McDonnell Promotes Extremist Candidates for Parliament

Photo: By Transition Heathrow

John McDonnell certainly seems to be picking and choosing who to support for the future of his version of the Bolshevik Labour Party. First up he's been promoting the reprehensible anti Zionist Jenny Manson who recently got into trouble with the party leadership.

The Jewish Chronicle  reported:

Labour has given the co-chair of the pro-Jeremy Corbyn Jewish Voice For Labour group a written warning about her conduct - days before she appears at an event with Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Jenny Manson was rebuked over her comments she made at a Finchley and Golders Green Constituency Labour Party meeting in July, where she compared Section 28 legislation, which prohibited the promotion of homosexuality in schools, to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The letter sent by Labour's complaints team to Ms Manson reminds her of the conduct expected of members and warns that any repeat of such behaviour might result in disciplinary action.

Photo: Twitter

Next up was the amiable but very hard-line ex-member of the Militant Tendency (and lay preacher) Jane Aitchison who fell out with the Socialist Party when it was revealed she had sent her child to a private school.

Back in 2013 I wrote:

Jane Aitchison used to be not only a member of the Socialist Party, but also DWP Group President. That is until she had the temerity to think for herself. A dispute erupted over the direction of the unions campaigning over a year ago which led to her quitting the SP and then being purged as Group President by the John McInally led Socialist Party Grandees, albeit after two attempts.

Jane has been replaced by the more loyalist Socialist Party puppet, Fran Heathcote. The DWP Group is the largest section of PCS with over 74,000 members and is central to the Grandees control of the union as a whole. The purge of Jane (and her partner Rob Williams who was a member of the PCS National Executive Committee) is a salutary lesson in how the Leninists operate within the unions. Always the party's interests are put before the members.

Nowadays after a brief flirtation with the SWP as she sought support within the PCS to retain her Presidency of the DWP section of the union, she's found some new chums in the form of Momentum.

The Yorkshire Post reports:

A “proud socialist” who once described Prince Charles as “benefit scrounging scum” was yesterday selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for an ultra-marginal top target seat. 

Jane Aitchison was selected in a members’ vote as Labour’s general election candidate for Pudsey, held by Conservative MP Stuart Andrew with a 331 majority.

Apparently her "out of context" tweet "could look bad" as she admitted to the Yorkshire Post she had deleted the comment, a "reference to Prince Charles tax affairs. 

However not all is well in the constituency. The Post continues:

But Mr Andrew said her “pretty appalling” comments called into question her judgement.

He said: “I’ve had decent longstanding members of the Labour Party complain to me that the hard left are taking over. “It sort of confirms that is the case, we’ve got someone who represents the hard left of the party. 

He added: “People in the constituency are known to be very supportive of the Royal Family and the hard work they do.”

No longer head honcho of the DWP group Jane remains a union rep though civil service rules preclude her standing for Parliament whilst she is a civil servant.