This is the question anyone is entitled to ask. It is one that every Labour Party leadership wannabe should be addressing. As an elected member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee, I was issued with a gagging order last year not to do so. Arguably, it sums up in a proverbial 'nut shell' what is wrong with the Labour Party's current governance arrangements.
A key feature of New Labour was to belittle due process. Today, how many Labour Party meetings feature a regular Treasurer's report with accounts? Certainly, not Labour's so-called ruling National Executive Committee. An instant audit of constituency and branch labour party meetings would be very revealing. My own branch and CLP treasurers provide a monthly update usually in writing if there are any significant changes. I think most members appreciate their willingness to be open and accountable. Annual accounts are audited and the auditor(s) make themselves available at the AGM. When there is slippage there is catchup.
Somewhere in the dim and distant past I took a different path from the sofa politicians of New Labour. Maybe it was helping in the local Co-op shop as a young lad in Lancashire. Perhaps it was reporting quoted company results for Reuters. Then there was a fraud by a local scout troop leader that resulted in my son and his fellow Scouts being cheated of an overseas camping trip, (The offender was eventually given a custodial sentence for breach of trust.) Whatever, I came to expect that in any voluntary association, or incorporated body I was involved in that the highest standards of financial reporting would be aspired to.
So what about those five Labour leadership wannabes? Four of them have been members of the Cabinet - governing the country, imposing targets, demanding accountability of others. Do any of them have a sense of irony?
Now to the substance of whether the Labour Party is a going concern. I have been informed that the 2009 accounts have been signed off. It is regrettable that there was no NEC meeting beforehand with the Auditor(s) both elected and appointed present to answer questions. So the answer to the question is I don't know. I could speculate. But I won't. I just want to see the figures with my own eyes and have an opportunity to question the auditor(s) myself. I belief that some of the 16,464 members who voted for me to represent them on the NEC expect no less.
Which Labour Leadership wannabe will speak out against these 'New Labour' practices, and defend my rights? Which will support the call for a proper Annual General Meeting at Conference? We need to know if we are to learn from the past and create a sound foundation for the future.