Peter Kenyon

'Names' out poll lesser mortals on Labour's National Executive Committee

Ken Livingstone's top vote in the 2012 Labour Party National Executive Committee election highlights the importance of name recognition, as much as political leanings in determining the outcome. The tragedy is that he has little commitment to accountability to the membership as a whole. The extent to which his total has fallen back from 2010 suggests some awareness of this short-coming on his part.

I have little to celebrate other than the re-election of two of my Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance colleagues, Ann Black and Christine Shawcroft. True the Grassroots Alliance slate outpolled the Labour First/Progress. But the winners were 'names' - Ken polled 31,682, Ann Black, who came a close second to Ken, has a richly deserved reputation keeping members informed for over a decade about the proceedings of the Party's ruling body. Next was the right's Ellie Reeves with 23,417 followed by the Left's Christine Shawcroft with 22,236. Fifth was marathon CLP talker and self-proclaimed independent, Johanna Baxter - 20,146, and last but no means least was the right's Peter Wheeler with 17,721 - probably helped by high name recognition in the North West, the region with the second highest concentration of Labour Party members. 

The material changes in NEC members' representation are a right-wing switch of Wheeler for Luke Akehurst, the only sitting member to lose his seat, coming eighth with 17,475; and a slight widening of regional representation as set out above.

Hopes of stimulating strategic thinking among this group remain as distant as ever. BAME representation remains nil, and regional representation concentrated in London and the South-East.

I hope Ken will do the decent thing and retire allowing the Left's Kate Osamor to take his seat, as she would having achieved a massive 17,598 votes - coming seventh in the 2012 NEC poll.

The other challenge concerns Christine Shawcroft, whom the fixers have prevented taking her rightful role as NEC deputy chair and subsequently chair based on time in office. The Labour Party is sufficiently robust to withstand a media whinge of a shift to the left is she were to chair the NEC in 2014.

 

 

Silence peasants, in the Labour Party members' views don't count

Don't take my word for it. I have just caught up with Ann Black's latest NEC report. This is available in parts (for easier reading) on the Labour Democratic Network website.

On policy making she wrote:

Policy-making seems to have moved not only beyond the NEC but beyond the national policy forum and conference.  Near the end I discovered four glossy booklets entitled “Towards a new economy”, “Britain’s role in the world”, “Restoring responsibility, strengthening our communities” and “Fulfilling the promise of Britain”. Maybe the papers came from the elusive shadow cabinet working groups.  They appear hastily compiled, with inconsistencies, identical quotes attributed to different people, and repeated paragraphs, but they make interesting reading. 

This begs a critical question. Why should any CLP bother to send delegates to Conference? As for hapless National Policy Forum delegates, what is the point?

There are remedies. The NEC could reshape Conference and make it a deliberative assembly. Until CLPs organise, nothing will change. Except of course the number of CLPs sending delegates to Conference will probably continue to decline. Just like membership.

Refounding Labour: NEC member fears a pre-Conference fix

Labour Party members are to be denied sight of rule changes arising from the Refounding Labour consultation triggered by Ed Miliband's election ten months ago.

According to veteran constituency Labour Party (CLP) representative on the ruling National Executive Committee, Ann Black, any rule changes to be put to Conference will not be decided until the NEC's next meeting on 20 September. Annual Conference 2011 starts in Liverpool four days later.

In her covering note to her unofficial NEC report, Ann wrote:

As explained below, final recommendations will not be agreed by the NEC until 20 September, and these are likely to include some of the most contentious areas.  So there will be no time for delegates to consult with their local parties before annual conference. In addition current plans are that no amendments will be allowed and the document will be voted on a whole, Yes or No, including any rule changes.

Members need to find their voice to stop this attempted pre-Conference fix. I am going to my General Committee tonight with an Emergency resolution:

This CLP:

1. Notes the publication of a summary report about the Refounding Labour consultation following the NEC July meeting

2. Welcomes support for strategic planning by CLPs, more differentiated membership rates, progress under consideration regarding equality and Young Labour structures.

 3. Remains concerned about the apparent absence of measures to respond to members' calls for more democratic and accountable policy-making. This is now urgent with less than nine weeks before Conference 2011.

4. Is alarmed about the registered supporters proposals, especially voting rights in leadership elections which we doubt was reflected in submissions and has undermined our confidence in the consultation process.

We therefore request our NEC/NPF representatives to press for:

A. the distribution to all CLP secretaries of the planned Refounding Labour paper at the same time as it is despatched to the September Organisation Sub* to enable members to be consulted and our representatives to be advised  

B. the publication all Refounding Labour submissions at the same time to start to rebuild confidence in the Labour Party's consultation processes

  

*due to meet on 6 September

 I will no doubt get roundly criticised for wasting their time, as no one takes any notice of members full stop. We'll see.

Selection in the spotlight: Nottingham East - Jolly good show or crying shame?

Tomorrow, the Labour Party will interview nine candidates and select one to represent it in the Nottingham East parliamentary constituency. Controversially, its Special Selection Panel (SSP) voted 8 to 7 last week to impose a candidate on the constituency.

CLP officers, Nottingham City Council Labour Group members and the outgoing MP, John Heppell met yesterday in Birmingham on the margins of the Labour Party 2010 Manifesto launch to help shortlist for interview from some 100 applicants. Congratulations to local CLP members for successfully lobbying for 1) an OPEN selection, and 2) getting a say at least for their CLP officers and local councillors. They have definitely got local candidates short-listed for interview. They include Councillors Jon Collins, Brian Parbutt and Jane Urquhart. In addition, four black asian and minority ethnic candidates have made the cut, plus two rival 'national' names, former MP Chris Leslie and the Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison national secretary, Byron Taylor.

Tomorrow, the interviewing panel of five NEC members have an opportunity to make partial amends for local members being denied a say. They can ensure an open and fair selection on merit. It's a choice between the new and old politics. A narrowing of opinion inside the Labour's NEC was demonstrated by the closeness of the vote to impose a candidate last Thursday. It was only carried by the votes of Leader Gordon Brown and Deputy Leader Harriet Harman. Had either one of them voted in favour of, retaining members' rights to a say then there would have been no need for this blog.

They and their advisers all have a chance to rethink their positions.

Their difficulties with regard to Nottingham East arise from persistent rumours that No 10 (ie. Gordon Brown) wants former MP Chris Leslie to be the next MP for the seat, That line was blogged again yesterday by BBC Newsnight political editor Michael Crick. The interview panel could wrest back some of its tarnished reputation by not bothering to consult with No. 10 about whom they are minded to impose select. According to the Nottingham Evening Post:

A spokesman for the Prime Minister told the Evening Post that Mr Brown had no preferred candidate.

As Gordon Brown himself reminded everyone at the Manifesto launch yesterday:

- And which is the party of political reform, offering more democratic change than at any time in 100 years and more? .... the party with the plan for the future. And I say to you today: the future will be progressive or conservative, but it will not be both.

Quite so. The age of deference is over. What better place to demonstrate precisely what that means than the selection of candidates to fight the general election.

So its up to Deputy Leader Harriet Harman, USDAW's Paddy Lillis, Keith Vaz MP, NEC chair Ann Black and her vice chair, Norma Stephenson to do the decent thing. We know that both Ann and Norma voted last week AGAINST imposing a candidate. Of the three imposers on the NEC panel, Keith Vaz represents the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic section.  He has aroused considerable controversy by his role in selections to date, and faces allegations after the election from that constituency of not ensuring a robust equalities approach. Tomorrow is his chance to show he embraces the new politics, and that the age of prime ministerial patronage is over. Quite what unionised shopworkers will make of Paddy Lillis, their deputy general secretary's forelock tugging to No. 10 beats me. As for Harriet, she has much to answer for concerning these fast track selections chronicled here and elsewhere. 

This 2010 election is, as we were reminded repeatedly yesterday, about 'people not posters'. Well, where better to start than with the people who are signed up as members of the Labour Party in Nottingham East, and those whose votes they seek to ensure a Labour MP in the next Parliament?

As the interviews will be taking place in the Jolly St Ermins Hotel in London, it will either be a jolly good show, or a crying shame. A decision is expected mid-afternoon.

CLP in the spotlight: Stoke Central and the Labour Party's NEC

Last November I asked here whether the Labour Party's National Executive Committee was operating a scorched earth policy in Stoke on Trent. The field has narrowed to the Stoke Central constituency labour party (CLP) and leading members of a cross-party local campaigning organisation, Democracy 4 Stoke. The Labour Party National Executive Committee's Organisation Committee (aka Org Sub)  is due to meet shortly.

As a member of the NEC, but not the said committee, at the time of blogging I have not received any papers, so I don't know if Stoke Central CLP will be on its agenda. But I am aware of reasons why it might. There are clues here, here and here.

If it is, I can only hope that my two Centre Left Grassroots Alliance colleagues Ann Black and Pete Willsman are able to persuade the rest of the committee to reflect very carefully on recent events and ask themselves whether the time has come to accept my suggestion that it is time for peace and reconciliation as set out here on 30 November 2009.

Sitting Labour MP for Stoke Central Mark Fisher is facing a challenge from BNP deputy leader, Simon Darby, candidates have still to be selected for four wards in the forthcoming City of Stoke Council elections. On the basis of the facts known to me, the NEC has to back off and allow local members to reunite to fight these elections.

Selection in the spotlight: Leyton and Wanstead

The deadline for applications for the last remaining constituency in London without a prospective parliamentary candidate (as of today) Leyton and Wanstead passed at midnight Monday 8 February. No official announcement has been made about who the three members of the National Executive Committee's special selections panel (SSP) will be. They will interview and shortlist on Thursday 11 February.

What I can tell you is that Ann Black, chair of the NEC and a CLP representative will not be one of the three. What I can't tell you is why not.

Of particular interest still are:

1. the total number of applicants

2. the method of reducing many applications to a managable longlist and by whom

3. the membership of the shortlisting panel.

4. the method(s) proposed to reduce the longlist to a shortlist for an all-member postal ballot other than interview

Needless to say, my suggestions for offering local members maximum involvement in those processes set out here have been studiously ignored, an initial offer from the London Regional Director, Ken Clark to CLP chair, Greg Eglin to ensure the CLP could observe the interviewing and shortlisting had to withdrawn due to an extraordinarily short-sighted decision by the SSP to EXCLUDE CLP observers. Among those voting against was CLP representative Ellie Reeves.

UPDATE 2325: London Region Director Ken Clark rang me earlier this evening to ask for a correction concerning the offer to ensure the CLP could observe the interviewing and shortlisting to which I have agreed. Ken said tonight no such offer was made.

All I can say is that during the NEC meeting on 26 January I received the following message from a L&W contact who wrote:

Greg has confirmed Regions commitment to this and advised that he intends to write

The NEC decision was apparently in the light of the bruising experience of allowing the then CLP chair from Norwich North to witness the star-chamber proceedings against former Labour MP Dr Ian Gibson. After which it was alleged that an unauthorised account was given by the former chair. The underlying problem in that case, tragically, is that to this day no one knows what the charge was against the hapless Ian Gibson. Such miscarriages of justice are not easily forgotten by members who have seen what few rights they have in the Labour Party stripped away.

If Labour Party NEC members and staff cannot agree a coherent message about what was decided in a meeting, one has to ask what are the chances of formulating coherent and convincing messages to the electorate to vote Labour in the forthcoming General Election?

Some Leyton and Wanstead members and branches have already submitted suggestions as to whom they would like to see on the shortlist. Others have decided to wait and see before commenting.

What is certain is that this remains a selection in the spotlight.