PCS Union Conference: Swansong of the Socialist Party

  

The Annual Conference of the largest civil service union took place last week in which the Socialist Party (Militant) finally found themselves at the bottom of the pecking order on the far left as the useless Chris Baugh bowed out of the Assistant General Secretary position and were left with just two seats on the National Executive Committee.

John Maloney the guru of the Independent Left and member of the Alliance for Workers Liberty (AWL) was magnanimous towards his erstwhile opponent. Solidarity (the AWL paper) reports:

John was generous in his comments about his defeated opponents and very demonstrably stood to applaud Chris Baugh, the defeated AGS, following his last conference speech as AGS. It was a respectful tribute to Chris Baugh’s work on behalf of the union, despite John’s serious political differences with him, and stood in stark contrast to the personalisation of the attacks upon Baugh by his opponents in the PCS/Left Unity leadership (people who once stood shoulder to shoulder with him on all major issues).

Maloney's standing ovation forced the backstabbers on stage to stand and applaud the hapless Baugh. 

Baugh of course still remains on the pay role as a senior negotiator though will have to vacate the AGS office as it's needed. Since space is "limited" in PCS HQ he's likely to be shipped off somewhere out sight and out of mind...

Meanwhile the now thoroughly routed Socialist Party who carelessly lost the biggest contingent of senior union activists in their organisation and were used to having a major say in how the union is run have been pushed to the fringes.

In a rather mealy mouthed report of PCS Conference the SP's boring rag The Socialist reports:

For nearly 20 years PCS Left Unity has been the dominant political force in the civil servants' union and Socialist Party members have played a major role.

More recently, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka has increasingly concentrated power in his hands with support in the union's full-time officialdom and from elements within Left Unity.

In other words we want our ball back.

The Socialist Party organised a fringe meeting bringing down Socialist Party general Secretary Peter Taffe to boost the morale of the remaining sect members. Takings were well down in their collection which usually went over a grand.

Meanwhile the bitterness of the now effective leader of the tiny Socialist Party contingent Marion Lloyd was obvious as she wrote about Mark Serwotka's bid to get re-elected again:

....delegates, on their way to the Left Unity rally, were handed leaflets by prominent Left Unity national committee members announcing Mark Serwotka's re-election campaign.

The Socialist Workers Party, who were first in the line of those handing out leaflets, had no answer to the question: "What democratic process did this go through?"

Serwotka, astonishingly given his backing for a non-Left Unity candidate in the assistant general secretary campaign, spoke at the rally and made clear that the pre-emptive announcement of his candidature was exactly that.

The Left Unity national committee members handing out the Serwotka leaflet are obviously expecting some sort of coronation but this will not be acceptable to most activists who will demand a democratic election process to determine who will be the Left Unity candidate.

Are the Socialist Party are possibly thinking of challenging Mark Serwotka the failed messiah of trade unionism? Will Baugh make a bid for the top seat? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile we'll hear a lot about "PCS officialdom" from the Socialist Party who now seek to rebuild an opposition. Their depleted ranks would suggest otherwise.

Stop laughing at the back....

New Music: Shakespears Sister

Recently Bananarama made a comeback with a single Stuff Like That which I thought was rather catchy and being a long term fan went and got the album. However there was one "banana" missing, Siobhan   who I discovered has got back together with Marcy to release a new single from Shakespeares Sister.

Being a fan of them as well I thought I'd share this release for your listening pleasure! All the Queen's Horses is available on download only sadly(I want a vinyl copy girls!) but is also on their new album The Singles 1988 to 2019. Given this is their first single for 27 years the title is a bit cheeky really ladies.



More info at: /www.facebook.com/SiobhanFaheyOfficial/

The party is far from over for Change UK

The results of the Euro elections came as no surprise in the end yesterday. The Brexit Party came out as the biggest winners and the Liberal Democrats eclipsed Labour as expected. The Greens also did well winning an extra 4 seats probably as the result of a general disillusionment amongst the younger left wing voters who felt betrayed by Corbyn. The Tories were virtually wiped from the board.

For me of course the big but anticipated disappointment was the low performance of Change UK who got just under 4% of the vote nationally though 5.3% in London where it had been expected to do better and was the one hope of an MEP for the new party.

A slow start, some might say stalled beginning that does not bode well for the new party. It's performance will worry both the current MP's and those that have been reported to be considering defecting from the Tories. Of course they still could but the risk factor is now greater.

The current leader of Change UK, Heidi Allen caused some consternation after her interview in which she seemed quite clearly to be looking towards a future merger with the Liberal Democrats, though did admit this was not shared by her colleagues. This caused distress and arguments on the pages of more than one Change UK Facebook forum .

Whilst Change UK remains a minor player without any actual organisation on the ground with no actual members or policy making process the party remains in a sort of "limbo" despite attracting thousands of supporters and donors, a majority undoubtedly from former Labour Party members and voters. Change UK still gained hundreds of thousands of votes in the Euro's. There remains a small but viable base upon which the organisation can be built.

Now the Euro's are over the task of building that organisation has to begin in earnest and an e-mail has been sent out stating that this will begin shortly. Like most sympathisers I wait patiently for this to begin.

The collapse of the main two traditional parties along with continuing divisions in both their ranks does open an opportunity for a new political movement. The Brexit Party is a one issue movement with no members and no organisation either. It's success has been to unite Brexiteers who feel cheated by the Government's failure to deliver Brexit.

The upcoming by-election in Peterborough will in all likelihood see a Brexit Party victory there. Labour has slipped badly and the unfortunate fact the former Labour MP disgraced herself and ended up in jail won't help them much either.

In fact Labour are in a difficult position.  The Euro-elections showed a collapse of the Labour vote even in Corbyn's own borough with the Liberals coming first. Of course votes may change in a general Election but the outlook for Labour is frankly as uncertain as the Tories though if they elect Boris Johnson as expected the Conservative Party may rise once more and regain the votes it lost to the one-issue Brexit Party.

There remains the question of a viable alternative to the main parties long term. The Liberal Democrats have been lucky but are still under performing to gain power on their own. Even if Heidie Allen had her way that would not increase their chances. In fact if the political centre is to rise again Change UK must get it's act together and become the home for disillusioned Labour Party members and supporters that it should have been in the first place.

Many people including this blogger want a new party and are not prepared to join the Liberal Democrats simply because they are not "Liberals". An electoral pact is a necessity especially where there are sitting MP's, but a new politics must lead to a pluralistic centre rather than just the one party. Change UK must be built and remain a separate entity. The Liberals swallowed up the SDP and Change UK must not go the same way.

There remains a lot of work to be undertaken in the coming months. It will not be easy and there will be disagreements. Heck I've had some already! However the centre can and must be rebuilt with a radical outlook on both domestic and international policy to offer voters the chance to fix Britain's broken politics.

Change UK will be part of that process if those of us who support it pull together and create the organisation that can replace the tired old political system that has got the country in the mess it is. Join us in that task.

Boris and Corbyn are no choice at all

Pigs Ears: Photo By Fridolin Freudenfett

I woke up and caught the end of McDonnell whining on Radio 4 about "extremists" in a reference to the Conservatives. Too tired to laugh I just scowled, like most people not at my best first thing in the morning. Even the cat decided to start screeching, though her demand to be fed  inspired me to put the coffee on and consider the future after May.

It's highly likely the erratic Boris Johnson will become the next Prime Minister judging by the reaction of grassroots Tories. They will want to woo back the millions that have chosen to vote for the Brexit Party in the Euro elections in attempt to save their party from extinction.

Meanwhile The Quisling Jeremy Corbyn is calling for a general election in the hope his unruly mob can form the next government. Not going to happen yet. Boris despite his demeanour is no fool even if he acts like one. Boris will want to establish his firm hand on both his party & the nation over Brexit and will more than likely lead us to a "No Deal" exit which may be good for his party but would be bad for the nation despite what the "Brexiteers" say.

And that is the whole problem with the Brexit issue. David Cameron agreed to a referendum to stop a split in his party. He mistakenly and lazily thought it would be an easy win. In fact it divided the nation as do all referendums. By putting his party first he placed the nation in danger.

Theresa May will probably be seen as the worst Prime Minister this side of Chamberlain when history comes to be written. Actually it should be Cameron. he created this mess and ran away. May's attempt to resolve how Brexit implemented was never going to be an easy one and despite her tenacity she simply ran out of a political road to run on.

Now the future may hang on a man who with only personal self interest in mind decided to go for a Brexit campaign despite having openly supported the EU in his tenure as Mayor of London. Boris may have tipped the balance, we'll never really know.  The referendum was divisive from the start and has left the country in a mess. The Tories more divided than if Cameron hadn't have gone for a referendum in the first place.

Waiting in the wings is a Labour Party that not only is no longer fit for purpose, but is led by a man who proclaims pacifism whilst befriending some of the worst terrorists imaginable. The IRA, Hamas, Hezbollah and the world's dictators are amongst his causes yet he would disarm this country and be unable to to act if a major terrorist atrocity hit these shores.

His supporters led by a modern version of Lord Haw Haw in the form of the political child Owen Jones, are a rabble of undisciplined and aggressive individuals who would become authoritarian if ever handed the reins of power as their intolerance, institutional racism and misogyny show. A future would run red indeed.

The need for an alternative to these men has never been greater and yet so distant. The country is in danger and no one capable of raising Excalibur exists to save us

Time for Change in the UK.

Terrorist threat to Asia Bibi in Canada

It seems the saga of Asia Bibi is far from over as this video provided by the British Christian  Pakistani Association shows. The BCPA report:

A video which is making headway on the internet shows a man intent on killing Asia Bibi telling the world he is in Canada seeking an opportunity to murder the innocent Christian mother of five who has only recently been allowed to leave Pakistan after a 9.5 year brutal incarceration......

Though Pakistan has been relatively quiet since her release, a video has emerged of a man claiming to be in Canada and seeking to kill her to honour Islam. Worse still two of the senior leaders of Thereek-e-Labaaik who led the mass riots that brought Pakistan to a standstill after Asia Bibi was acquitted, have been released on bail for reasons of poor health - in cases that seem to have been fast-tracked. 

Asia Bibi was innocent of the charges which resulted from an argument over a cup of water whilst working:

Asia a berry-picker was beaten and raped for an alleged blasphemy offence in June 2009 when she reacted to the abusive treatment she was receiving for drinking from the same well as Muslims. While she was being beaten and berated by women colleagues she simply uttered the words 'my Christ died for me what did Muhammed do for you?' The men workers from her berry field then began their attack and returned with a mob a few days later to lynch her.

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are abused by Islamists and others alike to rid themselves of Christians and other non-Muslims but as ways of getting out of debt.

Mobs regularly murder Christians in Pakistan.

Hopefully Canada has hidden Asia safely away from prying eyes with security keeping an eye on her.

The Islamists have no respect for life or reason, if caught this "man" should be incarcerated for life as he is too dangerous to allow to walk free.

Publishing notes from Howie

Deleted Posts:

Due to a human error, that is to say me not taking care in what I was doing when updating the blog I have accidentally deleted the last two blog posts both of which referred to the Euro-elections that took place yesterday. I have no means of restoring them and frankly they are both out of date.

The Euro-election results will be declared on Sunday night and I will pick up the issue from there.

Apologies to those of you who have accessed these via links on Facebook & Twitter to find they are no longer available.


Comments Policy:

To be honest most of the comments on my posts appear on a number of Facebook pages rather than here where they are few and far between but readers should be aware that any comments marked "Anonymous" are automatically sent to the spam filter and deleted without being read.

Any comments from "Unknown" (and are abusive) will be automatically deleted. I blog under my real name and expect my critics to reply in theirs.

An appeal to reason

I was reminded that whilst the Tories erred during Britain's Darkest Hour that Labour was at the forefront of promoting Winston Churchill to the forefront of British politics in order to save this country.

Halifax and Chamberlain plotted from the wings to negotiate with those that would bring this country down. Traitors to the core, Halifax remained one until the end.

How different politics is today. Neither of the two parties can be trusted with this countries future. The Tories are divided under an incompetent Prime Minister whist the spirit of Halifax has resurrected itself in Jeremy Corbyn who would likewise appease only the enemies of democracy.

Politics is in crisis and our political system is broken. Whether we stay in Europe or not the issue will not go away. Neither will the divisions within the two parties that dominate our political system.

There is a need for an alternative to the current gaggle of Victorian dandy's and Stalinist hacks at the heart of this crisis. There is a need for a new party. The Liberals have not proved themselves worthy but perhaps if we can get our act together now matter how well or how badly we do in the European elections that a new organisation can slowly be built from the ground upwards to overthrow the worn out establishment.

Change UK may not yet be that party, it may never be that party but it can be the beginning of that new way forward in politics. Support us, Join us vote for us. In time there can be new hope but patience is required to ride the coming storm of political collapse.