Egyptian Cleric Explains Enslavement of People Captured in Jihad

Nothing to do with Islam......... words fail me.

Setback for Momentum in Labour Youth NEC Election

The result of the election for the Labour Youth section representative has just been announced. The preferred Momentum candidate, James Elliot currently under investigation by the Labour Party following widely reported allegations of anti-Semitism in the Oxford University Labour Club has lost by a small margin.

This has attracted the ire of Momentum leader Jon Lansman who tweeted:

Young Lab NEC rep election recount refused with 0.1% gap & 1% spoilt papers. Claim ballot box secure but remember Erith & Thamesmead

However one of the replies pointed out:

I was in the count. Pleased to confirm the spoils were blatant and the ballot boxes were never not under staff observation.

As for Erith & Thamesmead readers may recall this was the constituency where the Trade Unionist and Socialist candidate polled no votes but complained he had voted for himself and so had his wife.

Under Corbyn & Momentum the need to remember the poor results of the far-left is important indeed.

Be careful what you wish for Mr Lansman.

Update: Reports are emerging about allegations of bullying and intimidation by Momentum  supporters at the Labour Youth Conference.  

GMB Union attacks "professional posers" over Trident

The far-left comrades along with assorted appeasers, pretend pacifists and pie-eyed students marched in London today against the renewal of Trident, a move which if ever implemented would put the safety and standing of this country at risk.

Such a move would also put thousands of jobs and a section of our manufacturing industry at risk.

The National Union of General and Municipal Workers (GMB) has issued the following statement:

Politicians want to cancel the renewal of Trident whatever the consequences and for you to forget about the decent jobs with good prospects, secure terms and conditions of employment and a good company pension scheme says GMB.

At the Trident Successor Programme conference in Newcastle upon Tyne on the 25th February Gary Smith, Secretary GMB Scotland spoke defending the jobs of GMB members. See notes to Editors for the text of his full speech plus copies of previous GMB press releases on the Trident Successor Programme.

Gary Smith, GMB Scotland Secretary, said “Instead of honouring you as hard-working, committed trade unionists there are people, many of whom are at the heart of the Labour and Trade Union movement, who, quite simply, want you to lose your jobs.

They want to cancel the renewal of Trident, whatever the consequences. They want you to forget about the decent jobs you have with good prospects, secure terms and conditions of employment and, astonishingly in 21st Century Britain, a company pension scheme. Forget about the strength this provides for working people and communities. Forget about the brighter future it offers to our young people. For these armchair generals playing their student politics as they sip lattes in Holyrood and Islington, none of this matters. Well, the GMB says you do matter and we’re going to give these professional posers the fight of their lives.

Failing to renew Trident is wrong on so many levels. Whether the professional posers with their brand of student politics accept it or not the people of this country do believe Trident makes us more secure. And what they do not understand is that the yards the length and breadth of Britain are inextricably linked. They glibly say that it is only 500 jobs at Faslane and Coulport at risk, well it isn't it is the future of Rosyth and even shipbuilding on the Upper Clyde are at risk too.”

Comedy Interlude: Charlie Drake

The British entries for this years Eurovision were broadcast on BBC 4 this evening and I was disappointed (to say the least) by the outcome. Usually I'd post the British entry but I will not be doing so this year, though at a later date I'll post two or three entries from other countries that interest me.

As an alternative to the dire Euro entry here's a wonderful little video by the late, great Charlie Drake which won the Golden Rose competition way back in 1967.

Still makes me laugh.

Time to tackle the falsehood of Islamophobia

The main story in this mornings paper made for disturbing reading. The Times reported on the continuing exposure and prosecution of child abusers in Rotherham as more "Asian" men were found guilty of sexually exploiting and raping under-age children.

Except "Asian" isn't an adequate description of this gang of paedophiles or the others that have been caught in some of our inner cities. For some reason there is a fear of identifying their actual origin Muslims of Pakistani/Bangladeshi origin.

The reason I find this disturbing is because the reason this went uncovered for so so long was not just due to the now discovered corruption amongst a small group of local politicians and police officers, it was political correctness.

When these allegations started surfacing anyone who dared raise concerns was shouted down as "Islamophobic".

The far-left in particular along with the politically correct liberal brigade buried their collective heads up Islams backside long ago. Almost as if crime amongst one community could not be discussed.

It's "racist" apparently.

And yet the same does not happen when we talk about triads within the Chinese community, Albanian gangsters or gangs of Romanian pickpockets. These all exist and do not denote that all these communities are criminal. Simply that there are gangs within them as there are within every community.

But for some reason crime within Muslim communities is a taboo subject.

It doesn't stop at these rapists, it also stops us dealing with other issues, not least of which is the rise of fundamentalist fascism, misogyny, and hate crime.

Yes Hate Crime.

The Hate Preachers are seemingly exempt from all restrictions in our universities. According to our current crop of student activists people like Peter Tatchell and Germaine Greer are a "threat" to students "safe spaces", but self appointed clerics who go around preaching that gays should be thrown off mountains, that women are worth half a man and that all us Kuffirs are expendable lowlifes in the battle for a fascist "Caliphate" can say what they want.

The left has orientated itself to the Islam(ist) agenda since the burning of the Satanic Verses. The rise of anti-Semitism through BDS and so-called anti-Zionism is ignored if not encouraged in order to overthrow perceived "imperialism".

These self serving ideologues care not one jot about the consequences of their actions. "Safe Spaces" are a tool for censorship and bullying. You challenge them at your own risk. These are Lenin's true "fools", except the consequences will be more dire.

Islam(ism) is a threat to us all and must be combated on every level. Crime and extremism should not be covered by the falsehood of "Islamophobia".

Islam is a religion, not a race and is one that de-humanises all that it touches and is behind the atrocities we see perpetrated not just in ISIS controlled areas of Iraq and Syria but also Rotherham .

Islamophobia is a politically created myth.

Expose the lie now.

Another "delta" scandal down under?

Given the furore that erupted over the alleged rape in the Socialist Workers Party a couple of years back you would think the left and the far-left in particular would have learn't a lesson from all this. But no, it seems that some "comrades" remain oblivious to women's rights.

In Australia there have been allegations of abuse that have led to the resignation of 14 members from the Socialist Party including one of their local councillors. They have issued the following statement:

This is an announcement of resignation from the Socialist Party, Australian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI).

We, the undersigned, refuse to be party to the cover-up of allegations of violence against women and will not remain complicit in the silencing of victims of abuse.

Over recent months we have watched the organisation we built be torn apart by attacks on a woman comrade for coming forward with serious allegations of abuse by a leading male member. We believe such allegations should always be investigated with seriousness and sensitivity, while open to scrutiny and democratic oversight. Instead, we have witnessed an attempted cover-up, defence of the alleged perpetrator and disgraceful treatment of the alleged victim.

As committed socialists and Marxists, we consider this an unforgivable breach between theory and practice. We have a proud history of fighting to end the oppression of women in society. We have published important material on the many ways women are oppressed by capitalist society and have expressed solidarity with the many movements throughout history that have fought and challenged this oppression. However, this important work will amount to nothing if we tolerate the silencing of women within our own ranks.

We are entering a new period of history where self-proclaimed socialists like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn are inspiring people into political action and shaking up the capitalist system. A whole new generation is discovering the ideas of democratic socialism. Socialists should welcome them with open arms. But this can only be done on the basis of taking a principled stand against all forms of oppression.

The struggle for a socialist society – a society that puts the interests of people before profit – must be founded on the understanding that we cannot challenge capitalism while condoning violence against women within our movement. We must oppose all forms of oppression on the basis of class, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexuality.

We have a world to win through struggle, solidarity and socialism. We intend to fight for it.

Signed:

Stephen J
Mel G
Chris D
Emma L
Aish R
Emma Da.Toby DSue M
Matt M
Tess K
Emma Du.
Kyal R
Bridgid O’B
Steven M

The Socialist Party (Australia) are connected via the Committee for a Worker International (CWI) to the Socialist Party (ex-Militant Tendency) in the UK

Commies for Corbyn!

The tiny Communist Party of Great Britain, publishers of the far left gossip rag, the Weekly Worker have decided the time has come to give up on their "intervention" in Left Unity as they have discovered it is "irrelevant" apparently.....the words "pots" and "kettles" come to mind but heres their statement for all you Trot Spotters out there!

Withdrawal from Left Unity: A statement from the Provisional Central Committee of the CPGB
Communist Platform supporters Jack Conrad and Yassamine Mather proposed the following motion to the Left Unity National Council meeting in Birmingham on February 20. It was overwhelmingly defeated, having received only their votes. On this basis comrades Conrad and Mather announced the dissolution of Communist Platform and our withdrawal from LU.

The CPGB, and Communist Platform supporters, have always thought that the idea dominant in Left Unity that there was a large political space to the left of Labour for a ‘broad party’ on a broadly left-Labourite platform and organisational principles was illusory. Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the Labour leadership election blew up this illusion. Under the circumstances, the only possible future for Left Unity would be to build itself as an instrument of Marxist regroupment, on political and organisational principles which represent a clear alternative to Labourism; and to pose in relation to Labour the question of breaking the system of bans and proscriptions, in order to turn the Labour Party into a united front of the whole workers’ movement.

Since Corbyn’s victory a part of Left Unity’s members, including leading comrades, have ‘voted with their feet to leave LU and join Labour ’. Those who remain have been unwilling to address seriously the complete falsification of their perspective by the events in the Labour Party. It has become increasingly clear that they will never be willing to do so. The rejection of our motion by the NC – in the absence of any alternative proposal for serious rethinking – shows this clearly.

We remain of the view that what is needed is the struggle for a real communist party; and that simply joining Labour as Corbyn supporters or “entryism” is not a sufficient perspective. But the idea that Left Unity can hang on and at some point in the future sweep up disillusioned ex-Corbynistas is nonsense. By its refusal to rethink its perspective when its political analysis was flatly falsified, Left Unity has condemned itself to permanent irrelevance.

The CPGB already have this "front" organisation set up in Labour called the Labour Party Marxists, although it appears to consist of just one person in the form of Stan Keable who is active in the Hammersmith & Fulham constituency.

No great threat to the status quo but they join a growing list of groups entering Labour to support comrade Corbyn or at least leach off the "Corbynistas" for their own nefarious purposes.

The oldest profession under threat?

With everyones attention focused on the forthcoming Euro-referendum there are a lot of stories falling under the radar. One such story is the decision of an all-party Parliamentary group on prostitution says paying for sex should be a crime. One that could lead up to a year in jail and the law would be extended to UK citizens going abroad to prevent "sex tourism".

Such a law already exists in "liberal" Sweden and probably unknown to many is already against the law in Northern Ireland. The BBC reported:

Legislation making it a crime to pay for sex has come into effect in Northern Ireland.

Last year, Northern Ireland became the first part of the UK to pass legislation making the purchase of sexual services illegal.

Anyone caught breaking the new law could face up to a year in prison and a fine of £1,000.

Assembly members voted by 81 to 10 in favour of the measure, brought by the DUP peer Lord Morrow.

Supporters said it tackled one of the main drivers behind human trafficking.

Opponents included Justice Minister David Ford who claimed it would be difficult to enforce.

Difficult to enforce? Anyone remember prohibition in the United States?

The need to crack down on human trafficking and sex slavery is not under question here. That evil trade needs to be stamped out, but this does not seem to be the right way to go about it and will criminalise a layer of people unnecessarily. All this will do is drive the evil trafficking trade further underground.

Prostitution has been described as the "worlds oldest profession" and despite the moral panics that surround it there is little reason to think that criminalising the act of purchasing sex between two consenting adults is going to stop. Rather I fear it will become more dangerous for the women in the sex industry. 

One of the demands of the English Collective of Prostitutes is:

No criminalisation of clients; sex between consenting adults should not be the business of the criminal law.

The Collective also made a submission to the Parliamentary group in which they stated:

False claims that over 80% of sex workers are trafficked have been peddled by politicians looking to increase the criminalisation of prostitution. In fact, less than 6% of sex workers in the UK are trafficked (Mai, 2011). “Many migrants prefer working in the sex industry rather than the “unrewarding and sometimes exploitative conditions they meet in non-sexual jobs” (Evening Standard, 2011). 

Despite government claims about prioritising trafficking, most victims get no protection. A parliamentary committee (2005) found they are frequently deprived of “protection, access to services and justice” and “treated as immigration offenders facing detention and removals.

They conclude:

Research on the Swedish law which criminalised clients found: “no convincing empirical evidence that the law has resulted in a decline in sex work . . .” Under the constant threat of police interference, sex workers are forced to hurry the process of screening and negotiating with clients, which makes them take more risks. It also found that sex workers have often been prosecuted as ‘pimps’ when they band together for safety. Landlords have been pressured by police to evict sex worker tenants under threat of being prosecuted themselves. Police have also been known to report sex workers to hotels and – most devastatingly – sex work is frequently cited as a reason for refusing child custody. Rose Alliance, the sex worker organisation in Sweden, conducted their own research and found that 63% of sex workers said that the sex purchase law had created more prejudices.

Domestic violence, including rape, is the most common form of violence against women, yet no-one suggests that relationships between women and men should be banned.

Claims that violence, particularly trafficking, can be reduced by criminalising clients are disproven by a 2014 Vancouver study which found that “criminalisation and policing strategies that target clients… profoundly impacted the safety strategies sex workers employed.”

You can show your support by signing this pledge: http://www.pledgedecrim.com/

Urgent Petition: Stop Facebook from deleting Arab Atheist & Secular pages

This week only , 9 of the biggest Facebook groups of atheists and secular Arabs were closed after a fake reports campaign led by Islamist groups that counts hundreds of thousands of Islamists to close the only window we breathe through !

Arab atheists are facing huge risks of losing all kinds of freedoms and rights ( that are not so many ) , including the freedom and the right of being alive, just by announcing that they are atheists !

So the only safe space they can speak through is social media. But with the Facebook policy that gives the chance to anyone who have an important number of followers to close and ban pages or groups he and his follower don't like , simply by leading a campaign of mass fake reports , this space is becoming as regressive as any country of the third world where minorities are oppressed.

We as secular and Arab atheists , are asking the Facebook administration to change it's policy, and to reverse it's decision of closing our pages and groups.

Sign the petition now!

https://www.change.org/p/mark-zuckerberg-stop-deleting-arab-atheists-and-seculars-groups-and-pages?source_location=petitions_share_skip

Momentum takes over Labour Youth on less than a 3.5% turnout

In a move that gives Corbyn's supporters yet more power in the New Labour Party, Momentum supporters have won all the posts in the elections for Young Labour. Even more shocking, given recent revelations about Oxford University Labour Club James Elliot may get elected to Labour's National Executive Committee at their annual conference next month.

Elliot gained notoriety with his comment in the Oxford Student in 2014 by writing:

Antisemitism (sic) is a tired old accusation from Zionist, retreating behind mendacious slurs.

Far from it the Labour Party has now been forced to act about allegations of anti-Semitism in the Oxford Labour Club and the Government has ordered the University itself to investigate anti-Semitism on campus.

The problems now being faced by moderate or more mainstream members is that this victory was gained through a ballot of some 50,000 eligible members in which just 3.5% actually voted. A tiny proportion in which those opposed to Momentum and Corbyn should be ashamed of themselves. So much gained by the far left with so little effort.

The old Militant Tendency used the now defunct Labour Party Young Socialists (LPYS) as a basis to spread it's pernicious influence in the Labour Party. Back then the Labour NEC acted to stop this, but now it is clear that the Corbynistas are hell bent on remaking Labour in their image that the days of a broad church that party has always been is gradually being worn away.

Unless Labour moderates act, the party will become an unelectable left-wing cult. Only ordinary people will lose out as the Tories continue their attacks on workers rights.

Meanwhile Michael Cricks book on Militant has been republished and updated. It will be a useful tool in the fight against extremism in the Labour Party and should be read by all those who are not only opposed to Momentum but are preparing to fight back:

Stop Sidelining Women in Iran

A short video that speaks for itself.

Now students call Hope Not Hate's Nick Lowles "Islamophobic"

In yet another bizarre development in student politics a group of self appointed guardians of the safe spaces movement in NUS, the "Black" Students have decided that Nick Lowles of Hope Not Hate is an Islamophobe.



Now I have differences with Mr Lowles, not least because of his attacks on secular and anti-extremist Muslims but to describe him as an "Islamophobe" and seek to "No Platform" him strikes me as blatantly absurd.

The Huffington Post reports:

The NUS‘ black students’ campaign is attempting to no platform an anti-racism campaigner who founded Hope Not Hate because he is apparently “Islamophobic”.

Nick Lowles, director of the organisation, posted a message on Facebook saying he had been targeted by the National Union of Students because he has “repeatedly spoken out against grooming and dared condemn Islamist extremism”.

The NUS has a colourful history of attempting to no-platform speakers.

Most recently, gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was branded “transphobic” by an NUS officer, who refused to speak at an event with Tatchell.

However when it emerged Jihadi John sympathisers were speaking on university campuses, the NUS refused to address the issue. The union also voted against condemning Isis as it would be “Islamophobic” to do so.

The union recently condemned its own president for breaking an Israel goods boycott by fraternising with Coca Cola – as the NUS says it operates factories in illegal Israeli settlements.

The refusal by the students to deal with Islamist Hate in all it's evil forms and to attack those who try to deal with the rise of clerical fascism shows how degenerate the politics of political correctness has become.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Something is seriously wrong in our universities. Higher education is failing. Badly.

Anti-Semitism in Oxford Labour Club

Ed Miliband has cancelled his visit to Oxford University Labour Club following the resignation of the Chair, Alex Chalmers, over allegations of anti-Semitism in the organisation. An investigation is to be held.

Meanwhile the following Open Letter from former Oxford Labour Club members has been published:

This week the members of Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) voted to endorse so-called “Israel Apartheid Week”. As former Chairs and Executive members of OULC, we oppose this decision and condemn it. We support the decision of one of the current Co-Chairs, Alex Chalmers, to resign in response.

Israel Apartheid Week purports to be a conference promoting intellectual discussion. In reality it is little more than a gathering of propagandists seeking to dismantle the only majority-Jewish member-state of the United Nations. It principally serves as a vehicle for promoting the academic, cultural and economic isolation of the Jewish state. In doing so, it strengthens the hand of those who oppose the two-state solution and emboldens extremists who seek to “resolve” the conflict by extinguishing one of the parties to it.

It is wrong to contend that Israel – a multiracial democracy - even remotely resembles the horrors of South Africa’s racist dictatorship. Israel is a nation largely composed of refugees and their descendants – from both Europe and the Arab world, living in a land to which they have deep historical and religious ties.

Worse, the appropriation of the term “apartheid” is an affront to black South Africans. The supporters of Israel Apartheid Week would do well to remember the words of Nelson Mandela: “As a movement we recognise the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism just as we recognise the legitimacy of Zionism as a Jewish nationalism. We insist on the right of the state of Israel to exist within secure borders, but with equal vigour support the Palestinian right to national self-determination.” We share this vision and believe it is in the best traditions of OULC.

We don’t pretend for a second that there are no problems in Israel-Palestine. We have not forgotten Israel’s military occupation. We don’t ignore the imperfections of Israeli society. We don’t overlook the tragedy of conflict. But we are troubled by OULC’s decision and feel compelled to speak out.

Finally, we observe with horror what Mr Chalmers describes in his note of resignation as co-Chair from OULC: “members of the Executive throwing around the term ‘Zio’ (a term for Jews usually confined to websites run by the Ku Klux Klan)’”; senior members expressing “solidarity” with Hamas; claims that “most accusations of anti-Semitism are just the Zionists crying wolf” and the fact that “a large proportion of both OULC and the student left in Oxford more generally have some kind of problem with Jews”.

This is not the OULC we remember and which we proudly led. OULC and the Labour Party have a long and distinguished history of fighting racism and injustice. We urge the current members to remember that tradition and to reconsider their decision.

Tom Adams - Co-Chair 2012
Ayo Ajanaku - Co-Chair 2009
Emily Benn - Executive Committee 2009
Anthony Breach - Co-Chair 2012
Mark Baker - Co-Chair 2007
Kieran Cunningham - Co-Chair 2010
Helena Dollimore - Co-Chair 2013
Jack Evans - Co-Chair 2011
Kevin Feeney - Co-Chair 2012
David Green - Co-chair 2008
Lincoln Hill - Chair 2011
Sarah Hutchinson - Co-Chair 2008
Colin Jackson - Co-Chair 2011
Aled Jones - Co-Chair 2013
Stephen Longden - Chair 2005
Ben Lyons - Co-Chair 2009
Sapan Maini-Thompson - Executive Committee 2014
Jonathan Metzer - Co-Chair 2013
Martin McCluskey - Co-Chair 2005
Martha MacKenzie - Executive Committee 2009
Phillip Patterson - Co-Chair 2006
Tom Rutland - Executive Committee 2011
Kathleen Shields - Co-Chair 2011
Alistair Strathern - Co-Chair 2010
Jamie Susskind - Co-Chair 2009
Alice Taylor - Co-Chair 2008
Jacob Turner - Co-Chair 2009

Further reading: Times of Israel
 

Stop Turkeys War on the Kurds

Sunday March 6th: National Demonstration

12 noon BBC, Portland Pl, London W1A 1AA

March to Trafalgar Square, Rally 2pm

Turkey has launched a war on the 25 million Kurds of south east Turkey ever since the mainly Kurdish political party, the HDP twice won over 12% of the vote in the elections of 2015 and in Syria the Kurdish PYD has led a movement creating a popular progressive democracy in the Rojava region.

Rather than accept that sooner rather than later the rights and aspirations of the Kurdish people to autonomy must be met, in Turkey and beyond, the Turkish state has imposed curfews on towns and cities across the region, with tanks on the streets and snipers on the roofs, and nearly 200 people have been murdered by Turkish forces. An all out policy of annihilation is being pursued by Erdogan and the Turkish state.

Yet while Turkey is a key NATO ally of the UK and USA and desperate to get into the EU, the UK and international media have said and done nothing to stop this brutality.

The Kurdish movement in the UK have been protesting about their treatment by Turkey since 100,000 Kurds came to this country in the 1980s and 1990s, as refugees from the Turkish war against the Kurds when hundreds of villages were destroyed, 30,000 Kurds killed and 3 million made refugees.

But now for the first time, in the face of the Turkish state restarting the war against the Kurds, it has been decided to call a national demonstration under the slogan ‘Break The Silence’, as this brutal attack is unreported in the UK press, and Stop Turkeys War on the Kurds, as we will be demanding the UK govt puts pressure on Turkey to stop these attacks and return to the negotiations for a peaceful settlement with the Kurdish Movement began with the PKK, the Kurdish liberation movement.

Lastly we call for the UK govt to decriminalize the Kurdish Liberation Movement, even though the PKK represents the vast majority of Kurds in Turkey and in the UK, is illegal in the UK, which creates serious barriers and difficulties in the search for a peaceful, political settlement.

PLEASE JOIN US IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE KURDS ON THE 6th MARCH.

Called by Kurdish National Congress [ KNK] UK, Peace in Kurdistan and London Kurdish Solidarity.

Further Info: http://www.stopwaronkurds.org/call-out/

Labour Briefing loses the plot

While attention may be focused on the rise of Momentum, the new "Militant Tendency" inside the Labour arty, there are other factions at work and I don't mean just the minuscule entryist Trotskyist groups. One of the the long term more "traditional" factions are those who operate around the Labour Briefing magazine.

Originally founded by a long forgotten bunch of Trots who called themselves the "Chartists", Labour Briefing has become the "official journal" of the Labour Representation Committee which until recently was the keeper of the far-left gospel inside the party.

Labour Briefing also has a firm "Corbyn connection" as a younger Jeremy was very much involved in the early days when the magazine was better known as London Labour Briefing. Now with a "national" profile.

In their latest issue Davy Jones writes of an "exiting new project" for the comrades to undertake:

Above all, members of Labour, the Greens, the SNP, Plaid and other left currents need to come together in campaigning work – against austerity, tackling climate change, defending the NHS, bringing railways back into public ownership. This will help to overcome accumulated sectarianism, lack of goodwill and trust. Only then will electoral alliances or other bold steps feel realistic and essential.

Rather a broad statement given the current state of play in Scotland in particular. Labour is barely in second place having lost all but one seat and the Corbyn effect has not galvanised any turn to Labour in that part of the British Isles at all. If anything the SNP are merely biding their time for another referendum to gain an independent Scotland.

As for Plaid Cymru, even Jeremy Corbyn and his coterie of advisers are likely to baulk at the idea of giving this small party a "leg up" whilst trying to face up to the seeming rise of UKIP in Wales.

The main reason for Jones's piece is his rather parochial view of the Greens. Brighton is the only place with a Green MP and Green Council. Everywhere else their influence and numbers are small in comparison and declining fast. 

Many left-wing greens have already decamped into the Labour Party, with Momentum being the focus for this new far-left movement. An "alliance" would be of no benefit to Labour and could attract the hostility of the unions who came into conflict with the Greens during their tenure in power in Brighton. Anyone remember the strikes? The banning of the bacon sarnie on a Friday by these lunatics?

Jones thinks the Greens should affiliate to the Labour Party and cites the Co-operative Party as a precedent. Labour should treat this the same way that their predecessors did to the Communist Party in the early part of the last century and reject such nonsense.

The comrades of Briefing are deluded. There needs to be a broad alliance to defeat the current Tory government but this needs to built amongst the electorate who will never vote for a far-left Labour Party. The base for such a project is far too small and frankly undesirable. We've seen the socialist experiment and I don't just mean Russia and eastern Europe but also Cuba and Venezuela. It has failed badly.

If Labour is to win it needs to be a reformist party that crosses so-called "class" barriers and recognises the reality of the world we live in today. It has to appeal to that part of the electorate that is not socialist to win. Corbyn, Briefing and Momentum are simply creating a cult. Larger than in the past, but one that will never gain power and never help those it claims to represent.

Like all "socialist" projects they have substituted themselves for ordinary people and put ideology before rationality and reason. 

We cannot wait for Corbyn to lose. He and his followers must be consigned to the dustbin of history where they belong so that the Labour project can be reborn for the twenty-first century.

Failure to do so will only help the Tories.

Time to reclaim Labour from the lunatic fringe.

Two more student activist atrocities against free speech

Today's student leaders and the safe spaces/trigger warning brigade continue to lose the plot..and badly.

According to National Union of Students LGBT activist, Fran Cowling,  Peter Tatchell the long term Human and Gay rights activist is "racist" and "trans-phobic" because he stands for free speech and signed a letter supporting Germaine Greer's right to speak at a university.

The Observer reports:

In the emails, sent to the organisers of a talk at Canterbury Christ Church University on Monday on the topic of “re-radicalising queers”, Cowling refuses an invitation to speak unless Tatchell, who has also been invited, does not attend. In the emails she cites Tatchell’s signing of an open letter in the Observer last year in support of free speech and against the growing trend of universities to “no-platform” people, such as Germaine Greer, for holding views with which they disagree.

Cowling claims the letter supports the incitement of violence against trans-gender people. She also made an allegation against him of racism or of using racist language. Tatchell told the Observer that the incident was yet another example of “a witch-hunting, accusatory atmosphere” symptomatic of a decline in “open debate on some university campuses”.
Frankly a load of old nonsense.

This is just another example of modern day students thinking that anything they do not agree with is oppressing them and their refusal to accept that other people dare to have different ideas to their own bodes ill for the future.

It's not necessary to agree with everything Peter Tatchell says or does (I don't always) but to make such outrageous claims about him is blatantly ridiculous.

Fran Cowling is not the only student who needs to grow up and start learning at university, a privilege so many others do not have the opportunity to do. Listen to this woman in the video below. The argument starts about the right to wear whatever Halloween costume one pleases. Yes that tricky central question to world liberation.......

Douglas Murray shows her the futility of her childish views.



It seems to me there is something seriously wrong in our universities in both the UK and the USA.

If these people represent our future political class we are all doomed.... doomed I tell you.

Letter of the week

Most of the far-left press has become dire reading over the years. The two main ones Socialist Worker (often nicknamed the "Sun" of the left) and The Socialist (previously known as Militant) are not just dull but sometimes simply just a collection of blinkered ideologically based rants are barely worth reading.

There remains one small publication that still attracts interest (though not as much as it used to) the Weekly Worker published by the minute Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Committee) which is led by ex Communist Party/New Communist Party hack Jack Conrad or to give him his real name John Chamberlain. There believed to be no more than a couple of dozen of them but their paper has in the past been a source for all the juicy gossip on the far-left hence it used to attract quite a lot of readers.

The CPGB deny their paper is just a gossip sheet, but since their turn to Left Unity and their tedious reporting of the internal machinations of that dieing organisation readership has plummeted. Left Unity turned out to be a cul-de-sac for failed lefties and frankly kooks like the woman who sang her contribution to their founding conference or one John Tunoman/John Lubbock who put forward resolutions describing ISIS as "anti-imperialist"......(see here)

However the WW does have a lively letters page which can be of interest, though I recommend skipping over anything written by Tony Greenstein an obsessive anti-Zionist.

This week there is a letter that not only caught my attention but contains a sentiment that should be shared by anyone who wishes to remove this bastard Tory government (Corbynistas should particularly note:

I am one of those who believe that a Labour government - any Labour government, no matter how impure - is better than any Tory government. Alan Paton, author of Cry, the beloved country, told Peter Hain: “I am not an all-or-nothing person … I am an all-or-something person.” In other words, half a loaf is better than none. It is better to be a weak government than a strong opposition. The Blair governments may have been lacklustre socialist governments, but they were better than the 18 years that preceded them and the years that have so far succeeded them.

The CPGB is a case in point. It is impotent. It may expound pure Marxist principles, but the public don’t want to buy it and it has absolutely no chance of power; sad old revolutionaries dreaming in never-never land. In fact the whole of the British left, fragmented into a plethora of sectarian posturing, is impotent, with no foreseeable hope of gaining political power. The only hope of dealing with the Tories is to get Labour into power. You can then set about trying to get Labour to try to adopt more socialist policies. Half a socialist state is better than none at all.

In 1980, following the 1979 Labour rout that elected Thatcher, Hain wrote the following words: “Of course, all sorts of arguments will be cited in favour of far-left groups, this time, in these particular historical circumstances, facing that specific stage in capitalist development. But then they always are.” And later on: “One of the least appealing attributes of the far left is its self-righteousness: its claims to possess a monopoly on socialist wisdom, on morality and honesty, and in the case of the Socialist Workers Party specifically, its irritating tendency to exaggerate its self-importance and the role of its activists. That sort of approach makes left unity difficult to build. It also reflects a fault of the whole of the left, inside and outside the Labour Party: namely, a desire to posture rather than grapple with reality.”

Later the same year the party elected the hard-left Michael Foot as leader. In 1983 Foot went to the country with a manifesto that later gained the “longest suicide note in history” soubriquet and Labour went down to its most crushing defeat ever, just about managing to avoid third place. Neil Kinnock set about making the party electable and declared: “Remember how you felt on that dreadful morning ... and think to yourselves: June 9 1983 - never, ever again will we experience that.” And we haven’t - not yet anyway. But if we regard Peter Hain’s words as prescient then 2020 beckons. Corbyn is offering “the longest suicide note in history” once again.

The country needs a Labour government that will govern moderately and not ideologically; that puts people before profit, not profit before people; that accepts capital as collateral damage, not people. To get that government you have to deal with Britain the way it is, not the way you want it to be; then maybe you will be able to deal with the world the way you want it to be rather than the way it is.

Michael Ellison

Spot on I'd say.

It will be interesting to see the replies next week!

Metal Band threatened with death penalty in Iran

We take so much for granted in this country and the rest of the Free World which includes the right to listen or play whatever sort of music we want to listen to. You'd think that this form of relaxation and entertainment could be shared freely in most countries but you'd be wrong.

In a disturbing move the Iranian s have arrested members of a "Metal" band. The Metal Injection website reports:

...Iranian band Confess members Nikan Siyanor Khosravi and Khosravi Arash Chemical Ilkhani. Both men were arrested by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and are facing charges of blasphemy, advertising against the system, running an illegal and underground band and record label promoting music considered to be Satanic, writing anti-religious lyrics and granting interviews to forbidden foreign radio stations. These serious charges resulted in the two band members, aged 23 and 21 sitting in solitary since last November until finally making bail on February 5th, paying the equivalent of $30,000 US.

The musicians are lawyering up and could face a minimum of six months to six years in prison, and worse, if they are found guilty of the blasphemy charge, they could be executed! It's easy to see how they could be charged with blasphemy, especially when they have a song named "I Am Your God."

This action against musicians is an attack on basic Human Rights.

Their plight must be highlighted world-wide to get the Iranians to drop the charges.

Spread the word. 

You can leave a message of support on their (still functioning at the time of writing) Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ConfessBand/

First Teddy Bears, now Dolls threaten Islamic Morality Police

Back in 2007 a British school teacher was arrested in Sudan. Her crime? The BBC explains:

A British schoolteacher has been arrested in Sudan accused of insulting Islam's Prophet, after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, said she made an "innocent mistake" by letting the six and seven-year-olds choose the name.

Ms Gibbons was arrested after several parents made complaints.

The BBC has learned the charge could lead to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine.

Besides attracting outrage, the Sudanese governments actions caused world wide derision and brought Islam into far more disrepute than the teachers harmless action could ever have done. You'd think that various Islamic authorities would have learnt a lesson from this.

But no, the religious backwards-men are back and this time the offender is a doll. The Daily Express reported yesterday:

RELIGIOUS police in Saudi Arabia arrested a doll mascot for disobeying Sharia law by not wearing Islamic dress.

The female figure, whose hair was on display, was promoting the opening of a new sweet shop in Riyadh.

The doll was dressed in a floor length blue and white dress and was wearing a headband.

The arrest was made because the man inside the costume was making inappropriate gestures to his male mascot companion, according to local reports.

The Saudi capital’s religious police said in a statement a number of complaints had been made about the two mascots making crude gestures in front of the shop.

The statement said the police had “reminded them about Allah” and that “pretending to be women” is “against Sharia”. 

It's a puppet you morons.

The Saudi Religious police are a joke. 

This is not an act of reason.

But this is Saudi Arabia we are talking about. Two exports. Oil and religious hate.

When inclusivity parodies itself

Hardly a day goes by without some bunch of dimwitted, humourless and overly politically correct students committing a crime against reason. They've banned sombreros as "cultural appropriation (even though they were given out by a Mexican Restaurant), stopped Germaine Greer the noted feminist from speaking because she dared to voice an opinion that someone didn't like. The list is endless.

Meanwhile Stoodent activists at Northwestern have decided that a burlesque show wasn't being "inclusive enough".  The Daily Beast reports:

It’s entertaining. It’s educational! But it’s also highly triggering for students who didn’t get a solo.

That’s right: This year, burlesque show directors invited students to audition for individual, duet, and trio performances. All students are guaranteed a role in the production, but not all students are guaranteed their very own musical number. That’s just life.

But when the casting decisions were shared with the would-be performers, they revolted. Apparently, they didn’t think the directors’ choices were diverse enough—“marginalized experiences were not sufficiently represented in the selected acts,” reported The Daily Northwestern.

“It was brought to our attention that there are people in our community who feel that those solos and duets and trios are not best representing what the Burlesque community is,” [NU Burlesque co-director Avril] Dominguez said. “We do have a very inclusive and representative cast at large (and) we’re taking that criticism into account and really trying to reestablish a safe space.”

I would have liked to have listened in to the meeting that came up with this!

I'd like to think someone protested that there should have been a "cross-dressing-lesbian-disabled-transsexual" performer (no apologies for missing any self perceived down trodden minority out), but then I'm just taking the piss...

But really, do these students have nothing to do except worry about other peoples genital orientation?

They're obsessed I tell you. Rather like that Islamic Cleric who wanted to ban women from buying "phallic" cucumbers. Never mind the marrows that might put their husbands to shame!

I am past the stage of caring about these self obsessed pretentious brats. But just in case any of you safe-spacers have got this far through my thoughts before running off to watch a puppy video, here's a little humour which will probably be descried as ableist or something.

Take it away Peter Cook and Dudley Moore!

UCU Elections: Vote Independent Broad Left

A message from the Independent Broad Left network:

Dear Colleague

This year’s national UCU elections take place against the background of major threats to our profession and the trade union movement as a whole, including:

 The Green Paper on higher education which will open up the sector to private providers.

 The review of post-16 education, and the crisis in funding, which could see 4 in 10 colleges close.

 The continued pressure on pay rises, and the intensification of work demands.

 The Trade Union Bill, which is intended to neuter the ability of trade unions to defend their members’ interests.Standing up to these and other threats requires a union leadership which puts members first, seeks to involve them in decisions, and emphasises core professional and trade union issues – education, research, jobs, pay, conditions, equality and professional autonomy.

The Independent Broad Left network has played an active role in shifting the union agenda towards a focus on the advancement of our professional and employment interests and the defence of members’ rights. We do not seek confrontation for its own sake but we are prepared to take industrial action when necessary, when it is widely supported and when it can achieve real gains for members. We strongly urge you to vote for the candidates below:

The plight of young girls and women under Islam

The plight of women as second class citizens under Islamic theology has been highlighted once again by a new report published by the United Nations. This time (and for about time) Iran has come under scrutiny Justice for Iran reports:

The UN has criticised Iran for forcing girls to wear hijab (Islamic veil) at the very young age of 7 irrespective of their religious affiliations. Following a review of the situation in Iran, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) urged the country to “review its hijab laws and regulations and ensure that the right of girls to wear or not to wear hijab is fully respected.”

The UN watchdog for children’s rights condemned Iran for the pre-defined ages of puberty for girls at 9 and for boys at 15 lunar years and asked the State to increase the minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys to 18 years. The CRC also stated that an increasing number of “girls at the age of 10 years or younger” are “subjected to child and forced marriages to much older men.” and urged the Iranian government to “to increase the legal age of marriage to 18 years and criminalize marital rape.”
The report continues:

The UN body said it was concerned about child sexual exploitation and abuse committed under the Iranian law which allows for a marriage between the “father and adopted child, paving a path for sexual abuse of children.” In its recommendations, the committee urged to ensure that those responsible for the approval of forced and child marriage, including judges, parents, guardians, religious or traditional leaders are held accountable.

Meanwhile there is some good news for women in Algeria. :

A new Algerian law came into effect this week punishing violence against women and sexual harassment, in a victory for feminist groups that had fought for years for the legislation.

The law, effective from Monday, had been blocked by the Senate for eight months amid resistance from conservative Muslims who view it as interference in family affairs.

The new law if implemented correctly will result in heavy sentencing. The Star Tribune reports:

If a domestic attack prevents the woman from working for over 15 days, the perpetrator faces two to five years in prison.

If a woman is mutilated, or the violence causes loss of eyesight or a limb, or any sort of permanent damage, the law says the attackers could face from 10 to 20 years' incarceration.

However there remains a long journey for the vast majority of women in the Muslim world before their basic human rights take precedence over medieval , male dominated theology.

This means fighting for the complete separation of religion and the state.

Everywhere.

Has mass immigration ended the European dream?

The dream of uniting Europe gradually into something new has taken a severe setback following a number of recent events mainly surrounding the two big immigration issues. According to a poll published in The Times (no link £) yesterday the "out" campaign has now surged into the lead:

The campaign to leave the European Union has been handed it's biggest lead after the public rejected David Cameron's deal on reforms..

Excluding the "don't knows" this means that 56% want to leave whilst 44% want to remain.

It's clear that immigration has become a major issue and is divided into two concerns. The first is the perception of "benefit tourists" from a number of the poorer European countries. On it's own this is an issue that could have been tackled as there are lots of British citizens living in other European countries. The real factor that has turned a sizable number of people against the EU is the current wave of migration from not just Syria but from North Africa.

At first the pictures of dead children drowning on their way to Europe attracted much sympathy but there is a growing realisation that the majority of migrants, even from Syria are actually single men, many of whom have abandoned their wives and families whilst they seek "safety".

Events in Cologne on New Years Eve, even if perpetrated by a minority of migrants has focused attention on the problems of integrating an influx of people with very different cultural values to those of the host countries.

Germany is not the only country where there has been a backlash against the latest wave of migrants. Whilst the attitude of the more "conservative" Eastern European counties like Hungary, Poland and Slovakia is to be expected (the latter banning any Muslim migrants completely), the situation has been reached whereby the more tolerant Scandinavian countries have taken a sterner line.

Both Sweden and Finland have announced they will be deporting large numbers of migrants/failed asylum seekers. Many countries across Europe have closed their borders, an act which undermines the whole point of the EU in the first place. The free movement of people within Europe.

In terms of the "blame game" it was German Premier Angela Merkel's invitation that changed the game. Europe was already experiencing problems with the non-integration of a large element of it's Muslim population. The huge influx over recent months has only exacerbated these problems.

It doesn't help with the attempts by government authorities to suppress news about crimes being committed by newly arrived migrants. In fact as they are finally brought into the mainstream media the anxiety of many Europeans have been raised simply by  the attempts at censorship.

Take for example just one story that finally broke in the Austrian media over the past few days and reported in the  Daily Mail  :

A 10-year-old boy was so brutally raped by an Iraqi migrant in a swimming pool cubicle that he had to be hospitalised for his injuries.

A lifeguard immediately called an ambulance after the boy went to him in floods of tears, while the Iraqi was entertaining himself by repeatedly jumping off the three-metre diving board.

Police arrested him on the spot at the pool in Vienna, and during an interrogation, he told them that it was a 'sexual emergency' as he had not had sex in four months....the migrant, who had entered the country through the Balkans on September 5, official records show, said he could not help himself as he had an 'excess sexual energy'.

He told police that he knew such an act was 'forbidden in any country of the world', and he was not 'always sick', as he has a wife and a daughter in Iraq.

This man should face a long prison sentence for his horrific crime and then be deported back to Iraq.

A view most ordinary voters across Europe would consider the appropriate way to deal with this criminal.

However there remains the possibility of this man, like so many other criminals that have arrived in Europe of not being sent back because of their "rights". A recent example that irritates people was reported by the Telegraph :

The daughter-in-law of terrorist Abu Hamza cannot be deported from Britain despite a criminal past because of human rights laws, an EU law chief has ruled.

The mother-of-one was jailed for a year in 2012 for trying to smuggle a mobile phone Sim card to the hate cleric while he was being held in Belmarsh prison.

Apparently she can only be deported if she is considered a "serious risk" to society.

Assisting Abu Hamza seems enough of a risk to me. 

And exactly why is she claiming Asylum from Morocco anyway? It remains a stable country, far from perfect but better than most in the Arab world these days.

These incidents may only be the actions of a minority of migrants but our inability to get rid of these criminals does irk many and is leading to more of an anti-European view than previously experienced.

The future of the European project is seriously at risk. From the point of view of a trade unionist I find the prospect of leaving the EU whose laws are the only barrier to the current Tories making a bonfire of our rights in the workplace frightening.

The EU needs to be reformed without a doubt and more common sense used by the the judiciary in making rulings and European politicians in making laws that make sense to us ordinary folks.

Earth, Wind & Fire - Boogie Wonderland

From the age of proper dance music. Boogie Wonderland, featuring the late Maurice White who sadly passed away today .

Your music lives on...

Grant Asylum to Ex-Muslim Omar Makram

It's not safe to be an atheist in the Muslim world, though the number of those quietly (or not in some cases) has been growing. In Islam it appears that leaving the faith can only be punishable by death.

They call it "apostasy". 

I call it freedom of choice.

The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain report:

Omar Makram, an ex-Muslim, vocal atheist and a critic of Islam from Egypt fled his home country due to the threats he faced. Despite the threats, the Swedish authorities have refused his application.

Currently, the Swedish authorities seek to deport him back to Egypt were his freedom and perhaps even his life would be in danger. To further prove his convictions he had to resort to making a video where he renounced Islam by desecrating the Quran public for all the world to see.

In Egypt, authorities use blasphemy law to crackdown on vocal atheists, critics of Islam and reformists and that has intensified following the Egyptian revolution in 2011 when young people pushed for more space for freedom of speech.

PCS Left Unity and the phantom menace...

Having left the PCS union over a year ago my interest in their internal affairs has waned. However my attention was drawn to the fact that the union is about to have it's first internal elections for two years following their (self-inflicted) financial crisis when a friend posted a link to an article by the PCS Independent Left to Facebook which announced:

Branches are to shortly begin the nomination process for the NEC elections. The Independent left is standing in those elections. In comparison to the current leadership- the leadership that cancelled the 2015 elections but who still proclaim that democracy is in their DNA- we want a different union. Not one that self proclaims itself radical but a union that is radical.

As yet no list of candidates for this small faction of usually very shouty "comrades" but out of interest I went to the website of the main Left Unity organisation who had already published their slate but bizarrely declared:

It is likely the current NEC will be challenged by right wing candidates, who are the discredited “moderate” grouping now re-branded as 4themembers. They want us to return to a do-nothing policy of bowing down in the face of the Government’s attacks. They have campaigned in the past for NO votes in industrial action ballots and some of their candidates have argued that we can do nothing to stop the cuts and suggested partnership with a Tory government! Any gains we have won under the most difficult circumstances will be under threat if they ever returned to power.

The right wing are undemocratic and weak. They tried to prevent Mark Serwotka from taking office as General Secretary after he won his first election and spend more time attacking their own union than the employer and the government. Only a Democracy Alliance led NEC is committed to implementing Conference policy and building a campaigning, democratic union. Given the scale of attacks from the Government a strong determined leadership is crucial. It is therefore vital the Democracy Alliance is once again returned to lead the union and defend members’ interest.

Besides the fact there are clear  inaccuracies in the description of the 4themembers group there is one other little problem. 4TM does not exist anymore unless someone has suddenly revived it without any ones knowledge. 

Firstly the (now defunct) 4themembers group was set up whilst the (also defunct) National Moderate Group still existed and ran candidates against both Left Unity and the NMG. As the former National Secretary I can tell you the vast majority of 4TM supporters (including myself) were never members of the old Moderate group.

That aside, 4TM's demise was caused by a couple of factors. Firstly a large number of key activists simply reached retirement age or left the civil service and it became clear that the organisation was no longer viable when after attempting to put together a slate there simply were not enough candidates to gain even a simple majority. It was in these circumstance that I decided to resign as National Secretary.

The game was up though in deference to a small group who wished to continue that I never wrote about the groups demise. Since then a fair number of former 4TM members and supporters have left PCS to join Prospect one of the other civil service unions.

There are some good people who remain in PCS but the 4themembers group as it was is no more.

And yet the Left Unity group raise the prospect of a "phantom menace" to their continued hegemony of the failing PCS union. One PCS activist once told me if a group like 4TM didn't exist, LU would have to invent them. This prophecy has seemingly come true.

This electoral announcement says a lot about the blinkered and self serving activist caste who control Left Unity through the "Democracy" Alliance. The comrades live in a political bubble separated from reality.

And they have a problem.

The fortunes of PCS have declined as has their membership. The loss of a whole department of members, Serious Organised Crime Agency who formed their won and very successful union effected the unions finances directly. Following the end of "check off" the NCOA outnumber PCS ten to one in the.

A smaller breakaway in the HMRC has had less effect, but the RCTU has a much longer journey before it will be in a better position to challenge PCS. 

How the remaining opposition group, the PCS Independent Left will fare considering it's obvious ultra leftism is hard to tell but Left Unity/Democracy Alliance whatever label the far left led by the Socialist Party and Mark Serwotka hide behind is difficult to tell. However I wouldn't bet on their demise just yet.

The Independent left make a case for change in their latest post following the debacle that came to light last year:

Union finances should be open to all members for inspection, open to debate and discussion within the membership. The union should report back progress or the lack of progress on all negotiations. All full time officer posts should be subject to election. Our aim is that all full timers are on the average wage of the membership. Now all this stands in stark contrast to how the union is currently run. Despite the cut back in full time officer numbers they still are paid much more than the bulk of the members and certainly are not accountable to the members. We want to change that.

I remain totally unconvinced that the IL are the right ones to achieve such lofty aims but without a mainstream opposition they may well prove to be more of a challenge than Serwotka and PCS President Janice Godrich might suppose.

The problem faced by those that remain in PCS is the simple fact both these groups orientate towards the new and totally unelectable leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. Janice Godrich recently posted the Independents article on the formation of a "Trade Union Momentum" on the unions Facebook page.

Meanwhile whilst the various comrades focus their attentions on various extra-curricular political activities the situation in the civil service for ordinary staff (including "their" members) steadily worsens.

More Portsmouth Councillors to quit Labour?

The Labour Party is beginning to eat away at itself with the near messianic intolerance of Corbyn's supporters. The largest of the independent Labour Party forums has become so dominated by the Corbynistas that it is impossible to comment on the issues of the day without being labelled as a Tory (or worse) if your views are even slightly to the right of Lenin.

On the ground this has already seen large numbers of long standing Labour members  (and supporters), let alone voters, depart.

The latest news comes from Portsmouth News

FRESH problems have emerged in Portsmouth’s Labour Party as two of its three remaining councillors consider their long-term future because of political tensions.

Councillor Aiden Gray, the deputy leader of the city’s Labour council group, says there is a ‘vendetta’ against anyone who challenges Jeremy Corbyn’s far-left views – forcing him to think about whether he should quit.

It comes after complaints were made to the Portsmouth Labour Party’s executive about negative comments Labour group leader, Cllr John Ferrett, made about Mr Corbyn.

No action has been taken against Cllr Ferrett, but the senior Labour member says he’s finding it ‘difficult’ defending his corner and is taking things ‘day to day’.

Cllr Ferrett said: ‘There were complaints made against me, largely on the basis of comments I have made about Jeremy Corbyn.

John Ferrett was the Labour Party candidate at the last general election and is a national official for the Prospect union.

His brother, Ken Ferrett left the Labour Party last year as reported on this blog: Portsmouth Labour Councillor Resigns from the Labour Party