Joint statement on Labour Party election results
Joint statement from the Labour Representation Committee, Jewish Voice for Labour and Red Labour on party election results 4/4/2020
Keir Starmer’s election as leader of the Labour Party is a worrying outcome for all of us who were inspired by Jeremy Corbyn’s transformative vision. Starmer was the clear favourite of the right and centre of the party, and also the mainstream media. His appeal to the establishment, within the party and more widely, lies in their desire for Labour to return to the mythical middle ground, putting an end to a leftward shift they regard as an unfortunate blip in the modern history of the party.
Much was made of Starmer’s supposed left credentials, his ability to unify the party and rise “above factionalism.” However, while the recent articles in the Times and Mail may reflect the wish-lists of their owners rather than Starmer’s direct statements, they seem to indicate an intention to marginalise, if not drive out, the left. We must unite to resist this and show that the left in the party is a force to be reckoned with.
We supported Rebecca Long-Bailey in her bid for the leadership, despite her regrettable acceptance of demands from the Board of Deputies which entail surrendering the party’s independence in determining who is entitled to membership and what views they may hold. Richard Burgon was the only candidate to stand firm on this issue. That only 27 percent of votes went to Rebecca Long-Bailey reflects the defection of some on the left to Starmer’s camp as well as weaknesses in her campaign.
Those of us who embraced Burgon’s principled stance in the deputy leadership contest now have the responsibility of forming the bedrock for re-building the left in the coming months.
The by-elections for the NEC were rendered almost farcical by the suspension in mid-campaign of five candidates, all on the left and three of them BAME. This move by the party bureaucracy gave the clear impression of intent to prevent those left candidates who were gathering support at the nominations stage from appearing on the ballot paper.
The campaign to forge ahead with collecting nominations for Jo Bird despite her suspension was a victory for the grassroots left. It clearly contributed to her suspension being lifted in time for her to go forward as a candidate. It is a disgrace that the other four remain suspended and excluded. We must continue to campaign for justice for them, in so far as that is possible under the party’s dysfunctional disciplinary processes.
The failure of the left organisations in the party to agree on common candidates for the NEC vacancies was clearly also a significant contributor to the outcome. The arrogance of those who thought that by going it alone they could gain an advantage is quite disturbing. We hope that grassroots members will organise to prevent any repetition.
The upshot is that the right has taken both CLP places up for election, the first time in years that they have done so.
There must be a more serious attempt for the left to work together, to come up with common candidates, and find a more inclusive and democratic way of deciding on them. Additionally, the party has not done nearly enough to support black self-organisation. This is reflected in the reduced level of black representation on the NEC.
Jo Bird overcame the attempts to exclude her, building support with lively meetings around the country, almost certainly benefiting from the publicity attracted by her unjust suspension and its withdrawal.
Her vote put her in a very respectable fourth place, despite the disunity of the left, demonstrating the potential there still is for winning internal elections and building vibrant grassroots campaigns – if we organise to bring this about.
The left must now look at itself honestly and consider how come we have slipped back so far from Corbyn’s magnificent victories in the leadership elections in 2015 and 2016. How did so many who were enthused by Jeremy then, not feel the same way this time?
Demoralisation at the general election result obviously played a role as did certain failings of the leadership campaigns. But we also have to look at the failure to organise on the ground, to educate the movement in socialist politics, to be a genuine grassroots movement rather than a stage army.
The next period will be tough for socialists in the Labour Party. Starmer, no doubt supported by much of the PLP and right wingers among members, will be under great pressure to attempt to reverse the gains the left made under Jeremy Corbyn. But this is not the time for us to walk away and leave them unchallenged.
The tragedy of the pandemic crisis demands a strong socialist response. The Tories, like right wing governments around the world, are sacrificing the well-being of the people to the god of profit. They will attempt to use the situation to impose more austerity and greater authoritarianism. We on the left must nurture the spirit of community and grassroots organisation that the crisis has generated up and down the country, if we are to resist the rightward shift in national politics and within our own party. This means building a unified movement to carry on in the spirit outlined by Jeremy Corbyn in his letter to members last week:
“Our party grew out of local communities and that is where we must focus our efforts, just as we always have. I will continue to campaign on the issues and principles that have motivated me as Leader, as an MP, as a councillor and as a party member for more than 50 years. I can assure you my voice will not be stilled. I’ll be out there campaigning for socialism, peace and justice, and I feel sure we’ll be doing that together.”
Jewish Voice for Labour, Labour Representation Committee, Red Labour
I fully endorse this statement .
Very timely and much needed joint statement from three key organisations that will help to unite and inspire those of us on the left. We must all stay and fight. When John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn were on the back benches in what must have been a very hostile Blairite environment, they stayed and fought and we must do the same. It won’t be easy but we must fight one battle at a time, especially now during this horrific pandemic. And just think how better it would have been handled with a socialist government in charge putting people rather than profit first, protecting and rebuilding the NHS so that they would have been better prepared for this pandemic. Compare this to the inept, incompetent, contradictory, car crash of a response by Johnson and the Tories. So let’s all work together to build a socialist government!
Fuck ! We are Really Screwed Now !!
A mass membership is not a mass movement and a cult of individual hero worship, ultimately, did not cut the mustard.
The disastrous strategy of appeasment and apology in pursuit of those determined to undermine and destroy Jeremy was fatal.
The disgraceful events of September 2018, when the IHRA definition of anti semitism was unanimously adopted by the NEC, and the Open Selection debate was bureaucratically manoeuvred off of the conference agenda was the beginning of the end.
Failure to confront reality means a failure to overcome problems which then fester and grow
If the left fails to grasp and correct this approach we will be reduced to an insignificant faction on the fringes of the Labour movement
thanks you for that statement comrades – helpful and clarifying.
I endorse everything on this statement. I would also add that the unity on the left that we are calling for, carries the expectation that when individuals come under attack – and we will – we must show solidarity, not just in words, but by standing up and being counted too!
Would like to see a bit more pragmatism in addressing Starmer. You know perfectly well that the Greater Israel movement uses a public face of moral indignation while calculatingly marketing bizarre victimhood in pursuit of quite ruthless, selfish and blood thirsty goals. JVL should learn from them.
Starmer is now leader and whining about how unfair it is that our utterly ruthless opponents out manoeuvred is is frankly silly.
Accept we are stuck with Starmer and pursue full and respectful engagement. If necessary at a future strategic time it may be useful to stab him in the back but that time is not here yet.
Do not become yet another group of morally absolutely right and pure left wing losers. Such groups can have loads of great self satisfaction but provide NIL for meeting the dire needs of the Palestinian victims.
Hire Alistair Campbell now. JVL needs ruthless thugs.
I would say that the focus should be on what his program is, and how he wants to implement it. If say the wrong people seem to support him, that in itself doesn’t imply his program is wrong, but it does imply that it should be examined closely and criticized if necessary, while proposing improvements.
Steve Mckenzie said:
Failure to confront reality means a failure to overcome problems which then fester and grow. If the left fails to grasp and correct this approach we will be reduced to an insignificant faction on the fringes of the Labour movement
And just how exactly would they correct it Steve? You omit to mention the massive great big elephant in the room – ie the corporate media and the semi-corporate BBC. Given that THEY conspired in the black op smear campaign from the outset, they were hardly going to give Jeremy and the leadership the opportunity to counter and expose their lies and falsehoods, were they.
As ever JVL, the voice of sanity and common sense!!. Very pleased to see that this statement is issued jointly by you, LRC and Red Labour and absolutely agree on your call for the Left to now work together. On Facebook right now there are people declaring their intention to resign left right and centre and run for the hills. There are others advocating joining one fringe left group or other (
at last count there are three different Socialist parties) some of whom via commentary or videocast are indulging in esoteric political gibberish that in terms of mass movement is calculated to make most people’s eyes glaze over. The Left needs to retrench, consolidate and work together. After its role in the demise of the CLGA which gerrandering aside led to the disaster that are the CLP NEC results, Momentum under Lansman has not part to play in any strategy going forward, but it would be nice to see your three organisations reaching out to its successor LLA and in particular Chris Williamson who is advocating precisely the community strategy outlined in your quote from Jeremy Corbyn.
I support the JVL Statement
If Keir is his own man he will make it clear that he owes nothing to anyone, the bottom line is to promote those best suited to fighting Tories
We on the left need to speak with one voice and make clear our red lines
The next NEC elections are not to far away, conference 6 months, no time to waste
And just in case we should have a candidate ready and waiting to give RW PLP a taste of their own medicine
I’m a useful thug, bad cop, hatchet man, c
Ceative destruction before renewal and a brave new world
Now is not the time to spit dummy out just as neo liberalism is disappearing up it’s own arse
The financial pandemic is well under way
✊🏽🌹
Now is the time to mobilise and support the shires, gain new recruits and increase union membership now.
I’m not a member of the LP but I support socialist policies and the sentiment expressed in your statement. For me, the left and especially the JVL, the focus must be redirected to the BBC for their failure to abide by their editorial guidelines in presenting fair and balance coverage with regard to anti-Semitism and how it is weaponised against those who spoke up for Palestinian human rights. A campaign is long overdue to convince the BBC to change their ways otherwise the public will continually misinformed.
Wes, do you not know the difference between the left and right? People on the left are hardly likely to join and become a member of the Tory Party, so why would they continue to be a member of the Labour Party controlled by Tories.
And who’s whining? No-one of course. They are simply relating the reality of the situation. As for pursuing ‘full and respectful engagement’, you are havin’ a larf aren’t you!
And JVL does NOT need ruthless thugs! Forgive me for asking, but what are you on?!
There is no point in emphasising the extra-ordinary role that Jeremy Corbyn has played to bring Labour closer to a socialist understanding, the limitations of that role are to be analysed as well if the prigressives in the Party want to learn proper lessons from the present defeat. More than half of those who had supported Jeremy did not support Rebecca Long-Bailey. Unless and until answer to this crucial question has been found no further progress can be made. The progressives led by Jeremy did not initiate political struggles within, and more importantly, outside the Party on a class basis, and compromised with reactionary forces on the misguided basis of a ‘broad church’. The overwhelming membership remained at the same political level as they had been when they joined the Party. The case for socialism was never made in a scientific manner, presenting egalitarianism as irs substitute.
Refreshing read
I would like to see pressure put on Keir Starmer from Palestinian organisations, as well as the Labour left for:
a commitment not to conflate criticism of Zionism with AS,
not to take the IHRA examples as rules rather than guidelines,
not to threaten those involved in the defence of those accused of AS,
to ensure members don’t feel intimidated by fair and reasoned criticism of Israel’s actions and the criticism of those who too readily excuse them.
Labour party is dead now. Lifelong voter but no more. Expelled for antizionism.
Will vote elsewhere now too. Will always support Jeremy Corbyn.
Many excellent party members, including one of only three Labour councillors on our Bournemouth Christchurch Poole council, remain suspended for alleged anti-Semitism without having had any opportunity to challenge the suspension. Surely as ex DPP Keir Starmer must address this clear injustice
Excellent piece
I’m finding it very hard to remain just now, Jess Phillips pops up everywhere( a precursor to her being given a prominent shadow cabinet position?) Little jibes at Jeremy’s leadership “not be opposing for opposing sake or to gain political points” I can see a certain direction taken here. Should i remain in a party that will be dictated to by people who probably don’t even vote Labour anyway?
Terrific statement, a real and progressive policy platform.
I dont know how I can forgive members on the Right who acted so treacherously in the past few years. They went to any lengths to prevent our party adopting progressive policies and made sure we could not win an election. Voters don’t vote for a divided party The current crisis has shown Labour has the blueprint for where we go next. There are calls.for a line to be drawn under the Corbyn project.. The Right still hanker after neoliberalism and austerity. They must be be resisted.
Thank you for a balanced and well written comment on the new leadership.
Thanks for this. Thank goodness for the voice of reason 🌹✊🏼
I can see why many comrades are disappointed. On the other hand, Keir Starmer’s statement was the ONLY one that referred to working or campaigning “for a migration system that is welcoming and compassionate”. No candidate was perfect (i.e. none of them agreed with me on every issue) but here is always hope.
I was going to leave. Thanks for helping me to come to the decision to stay
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/with-keir-starmers-election-its-time-to-draw-a-line-in-the-sand/
In this article, Ruth Smeeth, quotes Keir Starmer approvingly, and makes it clear that the combination of Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council, the Community Security Trust and Jewish Labour Movement, all of whom Starmer has pledged to work closely with, will ensure that he will purge the Labour Party, with the zeal of a Witchfinder General.
“I’ve seen the grief that it’s brought to so many Jewish communities.
On behalf of the Labour Party I am sorry.
I’ll tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jewish members and those who felt they could no longer support us.”
“Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, 4th April 2020
56 words. ”
Smeeth says “That was all it has taken to reassure British Jews across the country that, finally, the Leader of the Labour Party was going to act against the evil of anti-Jewish hate inside our ranks.
That Jews were no longer fair game within the party and that he isn’t going to tolerate hate and racism in Her Majesty’s loyal opposition. I know all too well how important it is for the Leader of the Labour Party to vocalise – without equivocation – that enough is enough.”
Another article in Jewish News says “Labour’s new leader, Sir Keir Starmer, hit the ground running this weekend by writing to the Board of Deputies and pledging to do all he could to rid the party of the “stain” of antisemitism. He has called for a video conference as soon as possible with the leaders of Britain’s Jewish community. His election, by an overwhelming majority in the first round of voting, was broadly welcomed by major Jewish organisations such as the Board, the Jewish Leadership Council, and the Jewish Labour Movement. The Campaign Against Antisemitism also welcomed Sir Keir as the new leader, but called for “discipline” and an addressing of its complaints against outgoing leader, Jeremy Corbyn.”
With all this defamatory nonsense proposed to be engrained in the structure of the Labour Party and a leader and some of his proposed Cabinet being of similar ilk, what hope is there of preserving any of the fantastic gains of the last four years under Corbyn?
Surely there should be a campaign to expose the horrendous smearing of Corbyn , the left and the Labour Party by the MSM and establishment Jewish media, and the expulsion of many socialist Jewish members in what was itself antisemitic, using the excellent publication “Bad News for Labour” and the Al Jazeera documentaries of the Israel Lobby in the UK and the US, if we are not to see mass suspensions and expulsions, of the true socialists in the Labour Party, if not mass resignations and non-renewals of membership.
We should not give up without a fight especially as the EHRC which has already vocalised its branding of Labour as institutionally antisemitic, even before the evidence, can be expected to come out with a damning report on the party’s “antisemitism”, imposing more shackles on free speech and valid criticism of Israel in its oppression of the Palestinians.
A strong repost to all this defamation and false branding of the Corbyn era must be organised.
A few simple ideas / slogans to rally around…
1 Stand firm, with Jeremy, and Stay.
2 Remove Lisa Nandy from chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, and direct it to confront the witch hunt.
3 Boycott the MSM. Simple campaign to Stop Buying Their Newspapers [sales must have slumped recently]
Those who have been disheartened by Nandy’s reported drool about fawning on an alleged pitman in Bassetlaw (‘patriotic duty to get rid of Corbyn’) such as myself, should still take some heart from her voting record on foreign affairs (check They work for You): a mix, probably opportunistic – no surprise from a woman who takes her political principles from doorstep conversations – but therefore malleable under strong pressure. She voted, it seems, against bombing Syria, ie in accordance with the whip – and against renewing Trident. Her crass denunciation of Corbyn’s request for evidence of Kremlin involvement in the Skripal poisoning suggests a dogmatic atlanticism (see Craig Murray’s blog for the many holes in the atlanticist case in this regard, and check the Dawn Sturgess coroner process). She could start by commenting on the US denunciation of the US/USSR Open Skies Treaty – yet another example if any were needed of disastrous character of the so-called Special Relationship – not to mention withdrawing UK special forces and munitions from the aggression against Yemen….. And of course the UK’s refusal (‘forgetfulness’!) about the EU procurement arrangements re coronavirus, at a time when all international procurement agreements are a vital path to restricting the free market madness this regard…
Come to think of it, what advantages did the UK working class gain from Nye Bevan’s sartorial achievements for the council chamber….?
And now John Healey shadow Defence Secretary; not an unmitigated warmonger, to judge by They Work for You. In his celebration acceptance tweet, claims ‘our world class’ armed services ‘keep us safe’ – he does not say from whom. Apparently on the ‘transatlantic APPG’ – so ’nuff said. Voted to unleash civil war, havoc, concentration camps and the slave trade on Libya; comparably for Iraq. Broadly it seems a continuity Blaire. Keen on the ‘military covenant’, which is a double edged sword: partly a soft pathway to jingoism, partly could be made a tool to start democratising the armed services (see squaddies’ websites such as ARRSE and Rum Ration) though we should go far beyond the weak notions in the 2019 manifesto, in terms of a proper trade union, election of officers, a commitment to use the services only for genuine national defence (ie UK soil and defence thereof)….The arms trade also needs proper scrutiny – driven within the labour movement by the most object sectionalism, especially in GMB. To whom, if anyone, should we sell off the pointless aircraft carriers and nuclear-weapon submarines…? And of course destroy NATO…
I will admit to feeling conflicted.
I’ve read Chris Williamson’s post, from yesterday and, I must say I’m tempted. I found it useful in clarifying the events of the past five years, or so. His vision for Left Politics, in the future, makes sense.
However – or if you prefer – but, one fly in his argument is, Jeremy Corbyn intends remaining a Member of, and MP for, The Labour Party.
It was his Leadership that brought to Party Membership, in the first place. I could not, now, join an organisation that would put me in direct opposition to Jeremy Corbyn.
If there was a way of organising Chris Williamson’s vision – within – The Party, that would be a way round my misgivings.
I – we – have a lot to think about. For the time being, I will remain a Member of the Party.
Solidarity!
Good statement from JVL.
Rebeccas Long-Bailey also lost support by being against “the womens place” organsiation. Although I recognise that this is yet another divisive issue that people are very polarised on, the fact that she went for the populist view on the BOD and the transgender self declaration issue was very worrying. Having said that I completely agree with everything else you have said about organisation. A large number of members (over 150,000) didn’t vote and not everyone had an NEC vote.
Richard Burgon.. who sued The Sun + gave the money to help a young teenager is OUT of the Shadow cabinet
Rachel Reeves..who wrote in the Sun promising to be tougher than IDS on the poor is IN the Shadow Cabinet
Unjust Suspensions has been handed out on many people coming up to the General Election and the way the party is going there will be a type of McCarthyism going on in it,
So why is the left not mentioning the biggest threat we all face? Climate change. A movement without serious priority on climate change, will be a dead movement.
Antisemitism education is very important. I did not know about antisemitism – learned very recently after Jeremy was accused. How could he be an antisemitic, impossible. I went to the number of meetings about antisemitism. And l have learned. Jeremy is not antisemitic far from it. But many people believe it and very difficult to explain it as the matter is so complicated. Even Nandy and RLB said that speaking against Israel current right wing government is antisemitism. First of all the name of Jeremy should be cleared that one of the strong reason he lost the GE. I cannot recover from it. He was bullied and sabotaged by Jewish right wing. What is this? This is equivalent of antisemitism, is racism. We really must clarify the antisemitism and racism which are vile of humanity all levels.
Excellent article very true you have my support in anyway active trade unionist for fifty years
Left party under the Blair bombings
Returned under Corbyn for return of Trade Union legislation that
Tories and the Labour right imposed and will never rescind
Abe Hayeem’s comments are a great summary of my thoughts. I think that JC and other members incl JVL, should take firm action now to refute the lies told about antisemitism, even legal action . Crowd funding could help if all else fails. I feel so sad.
I think that building alliances should be a priority for the Left. The Labour Party is not composed of just two factions but several and the relationship between them is complex. The Blairite Progress group of MPs is not much larger than the Campaign group and this time they did not have a preferred candidate on the ballot paper.
Part of politics is about forming alliances and the Labour Party has done this with members of other political parties at various levels of government. Alliances were formed within Labour during the attempted coup against Corbyn in 2016. Why can’t the Left form a relationship with the ‘Soft Left’ to keep the Right of the Party at bay?
With regards to equality, most factions of the Labour Party, some Liberals and even the odd Tory support equality for Palestinians. All of the leadership candidates did say that there is nothing antisemitic about campaigning for Palestinian rights and we should hold them to it. But bridges need to be built too, to prevent people from being expelled for being in the ‘wrong’ faction.
I admire and respect the principles of fellow socialists like Jeremy Corbyn, but I think we are losing the political ‘game’ to others. We are right to want to put our principles into practice, but to succeed we need to be better at politics and I think that making friends and influencing people is part of this.
What will interesting is how long it takes for Conservative Jewish groups to attack Keir Starmer
Anyone who can make vexatious claims of anti semitism to further a political agenda is utterly ruthless
My Hope’s are that JVL can act as an honest broker to left leaning groups in the party to help draw up a list of candidates for forthcoming NEC Elections
Good Luck, I think the vast majority of members want to see JC’s legacy set in stone
I am in Keir Starmer’s constituency and attended a zoom on Tuesday night that he called for all of his constituents. Unfortunately there was a lack of organisation and so only 100 people instead of 1000 were able to attend. I did manage to get on only to discover that the chat function was only open to panelists – all the chair and secs of branches and the CLP, most of whom are Starmer supporters. During the zoom Starmer said that he wanted to speak not just to his supporters but others in his constituency so I emailed him the following. Still no response but I will give it a few more days and try again. I was originally going to leave the LP but I have decided to stay if only to be able to email Starmer every few days (and stay in the JVL) and ask for a response as to how he will represent my point of view as a Jewish constituent and member of the LP not represented by the BoD.
Dear Keir
Firstly congratulations and thank you for setting up this zoom meeting so soon after the leadership elections.
I am a bit frustrated as I was under the impression that anyone could ask questions and it wasn’t made clear that questions were only for panelists (although I think there was someone who asked a question from Gilbratar?). I do understand about the difficulties of setting up a zoom meeting but I think this could have been prepared before the meeting and many of my friends were disappointed not to have been able to join.
As someone who did not support you as leader, I am indeed heartened to hear that you are saying that you will listen to people like me too, so I would really and genuinely like to know how are you going to do that in practice?
I am a member of a branch where I attend regular meetings and try to get involved but am never able to get beyond going to branch meetings, for example to get on a committee, because the AGMs are always stacked in favour of those already on the committee who are in total agreement with your leadership and are not prepared to have different views represented.
I cannot even get a suggestion for a Palestinian Labour Party member to be invited to the meetings to talk about Palestine, agreed upon, as it is always blocked as being too controversial – despite Labour Party official policy on Palestine.
I heard you reassured a Jewish person who raised a question about anti-semitism, about tackling this in the party and reassuring representative bodies, ie the Jewish Board of Deputies. Have you met with anyone else?
Yet I am also Jewish. My view is not represented by the Board of Deputies and there are many other Jewish people in Camden who feel as I do that the issue is not about anti-semitism but rather about supporting Israel or not. So how do you plan on representing my view point in disagreement to signing up to the 10 point BoD plan? How does this exclusive relationship with one Jewish body represent all Jews or align with LP policy on Palestine? Whenever I write to you with a disagreement I never get an answer. So if you really do want to be accountable to ALL your members I would appreciate your response to these comments and questions.
I am seriously thinking of leaving the Labour Party not because you were elected leader but because it is an extremely frustrating experience to genuinely want to get involved in the party and be blocked by the leadership in my branch. My experience so far is that you are not really listening or representing people like myself and now that you are leader I wonder if that situation will become more entrenched or whether you will seriously address these kinds of polarised issues in your branches.
Please respond to this email.
Thank you and kind regards
Carolyn Gelenter
I am not Jewish but I am completly on your side about Starmer. We have to keep fighting for socialism.
Carolyn every time my friends’ comments are sent to JVL they are not printed mainly I suspect because they disagree with the editors of JVL and their supporters
[Generally untrue – but we don’t print abuse or hostile comments which present no argument whatsoever – JVL web]
Do you accept objective criticism of Jeremy Corbyn ??
[Who is asking? – JVL web]
Attacks on the government and the tory shower must happen incisively and productively, this is something that has not been the case, even under Jeremy’s watch. Alex de Pfefel in particular must be held up under scrutiny, the track record is simply appalling, yet Labour hardly ever reminded the electorate of the squander and incompetence – especially when he was Mayor of London! Even worse is the case under Cov – 19 circumstances: he was OK in the Private Ward of St. Thomas’s whilst those in St. Hellier died. The whole approach to the crisis has been a shambles: no testing, insufficient PPE, Care and Health workers totally abused. No action locally by Councils – except to increase their rates. So many things which should have been employed have not been; meanwhile coverups and lies come easy. I’m afraid Labour is failing in all this: still falling in line with the establishment et al. Still sucking up to the maniac running the show in the U.S.A. Not championing ALL working, handicapped, unemployed, homeless, marginalised or ethnic peoples.
Subject to correction and like it or not the BOD appears to have more support than JVL !!
Get over it and get over Corbyn’s ignoble defeat.
I don’t mind being part of a tiny tiny tiny minority by the way