Peter Kenyon

Remember two bald men fighting over a comb?

Today is the deadline for Labour Party National Executive Committee candidates to confirm their willingness to stand for election in 2010 and submit a pic and 250-word statement. Mine was submitted yesterday - Special Delivery - so Billy (Hayes) I'm depending on your members to make sure my papers arrive before the deadline at 1700 Friday 6 August.

Two years ago I was a member of a slate mobilised by the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA). Then the CLGA was effectively run by two organisations, Save the Labour Party (StLP) and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD). StLP has never seen itself as a mass-membership organisation. That was and remains one of its ambitions for the Labour Party. Hail the day, when the Labour Party itself is an ethical, solvent, democratically-run, mass membership body. StLP actively campaigned to create the widest possible base on the centre-left of the Labour Party from which to draw candidates for the NEC. Compass was wooed. As was the Labour Representation Committee. It has proved a step too far in 2010. There is no Centre Left Grassroots Alliance slate. Achieving a consensus proved impossible at a meeting in central London on Wednesday night.

I hope, foolishly no doubt, that there not be any point scoring from the right wing slate - Labour First. It would be reminiscent of General Alexander Haig's likening of the Falklands War in 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina to "two bald men fighting over a comb".

There is some very serious political thinking, campaigning and lobbying to be undertaken between now and Labour's Annual Conference at the end of September. In the first instance, there is Conference itself - another rally or a rekindling of political debate?

Then there are the questions of debate about what? Yesterday the New Statesman's Staggers blog trumpeted 'Labour will have just 13 days to decide its deficit policy' highlighting the time between the election/appointment of the new Leader's Shadow Cabinet and the Comprehensive Spending Review planned for 20 October. That is what every Labour Party member is up against: Westminster village commentators trying to set the agenda, when it is ours for the grasping. Conference should decide Labour's policies, including that for tackling the budget deficit. Labour ministers demonstrated their inadequacies deciding policies over the last 13 years. We don't want to run the risk of repeat mistakes in opposition.

What better opportunity for the Leadership candidates to draw a line under the past than by encouraging and enabling the Labour Party through its members and branches to get to grips with shaping the future at its annual 'parliament'? If they can't be bothered, be assured I will spend August doing my bit by hewing the words of contemporary issues/resolutions. They will be offered via this blog for contempt and derision, cutting and pasting, honing and polishing ready for that torturous journey of consideration, debate and amendment through branches, constituency parties to the Conference Arrangements Committee. At Conference itself delegates will take part in a Priorities Ballot to settle the subjects for debate, those chosen then involve compositing of the resolutions ruled in order. Then on to the Conference floor for debate and votes. 

So you could say that Labour has 50 days between now and the start of Conference to learn how to address the key issues facing the country. Conference can decide future direction That would leave the new Leader those 13 days after the Shadow Cabinet elections to shape a team to implement Labour Party policies.

It would be in very sharp contrast to the Conferences of our political opponents this year as their Leaders struggle to sell their Faustian pact to their increasingly restless members.

For Labour, the offer of a showcase of a new Leader listening and learning to inclusive, but outward looking debates both for opposition in Westminster and readiness for future government in Edinburgh and Cardiff, and hopefully Westminster sooner rather than later, really would be 'new politics', game on.

Imagine : a Labour NEC - 'They work for you' service

Deep in the bowels of the Labour Party, nominations are being sought by members who want to stand for election to its National  Executive Committee. I am no exception. My statement can be read here. Efforts to promote greater party democracy, initially pioneered (at least in my memory) by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, continue and by lots more organisations and people. Labour UnCut is distracted by shenanigans on the left over nominations. Though Cowards Flinch carries a critical analysis of the contributions of the Labour leadership candidates to that debate. (Not easy reading if you're Diane Abbott.)But how do members keep an independent track of what the current members of the NEC actually do?

As part of any party democracy renewal package it seems to me that there is a case to be made for a service like the one 'They work for you' site offers the electorate regarding MPs. Just imagine Labour MPs/MEPs/Lords and Ladies being able being able to track what Michael Cashman MEP, Dennis Skinner MP and Angela Smith MP have been up to? And so on...those 150,000 something members being able to keep tabs on both the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance (not to be confused with Grassroots Labour) NEC slate members: Ann Black, Christine Shawcroft, Pete Willsman plus myself (Peter Kenyon) and the Labour First slate's: Ellie Reeves and Peter Wheeler. As for the three million plus affiliated members the list of Trade Union and Socialist Society NEC delegates is too long to repeat here. But you get the idea.

So who else is up for shining a light in this dark place? Would a summary of the voting record of constituency section members on key issues in the last 24 months ahead of the NEC ballot in September enable members to take a more informed decision about whom to vote for when the ballot papers arrive? Or will it just be another beauty contest?

Curiouser and curiouser: Left Futures backward thinking

A mystery organisation, Grassroots Labour, has sprung up on the self-styled Left Futures website masquerading as the NEC (National Executive Committee) Slate. This should NOT be confused with the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance (CLGA) slate that for the last 14 years has offered up candidates for the NEC. I declare an interest, as the preferred candidate of Save the Labour Party (STLP) for re-election to the NEC following an all-member ballot on the CLGA slate.

The GL was cobbled together overnight by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy (CLPD). It was created following STLP chair Peter Kenyon's (my) refusal to break an agreement at the last CLGA meeting. That was that the CLGA, in the absence of consensus on six names for the constituency section, agreed that eight names should be circulated to CLPs and a final slate of six would be agreed if possible after the 30 July nomination closing date, and before the issue of ballot papers to members, now not expected until early September.

The CLPD 'offer' was that I should go on the GL slate along with fellow males Ken Livingstone and Pete Willsman, together with Ann Black, Christine Shawcroft and Sofi Taylor. The CLPD envoy proposed dropping Sam Tarry. That seemed to me to be a breach of faith with Compass and Compass Youth in particular who were keen to get involved in Labour Party governance. Moreover, Sam had been elected national chair of Young Labour the year before and would have reduced the average age of the CLGA slate by nearly half a generation at a stroke. Instead, I suggested the CLPD should choose between Ken and Pete, knowing that idea, to put it politely, would be refused out of hand.

Anyone exploring the inability of the centre-left to respond to New Labour need look no further than the CLGA. I have been a member of the NEC for nearly two years. There has never been a caucus or systematic attempt to seek alliances with other sections of the Party represented on the Labour Party's so-called ruling National Executive Committee. There is no agreed agenda. There is a CLGA statement about policy. But the NEC to date is still locked in post-Blairite stasis and doesn't do policy.

Anyone keen to know more is welcome to ask and I will do my best to answer. In the meantime, Save the Labour Party's committee met this afternoon and had a mercifully brief report back and discussion on the slate issue before deciding to stand by the CLGA agreement and circulate all eight names in its next members' and CLP/BLP newsletters. It will review the nominations for each candidate if available on 31 July. In the meantime, STLP agreed that there was work to be done preparing for the next NEC on 20 July, Rule changes for Conference 2010 and demands of the Leadership contenders.

As for Left Futures, it boasts: “The best that’s Left in Labour. Good writing. Sharp criticism. Open debate. Campaigning. Red or green, aligned or not, Left Futures seeks to refresh and activate your politics."

Let's hope its unexplained promotion of CLPD-retro was a momentary lapse from its mission. BTW - hot tip for whomever designed the gizmo (copied above) do you want everyone to miss the real excitement by arriving in Manchester on Sunday 26^th? The Labour Party Conference 2010 starts on Saturday 25^th September, when agenda issues with the Conference Arrangements Committee have to be addressed, and for added interest this year – the results of the Leadership election will be announced the same day.

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.

Avid readers and own goals

At a recent meeting, which I am not at liberty to speak about, someone who shall remain nameless claimed to be an avid reader of this blog. I am not easily flattered or deceived. But avid readers will have noticed that I failed to report on the May NEC meeting. Apologies, I hope to remedy that omission, with an explanation later. But in the meantime, I was struck with the editorial in the latest issue of Tribune. I'm reluctant to take Tribune's editor to task. But would the Norwich North by-election have been in vain if the apparent unfairness of the deselection of Ian Gibson were addressed directly by the NEC? My CLGA colleague on the NEC Ann Black in her report of the July NEC meeting writes: "I still do not know why Ian Gibson was referred [to the NEC Endorsements Panel]". If that isn't grounds for an emergency NEC to decide whether there is a case for review of Ian Gibson's deselection and how to conduct it, I don't know what is. Ann is a member of the NEC Endorsement Panel!

A contrite NEC, righting wrongs it may have committed, would be an excellent starting point for a credible Labour Party relaunch in the run up to Party Conference.

There is however a practical problem. The NEC is currently not scheduled to meet again until 22 September.

Labour Party NEC results

Apparently, with the active involvement of 16,464 members of the Labour Party I have been elected to its National Executive Committee with effect from the end of Annual Conference 2008.

Many thanks to everyone who voted for me. If you want to receive my reports, let me have your eMail address, CLP and branch.

Details of the results were sent to Save the Labour Party unofficially and have been posted here. Congratulations to my fellow STLP member Ann Black, and to fellow CLGA slate members Christine Shawcroft and Pete Willsman, together with Ellie Reeves who was endorsed by all CLGA slate members (if not all CLGA constituent member organisations), and, lastly, to Peter Wheeler from the Labour First slate, whom I hope will back our proposals for rebuilding the Labour Party as a matter of urgency.

The NEC ballot results show that fully paid up membership was only 158,868, down 20,000 compared with the last NEC ballot in 2006.

Vote Kenyon and CLGA for Labour's NEC

Ballot papers for the six constituency places on the National Executive Committee should be sent to members eligible to vote by the end of this week. The last we heard was the planned closing date was 18 July - just ahead of the National Policy Forum.

 

If you're one of those entitled to vote, I hope you pick through your post carefully, find the ballot paper (which in previous years has been 'hidden' in other Labour Party material) and exercise your democratic right.

Why vote for me? I only want Labour governments. We all know what's at stake. The Leadership has to be held to much closer account than over the past 10 to 15 years. While those whom we, the members, have helped get elected have been in office, to put it politely, they have tended to neglect us.

The Centre Left Grassroots Alliance brings together members standing for the NEC from across the country who share a set of values, even if they may differ on some policy specifics. As it says on the label 'centre' and 'left'.

Our focus is this:

Gordon Brown on taking over as leader of the Labour Party promised to renew party democracy, rebuild the party itself, and give members more say in shaping policy. CLGA candidates will seek to hold him to his word. This is vital to increase membership and activism, and to win back electoral support for Labour candidates at every level.

Our joint leaflet can be found here. You can see from this blog that it is focussed almost exclusively on exposing how the Labour Party currently functions and the yawning gap that exists between Leader and members. If we want to win the next British General Election, we have got to close that gap pdq.

If you want to know more about me, you can see the CV I submitted with my application for the post of General Secretary here. My priorities are set out in the covering letter I sent to Dianne Hayter, the current NEC chair with my application in the Round Two recruitment after David-Pitt-Watson withdrew..

If you share that vision, then vote Azam, Black, Kenyon, Reeves, Shawcroft and Willsman before 18 July. We are prepared to stand up for what's right.

Thank you.

Ballot papers for the six constituency places on the National Executive Committee should be sent to members eligible to vote by the end of this week. The last we heard was the planned closing date was 18 July - just ahead of the National Policy Forum.

 

Labour NEC nominations deadline sooner for some

London CLP Secretaries have just been instructed to tell members that all formal party meetings are to be suspended from 17 March 2008 to focus on the Mayoral/Greater London Assembly elections. That means the last opportunity for nominations to be made for candidates to the National Executive Committee, National Constitutional Committee and Treasurer for most CLPs will be February meetings. The official deadline is 1 April.

I presume similar instructions have been issue to all CLP secretaries with elections in May 2008.

As a candidate for the National Executive Committee, I declare an interest along with the rest of my colleagues on the Centre-Left Grassroots Alliance. So, please don't delay get those nominations in this month.

Who's closer to Labour's Grassroots - Kenyon or Wheeler?

Labour's NEC agreed to move the 2008 Annual Conference dates. I blogged about it here and here. The posting on Labourhome prompted a response from Labour First's Peter Wheeler today. He said:

Dear Peter,

Just noticed the report of the NEC meeting on Thursday.

You are right that I spoke strongly against the way this decision was being done. There is too much decision making on the hoof and the danger of this approach is that it leads to ill considered decisions.

There are however advantages in the proposal to bring Conference forward by a day – the principle one being that it allows us to have an extra Conference session, thus allowing more participation by delegates in the working of Conference. As one of the major complaints about Conference is that there is not enough participation by delegates from the floor, it struck me as crassy to vote against this. Sometimes you have to think on your feet!

Peter Wheeler

I replied:

Dear Peter

If this proposal had been brought forward with regard to Conference 2009, then everyone could have been given an opportunity to give it proper consideration.

The Party's current NEC has an unfortunate track-record of allowing itself to be 'bounced' into taking decisions by the Party leadership.

In my role as a chair of whatever type of organisation, I have a simple rule - no papers are allowed on the agenda unless they have been through the organisation's due processes, unless there is an over-riding operational requirement demanding a prompt decision arising from circumstances in which no notice could have been given.

If you can provide chapter and verse to meet those tests in this instance, I'll reconsider my position and risk having to criticise the decisions of my colleagues on the CLGA slate.

Over to you.

I await his reply with interest.

Labour Conference dates changed - no consultation

Yesterday's Labour Party National Executive Committee voted 20 - 4 to change the dates of its 2008 Annual Conference without consultation. No prizes for guessing who voted against this move - yes, the four sitting members of the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance - Ann Black, Christine Shawcroft, Pete Willsman and Walter Wolfgang. (Details of the six candidates standing in the 2008 NEC elections can be found here.)

The proposal is that Conference runs from Saturday 20 September and finishes on Wednesday 24 September, instead of Sunday 21 to Thursday 25.

CLPs were notified of the original dates by post only last week. Obviously money is no object.

For dedicated followers of slates - Peter Wheeler and Ellie Reeves of Labour First voted in favour of the Head Office move without consultation. Peter W raised objections. But it's the vote that counts.

For those inclined to think it's only a day, what's the fuss? Apart from the principle, consider the implications for any CLP delegate taking their role seriously with business to be undertaken with the Conference Arrangements Committee - they will have to be in Manchester on the Friday - cutting into two working weeks. No problem if you are a full-time union official, or career politician. But a real issue if you are a volunteer in work. So much for extending and renewing party democracy, to coin a phrase.

Update 1630: Sources close to the NEC have asked me to make clear that while the report on the vote is correct, it was agreed that further soundings should be taken and a final decision taken by NEC officers in mid-February. So if you consider that the Annual Conference should start on Sunday rather than Saturday (as proposed)  please make you views known to the acting general secretary chris_lennie AT new.labour.org.uk and copy them to Ann Black annblack50 AT btinternet.com

Remember, if you would like Conference to be more about debate and decision, and less of a rally this is the time to take a stand and say Yes to Sunday Opening.