Good. Labour has finally dropped a case against five former Corbyn-era aides, accused by Starmer and his supporters of leaking hundreds of embarrassing (and in some cases racist) WhatsApp messages from Labour staff hostile to Corbyn.
It's reported to have cost the party an unconscionable £1.5m over the last four years, not to mention the stress to the five accused.
There was never a case: it was pure vindictiveness.
Profile of Faiza Faheen. Labour has made a huge mistake here. (I was canvassed by my local Labour Party yesterday and raised this issue. The very nice man said that many people are raising this on the doorstep. I live in a rural Tory constituency).
Novara Media does an effective hatchet job on rightwing Labour apparatchik, Luke Akehurst.
"..clearly, Akehurst’s comments have not been subject to the standards demanded of candidates less cosy with Labour’s power structures. That aside, you have to ask: is parliament, government, and a potential ministerial position really the place for a man whose entire political identity is structured around cheerleading for Israel?"
"Being removed as a candidate has been cruel and devastating, especially after local voters and party members have placed so much faith in me....I cannot, in all conscience, continue to contribute to a party that seems to think so little of people like me and has moved so far away from my values.”
"Keir Starmer said the net migration figure of 685,000 has ‘got to come down’"
FFS
It makes no sense, especially using those figures, which include foreign students, a huge source of national income. And we need more migrants, not fewer, to do the work that the very people who vote for fewer immigrants won't or can't do.
If he thinks he's going to attract right wing anti-immigration headbangers, they're already voting Reform.
Over 100 leading cultural figures in Britain, including Oscar and
BAFTA-winners, have called on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to commit to stop arming Israel if elected Prime Minister on 4 July.
Signatories to the letter include Oscar-winning actor Riz Ahmed and director Asif Kapadia, actors including BAFTA-winning Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes
OBE, Paapa Essiedu, Dame Harriet Walter, Juliet Stevenson, Lena Heady, and singer Paloma Faith.
When the election is between a Labour party trying to unseat a Conservative one after what it considers to be its own failed leftwing experiment, that tendency to strip politics of all values ...becomes even more pronounced. The result is that by hewing as close as possible to established economic and cultural norms as set by the Tories in order to win back voters, Labour disfranchises others and makes a calculation that they don’t matter"
Nesrine Malik
"Over the past few months, the people I have spoken to who said they will not vote for Labour all share one thing: not childish anger or silly idealism, but relief. After giving the party several chances and grappling with their choices, the decision not to vote gave them a sense of congruence. Their political choices finally aligned with their values, and gave them a sense of autonomy in a system that felt totally out of their control"
Nesrine Malik
"In a system without proportional representation, politics is indeed often the choice of the lesser of two evils. But as the space between the two shrinks, people might begin to feel that – as Ralph Nader once said – “if you always vote for the lesser of two evils, you will always have evil, and you will always have less”.
Nesrine Malik
"I was asked to attend a sham 45-minute online meeting via email just hours before my deselection, with three members of the National Executive Committee–one of whom never put his camera on or said a word–and my fate was decided. More than four years’ work thrown in the bin. My connection to my community brushed aside. My deep and utter commitment dismissed. And the desires of thousands in my constituency disregarded"
Faiza Shaheen
"My fate was leaked to the press before I found out, and I knew I had to get my side of the story out quickly. One of my first thoughts when I realised this could be the end of my political career was: “Please don’t ruin my life. Don’t make it so I can never get another job again.”
They have made people like me and the political icon Diane Abbott beg and grovel. But I’ve been overwhelmed by support after my Newsnight interview"
Faiza Shaheen
After this week, the mask is off. "Labour’s leaders are sending a clear signal that once they have secured No 10, they will behave with the same power-drunk arrogance and the same disregard for democratic norms that they are showing now towards their own MPs"
Owen Jones
I see another white male Tory has defected to the Labour Party. Mark Logan, MP for Bolton North East says the Conservative Party isn't the same one he joined 10 years ago. It took him long enough to find out.
Meanwhile, take a look at his voting record, particularly on the environment, immigration and human rights. He's another opportunist weathervane who sees which way the wind is blowing. Perfect for today's Labour Party.
Our comrade #FionaLali just launched a campaign for the coming #ukelection as MP for Stratford and Bow.
As communists we should have no illusions that the problems of the working class can be resolved by parliamentary means. This campaign will be used at every turn to expose the #tory and #labourparty alike as war criminals complicit in British #imperialism.
For healthcare, not warfare!
For books, not bombs!
Kick out the war criminals!
Today's Guardian briefing focuses on the shabby treatment of Diane Abbott and the latest suspicious purge of leftwingers by Labour, including Lloyd Russell Moyle, Faiza Shaheen and Apsana Begum.
"The way Abbott has been treated by the party.... creates a real problem for Labour and its future relationships with Black communities.
..as someone who was blocked from standing for the Labour party in 2022, I have felt its treatment of her personally. To many Black people, it feels like a mirror of the disrespect we still face on a daily basis"
Maurice Mcleod , anti-racism activist, social commentator and Labour councillor
Q. what does the treatment of much maligned MP Diane Abbot tell us about the Labour Party?
Maurice Mcleod suggests quite a lot, and its not so good....
And just in case you've forgotten, in the run up to the 2017 election nearly half of all offensive & abusive tweets sent to female MPs (and this was a lot of tweets) were sent to Diane Abbot.
So, now it looks like the Labour Party is joining in with the Trolls (albeit more subtly).
@ChrisMayLA6
First Labour alienates LGBT voters over its trans policies, then Muslim voters over Gaza, now it alienates Black voters over Diane Abbott, whose awful treatment goes much further back ( see the Forde Report). However, Labour welcomes white Tory MPs Christian Wakeford and Natalie Elphicke, who both have a history of anti-immigration rhetoric and voting. And it's only in oppostion. What will it do in power?
Victoria Derbyshire has revealed this morning that Labour's investigation into Diane Abbott's comments to The Observer on Jewish, Irish & Travellers, concluded 5 months ago.
She apologised at the time and withdrew her remarks, but had the whip withdrawn.
The NEC wrote to her in December 2013 informing her that they had concluded their eight month long inquiry into her comments.
@ShredderLivesOn Smacks of racism to me. If you're white and Tory, you're welcomed with open arms (see Christian Wakeford, Natalie Elphicke and all the new business donors). #DianeAbbott#Starmer#LabourParty
Good from Bill Mitchell on how the City of London lobbies and effectively controls government policy, even having an official parliamentary lobbyist, The Remembrancer, installed opposite the Speaker's chair.
Good too on Labour’s fear of the City and why this is wrong. Effective legislation can easily curb its power.
"The two-child limit falls short of our values as a society. It denies the truth that all children are of equal and immeasurable worth, and will have an impact on their long-term health, wellbeing and educational outcomes.
Shamefully, children from ethnic minorities and homes where someone is disabled are most affected."
The Archbishop of Canterbury in a (useless?) appeal to Starmer to scrap the two-child benefits cap when in government.