Labour members are around 3% of Labour voters. Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that members ditching someone voted by actual voters is democratic.
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Labour members are around 3% of Labour voters. Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that members ditching someone voted by actual voters is democratic.
That quote from the article:
“It’s all about democracy. The MP should reflect the views of the party and the local membership."
Is a complete joke. Isn't this why we can't have a 2nd EU referendum because the people have already decided, yet here when the people decided they wanted him as their MP, the public are obviously wrong! It is natural to have dissenters in your party and is even healthy. Did Blair try to throw out Tony Benn or even Corbyn himself?
This rubs me up the wrong big time, instead of a collection of ideas it has to be all fall behind the leader, so the purges start. Hmmm let me think to the past the sort of person that feels the need to do this....
The Labour left were derided massively under New Labour. Motions weren't even debated on the basis of them being (to quote Kim Howells) "airy fairy lefty loonie nonsense" - hence why so many left when we illegally invaded Iraq.
The Labour Party has gone back to its roots of being a community-orientated democratic socialist party, if sitting Labour MPs don't want to be part of that then they are free to join a party that best represents their interests.
It's quite hilarious how you see Brexit as being a tragedy, and yet are repulsed by efforts to ensure that similar things don't happen again.
A lot of Labour safe seats voted to leave, my own included. The overwhelming consensus in these areas is that the local MP doesn't represent their views, and I believe it's a perfectly just goal to ensure that any Labour Party candidates are representative of the communities they wish to represent - instead of just being parachuted in by HQ.
tsubaki
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But that isn't what is on offer, is it?
All deselection does is indicate the removal of the considerable support that is given to an MP by their local party for elections; if they want to stand again then they can do so. This idea that it is anti-democratic is nonsense, as is the notion that this has only started happening during Corbyns time.
I agree with the latter, but think it's a stretch to pin the blame for Brexit on constituents feeling their local MP doesn't reflect their views. If they felt that way, they could have voted differently in the general election, but I suspect they didn't.
That's being very selective. It's saying, sure, you can run in any future elections, but you can't do so as a Labour candidate. It's not hard to see the connection between a surge in new Corbynite members > the desire to have mandatory reselection > the sanitization of the party to be full of Corbynite MPs.
It would be helpful to have representatives that represent the overarching goals of the Party, and not refer to local members as "trots, stalinists, and communists".
tsubaki
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It is, but that is only because you eliminate a lot of the background and assume that the membership would allow Corbyn to act in that way (if he even wanted to act in that way, which is extremely questionable).
Of the deselections so far, nearly all of them came from CLPs where there was - before Corbyn - serious local discontent; they've had multiple goes at Field down the years (some of which were evidenced on here) and there is an introduction to Ryan's past troubles on this thread:
Also Lambeth Labour (ie: Progress) have had it in for Hoey as well, with a serious attempt to deselect her in 2007, Mandelson's aborted attempt to get rid of her last year and a motion of no confidence this July. This is not a wave of new activists swooping in and purging the local MP, its MPs who were already at risk finding that their antics over Corbyn (or Brexit, or both) has tipped the scales in their CLPs to the point where they are no longer supported by the majority.
They're compliments in the Labour party aren't they?
I don't do revolutionary politics, and neither does the Labour Party.
tsubaki
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They're compliments in the Labour party aren't they?
TBH its surprising how many of the New Labour lot (especially the first generation) were ex-Trots.
It's quite funny seeing the hysterics over Trotskyism.
I think it was Tony Benn who likened them to the Salvation Army in that they speak of great struggle, but in reality they're just normal people with a different altruistic ideological view of the world.
davek
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Umunna: "Corbyn, call off the dogs".
That'd be funny if it weren't for the fact that he and the other free-market entryists into the Labour Party hadn't have tried to unseat Corbyn and continued to lay traps for him ever since.
Umunna, Ryan, Mann, Stringer, Field etc etc. need to find a new party. Their race is run.
That'd be funny if it weren't for the fact that he and the other free-market entryists into the Labour Party hadn't have tried to unseat Corbyn and continued to lay traps for him ever since.
Umunna, Ryan, Mann, Stringer, Field etc etc. need to find a new party. Their race is run.
NilSatisOptimum
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Local members will get to put forward their candidates every 5 years, no more safe seats, Labour MPs and Labour challengers answerable to local members then answerable to all electorate in elections. Not seeing the issue.
Mandleism idiom if ever heard one.
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davek
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Well that sounds democratic and therefore deplorable to some.
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