Strong-arming local Labour Parties just hit new heights. Help us track what’s happening.

Keir Starmer in front of an interactive map


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The efforts the Labour Party machinery is making to control its Constituency Parties (CLPs) hit new heights on Wednesday 9 December. One media outlet went so far as to call it “Orwellian” as the strong-arming hit fever pitch. Now, The Canary has begun to track these attacks on local parties. And we want you to get involved.

Banning dissent?

As The Canary previously reported, there have been some dodgy goings-on in Bristol. The SKWAWKBOX wrote that two prominent members of two of the city’s CLPs were suspended. It noted on 25 November that the party had suspended:

First the chair and one co-secretary of Bristol West… for allowing a motion – decisively passed – in support of Jeremy Corbyn.

Then the other co-secretary… on the nebulous grounds of suspicion of breaking some unspecified rule. …

And now, the chair and secretary of Bristol North-West CLP have also been suspended – and again on suspicion of breaking some unspecified rule.

The SKWAWKBOX also noted on 25 November that the party has effectively banned motions that support Corbyn. It published an internal memo from Labour’s “governance department”. It stated that “all motions which touch on” the “issues” surrounding Corbyn “must be ruled out of order”. In other words, CLPs must throw out any motions relating to the former Labour leader.

It also said that:

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Labour is officially equating any and all expressions of solidarity with Corbyn or criticism of its political decisions with racism.

Since then, things have taken an even greater turn for the worse.

“Literally Orwellian”?

The SKWAWKBOX has been covering the situation in detail. For example, recently Louth and Horncastle passed a motion calling for:

an investigation into the suppression of freedom of speech, how the instruction was disseminated and under what authority.

Then, on 9 December it reported that Bath CLP:

has been forced to cancel a planned meeting to elect officers and discuss motions after ‘deliberate confusion’ in which all the planned motions it submitted were ruled out by the party’s regional office – except one to mark the anniversary of the death of George Orwell

It called this “literally Orwellian”. And given what’s been going on of late, this hard-line approach is likely to continue. So, The Canary is mapping CLPs that are resisting the main party line.

Mapping rebellion

You can view our interactive map here. On it, you can see the number of CLPs that oppose the main party’s stance:

The Canary Interactive Map

You can zoom in on our map to view more detail. So, in London for example, The Canary has tracked nine rebelling CLPs:

London CLPs on a map

As of 5pm on 9 December, The Canary has tracked 40 CLPs and we will be updating the map with details of what’s happened at each CLP.

But we want to keep this project up-to-date. So, if you’re a member of a CLP that has recently passed a motion that goes against the main party line, contact us. You can speak to Emma Guy on the Investigations Team by emailing emma.guy(at)thecanary.co

Alternatively, you can securely get in touch via our Tip Offs page here.

This authoritarian approach from the central party is having a detrimental effect on local democracy. So, it’s crucial that we hold to account those pushing this strong-arming. By helping The Canary map dissenting CLPs, we can begin to get an idea of the scale of the resistance. Then, we can all take action.

Featured image via The Canary and the Telegraph – YouTube

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  • Show Comments

    2. The Islamaphobic donor scandal shows that Haredim Kier is a duplicitous wolf in sheep’s clothing. He purports to be a socialist but does his best to silence and marginalise socialists in Labour and have them cancel their memberships in their tens of thousands. Our party democracy mirrors democracy on Plague Island during the last eleven months. Our police forces are acting as jackboots and The Big Three have taken an Orwellian stance in silencing society on behalf of a criminal Cabinet. Can I put forward Parler Free Speech and Rumble for videos and consign Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to the bin. Ask your smart phones this question please: “Siri/Alexa, do you work for the British Government!” Perhaps you too will consign your smart phone to the bin as I have.

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    5. The Labour Party where I live are vile, a mix of sleeper agents and champagne Socialists, more or less without the Socialism altogether. I am this week due to file a complaint against the leader of the council and a councillor for their naked collaboration with people guilty of fraud. The Labour Party here don’t give a damn, there’ll be no resistance to Starmer’s witchhunt at all and I expect my complaints will e dismissed by the central party’s department for dealing with this. But it’s good to know where you stand eh.

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    6. Isn’t the ‘Party’ supposed to be responsive to its local groups? Something about ‘grassroot democracy’… and other, seemingly old fashioned, ideas that appear to have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Opinions and debate seem to be anathema to the UK’s ‘deep state’ and its M$M mouthpieces and character assassination bureaux.

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    7. Twice now I have asked those that run the Greenock & Inverclyde CLP for details in their support/non support of Mr Corbyn. Twice now they have responded by asking for donations to local food banks. I have no option but come to the conclusion that there is no support for Mr Corbyn from those that run the Greenock & Inverclyde CLP. Grassroots democracy is dying slowly and inextricably with a wholescale purging of socialists from a socialist political party. Haredim Kier is definitely NOT a socialist….so why is he the one in charge of it?

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    8. Clearly a long term strategy going on in spite of Corbyn’s intial election win. Their nastiness is similiar to the 5 billionaires who run the media calling Corbyn a Commie. For a good laugh about this crowd watch the Ruling Class” with Peter O’Toole, and Allister Sims produced in 1972. Originally a play written by Peter Barnes.
      Its amazing how true to life the humour is. This wealthy crowd prefers Jack the Ripper as a neighbour over Jesus Christ who is thought of as a Commie.
      Corbyn = Commie= Christ
      Corbyn is for peace, human rights, with a respect for life these individuals find abhorrant.
      Hilarious satire.
      How things haven’t changed at all.

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    9. Remember where all this comes from: the clever but malicious seeping into the public mind by Zionist apologists, supported by the MSM, that Labour is “institutionally anti-Semitic”. In that regard, there’s an important point: the campaign for Palestinian rights risks being derailed. The more or less tacit support for Israel across the globe is combined with a similarly worldwide commitment to a two-States solution. The Israelis use this as a delaying tactic. Nevertheless, almost every government and political party across the globe supports it. Those who argue one State is the ideal are correct. That it is morally beyond reproach is also correct. The question is how realistic is it. There is a false analogy abroad between Israel/Palestine and apartheid South Africa. The argument goes: would you have accepted a Bantustan State as a solution? Then why a parallel State for Palestinians? SA never wanted to eliminate or remove, its black population, which was some 90% of the total. The SA economy couldn’t survive without the blacks. The Israelis do want to remove the Palestinians and the Israeli economy, backed by the US, can survive without them. There was a worldwide boycott of SA goods. Governments across the world condemned apartheid. But most crucially, is there a single government or major political party which supports a one-State solution? It will take a century to get anywhere near a world consensus for that. By then, the Palestinians will have been dealt with. On the other hand, we have a commitment to a two-States solution worldwide. The realistic strategy is to push that hard, to hold to the fire the feet of all those who proclaim their faith in two-States in order to bring a Palestinian State into being. Not the Bantustan model suggested by Trump, but a genuine, autonomous State. Be in no doubt, even that will make the Zionists apoplectic; but it can be achieved within decades. To make the ideal the enemy of the improved is to risk sacrificing the Palestinian people. Ideological purity among leftist intellectuals won’t help them. The campaign needs to focus on forcing those who claim to stand for a two-States solution to put their money where their mouths are. Of course, one State with equal rights for all is the ideal, but what is the ideal for the UK? How close are we to getting it? Don’t we have to fight for every improvement and dig in our heels? Do we disdain an extra £20 on UC because it’s still capitalism? We have to be subtle enough to keep the ideal alive while seizing every pragmatic gain. A State for the Palestinians would be an enormous gain. If we destroy the possibility because it isn’t ideal, history will judge us self-indulgent and stupid.

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    11. I don’t know about others’ views but for me, despite his obvious failings and weakness in indulging the people who smeared him so vitriolically, Corbyn symbolised a different paradigm of operating politics and policies. It’s this that made him such a challenge. Inform yourself:

      Camden New Journal
      https://pages.pagesuite.com/0/2/025de7d1-4c7b-4a71-8b62-b0ed5ecf030a/page.pdf

      https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/the-fight-for-free-speech-in-britain-today/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=today-on-the-jvl-blog-newsletter-total-articles-for-you_1

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    12. My partner – an activist with Welsh Labour and a prominent local figure with a high position at a constituency – reports similar interactions. Having expressed in writing dissatisfaction with such tactics, my partner’s voice has been silenced there … on procedural grounds! Not surprising at all – Labour has a new leader who is a ‘sir’. Shame for all those who have fallen for individual freedoms and workers’ rights. Another sad day for ‘democracy’ in this country!

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    13. With Brexit now ‘done’ allegedly, does anyone here delighting in these local rebellions against Starmer seriously believe that a return of Corbin as leader would lead to him defeating Johnson in an election?
      Johnson once gain will be praying that there are enough diehards who do.

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