be defending democracy. Instead, it is debasing it.”
Please support democracy in Islington North CLP and our Labour Party by signing the Islington Friends of Jeremy Corbyn petition. The petition is intended to give people the opportunity to show they are unhappy with the NEC’s decision to bock Jeremy Corbyn’s candidacy and to demonstrate their support for Islington North’s democratic right to choose their candidate.
Islington Friends of Jeremy Corbyn is a group of Islington North residents established to stand up for our democratic rights which are under threat from the actions of the national Labour Party. To find out more about us and to sign up for our newsletter, please go to our website.
Featured image: Jeremy Corbyn by Sophie J. Brown, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Would it be advantageous and would it be possible for this to be sent to every Labour CLP in the country?
Or placed as an advert in a National paper?
I’d be willing to make a contribution towards the cost and I suspect that there would be many many more willing to do the same.
This isn’t surprising news; it is in keeping with the Labour Party being run by Starmer, a man who has no principles and who seems to me to be a Tory stooge. The tactics, which include the ejection of Corbyn, are making the LP meaningless to those of us who have hope of even a slight move leftwards if it gained power.
Can Corbynites rise again on Times Radio raises the possibility of the Socialist group, holding the balance of power in a hung parliament
JC is a shoe in, so theres another one, Lib Dems could easily get back to 2010 levels, plus the SNP, a possible a hard core progressive caucus of 127 seats, easily able to dictate key changes to the future of our country
Reeves and Starmer have stated that their present approach in politics whilst in opposition is a practice run for when they are in government.
This causes me grave concern, that he will not only continue with what the tories have done over the last 13 years but will most likely endeavour to be worse than they are. Our rights and freedoms are at risk due to LP’s condoning of reactionary politics. I hold no belief or hope that starmer might change tack. Vaughan, considering starmer’s deceitful actions, his apparent lack of honesty, decency or transparency I do not hold much hope for positive change. I like Tony’s idea of sharing the Islington North motion with all CLPs and publish it in an advertisement.
We should not be surprised at Starmer’s actions.
He is a member of the Trilateral Commission and appears to be fulfilling the role that is expected of him.
That is to destroy the Labour Party as an effective platform to support the interests of ordinary people.
Jeremy Corbyn gave us hope for something better – For the many, Not the few.
Starmer offers us the neoliberal consensus and support for NATO’s proxy way in Ukraine
Excellent article. Spot on. This is about the destruction of party democracy and the creation of a top down party oligarchy system being put in place. Starmer is a Tory plant, nothing more nothing less and he is not an only destroying the Labour Party democracy, he is destroying British democracy as well for Labour is not an opposition party on his watch, it’s a party that collides and strengthens the neo liberal hegemony. In short, Labour is corrupt on his watch because the present leader is corrupt.
Doesn’t it sometimes seem as if ‘Project Legacy’ never really ended?
I support Tony Burford’s suggestions. I’d chip in, and encourage people to sign a popular newspaper petition. I myself was chucked out of the LP for merely posting on the LLA page.
It appears that Blair is still the puppet master and to attract disilusioned Tory voters/etc. we must become more like the Tories and abandon Socialist principles. Some logic? Pig’s ear and sow’s purse? What an indictment of Labour Party membership who voted these NEC reps. into office.
Am I really surprised that Labour Party activists don’t want to risk destabalising the Party by exposing Starmer for what he is – a self-proclaimed “Zionist without qualificatiion”? As such he must be understood to be a supporter of (necessarily ethnic-cleansing), colonial Zionism. This (Judeo-Christian) movement seeks to repopulate the whole of Zion, including “Palestinian Zion”, with Jews which Christian Zionists believe will pave the way for the Second Coming, (Jewish Zionists don’t necessarily believe that, of course).
Labour Party members can continue to protect Starmer ’til the cows come home, but when Ben G’vir’s elite military unit starts massacring Palestinians in driving them from their lands, will that protection then look as misguided as some of us now believe it to be?
Regarding Tony Burford’s excellent suggestion … Comment #1:
Count me in.
I too like Tony Burford’s suggestion. Dare I suggest going even further…?
Kier Starmer has clearly shown his colours (no pun intended).
I believe it’s truly time to move on. Sir Starmer certainly won’t be leaving the Labour Party, I therefore suggest the Labour Party leaves him. Why not use Islington’s petition, together with their noble history and enthusiastic activists to open a new, productive way forward for the entire country…?
My family and I were enthused by Jeremy Corbyn’s views and beliefs. So, we joined LP in order to vote for JC at the leadership election in 2015. We did not renew our membership under Starmer’s leadership.
I fully support the idea of placing an advert in a national newspaper and I am willing to contribute.
I too would support the idea of a national advert, and not just in the Guardian. In fact not in the Guardian at all. There are huge numbers of disaffected past and present Labour party members and activitists who still support the 2017/2019 manifestos and are now politically homeless, but we are invisible. That needs to change. We need to have a national profile to overcome the isolation many of us are feeling. We need to keep on working, supporting our communities at grass roots level, and with greater visibility we can convince people that, even without a new party, if we vote strategically for parties that best represent our views, there is every possibility that in a hung parliament, or one with a vulnerable majority, we can hold these deplorable people to account and influence policies and outcomes. We won’t get everything we want, but it would be so much better than we will get with either of the main parties.
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party, combined with the policies he espoused, was the best thing to happen to Labour for a long, long time. His energy, compassion, courage and commitment gave hope and inspiration to so many, including me and resulted in a tremendous turnaround in Labour’s electoral fortunes in 2017; which despite the treachery of Labour staffers, the majority of the PLP, et al, came close to securing a polling victory. For daring to think outside of the ‘capitalist’ box and for reviving the ‘S’ word to the Labour lexicon, Jeremy was traduced mercilessly and viciously from within and without Labour. It was never fundamentally about AntiSemitism … it was more about AntiSocialism! For Starmer and the Labour ‘Right’ to now deprive the Islington North CLP of their constitutional right to select Jeremy, should they wish to, as their Parliamentary candidate for the next General Election, is outrageous, but not surprising … there are none as ruthless as the right-wing! I will support Jeremy in whatever way he ultimately decides to proceed the matter. Thank you, Jeremy Corbyn, for your leadership and inspiration, then and now … I stand with Jeremy Corbyn for Peace, Justice and Socialism ✊️