Break this new "tradition" now!

Submitted by AWL on 23 February, 2021 - 9:33 Author: Martin Thomas
Starmer

A new “tradition” is being developed in the Labour Party, of activists being suspended and fobbed off without due process, presumably in the hope that we will give up. An analysis by John Stewart in early February counted 56 CLP (Constituency Labour Party) officers suspended. 91 CLPs had passed motions which might have flouted the bans issued by General Secretary David Evans against discussion of Jeremy Corbyn’s and other suspensions, and 29 had had officers suspended.

That may not be all, and probably hundreds of members were suspended earlier in 2020. We are told that the National Constitutional Committee is now processing cases faster, but there is no word of any recent suspension getting an NCC date.

On 4 February the Skwawkbox blog reported that 50 of those suspended have been reinstated (though with a warning, or “reminder of conduct”, finding them guilty of “not following the guidance of the General Secretary”). We know for sure of only two reinstatements, though.

On 11 February, eleven members of Labour’s National Executive (NEC) wrote to Evans reinforcing the message sent in December by 284 CLP officers from 194 CLPs, complaining about the suspensions. The five left CLP reps on the NEC were joined by four union reps and the Youth and Disabled Members’ reps, but by no-one from the “centre” of the NEC.

On 15 February, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD) called on Labour members to email Keir Starmer and NEC members about the withdrawal of the whip from Jeremy Corbyn, another issue apparently put into indefinite storage.

The news that the Forde Inquiry report into the 860-page Labour Party internal report on misdeeds in Labour HQ has been indefinitely delayed (on grounds of the Information Commissioner’s Office doing an inquiry into the leaking, not the substance, of the report) is strictly speaking entirely separate, but adds to the “tradition”.

We have heard of no new suspensions recently. No action was taken against the 284 CLP officers. Time for more protests!

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