Peter Kenyon

Election readiness - an opportunity for Labour, but threat to control freaks

Labour's leader Jeremy Corbyn wants members to decide who will be their prospective parliamentary candidate at the next General Election. Given the Tories inability to govern that opportunity might not be far away. Reactions to Ian Lavery MP's recent pronouncements suggest that the age of entitlement in the Labour Party is not over (yet). Let me untangle these issues.

Ahead of the shock, surprise May 2017 General Election, Labour was so ill-prepared that the NEC took upon itself the power to select candidates. Serial rebel MPs in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) were given a 'Get out of Jail' card. However much local disquiet to a sitting MP standing again for re-election - tough. Labour's rebels have much to thank Tory PM Theresa May for her decision to call a snap election. Their candidacy was safe. Though in some isolated places previously safe Labour seats were lost.

With the Tories in disarray over how to govern (full stop), never mind Brexit, the prospects of another General Election in 2017 require decisive action on the part of Labour CLPs and the NEC. The mantra is that nothing can be done without the authority of the NEC. I find that jobsworth approach utterly depressing. The Labour Party needs candidates in place for both local, regional and national elections much earlier than has been common practice.

National contingency planning needs to focus on the full panoply of opportunity - national, regional, local and, dare I add, European elections. If the NEC is unable to provide detailed guidance ahead of the July meeting cycle for local parties, IMHO CLPs should get on and ask the June 2017 PPCs whether they wish to stand again. In the absence of an acceptable 'sitting candidate', then CLPs should invite expressions of interest and enable all their members to take part in a selection process.

This may mean some ruffling of feathers among Labour MPs with an inflated sense of entitlement, tough. Members are entitled to decide. It is in the rules. What is the problem? Oh, yes - entitlement. Well, sorry peeps, it's time to get real.

 

Labour Party GS on Twitter: Strange goings on in Stevenage

This could either be the kiss of death or the beginning of something very different from what we have become sadly used to from our Party's most senior member of staff.

Earlier this evening spotted this on Twitter:

IainMcNicol Iain McNicol @Scarletstand @janburnell drop me a line and I will look into.

This was in response to an exasperated tweet from @janburnell, a comrade and personal friend who lives in Stevenage, which said:

@janburnell Jan Burnell MP Selection in StevenageCLP. Told the EC 'not allowed' 2 reveal shortlist #thatsjuststupid

That prompted Jan's daughter Emma, who tweets as @scarletstand to make a suggestion:

@Scarletstand Emma Burnell janburnell might be best to write to @IainMcNicol for clarification first.

Hey presto.

 

 

 

 

Warwick: to select or not select that was the question (not)

The Labour Party is now committed to starting to select prospective parliamentary candidates in 26 'marginal' constituencies. This is despite the expected Boundary Commission review (subject to the necessary legislation from the Conservative government) to reduce the number of seats in the House of Commons to 600 from 650.

Left Futures set out the logic for this after the January National Executive Committee on 22 January here. 

Grassroots Labour National Executive Committee member Ann Black in her report of the meeting just published wrote reassuringly:

The NEC also noted the organisation committee’s decisions on all-women shortlists, following consultation with local parties.

 

There is many a slip twixt cup and lip. Staff servicing the NEC and its sub-committees from the general secretary down are seasoned practitioners in the dark arts that foul Labour's internal workings. I'm no longer a member of the NEC, so I have to rely on those reports from current members and those affected by NEC decisions.

My sources insist that party staff did not consult the officers of Warwick and Leamington Constituency Labour Party (listed for Open Selection) whom I'm told are hostile to the idea of an early selection. The person whom some un-named party staffer did consult was the former Labour MP, James Plaskitt, whom I'm reliably informed opposed early selection too.

 

So what about all the other CLPs? Were they properly consulted? We should be told.

Even if turns out that only one CLP was denied its right to state its case and misrepresented to the party's ruling body, who will take appropriate action to restore trust between volunteers and party staff?

Post-Oldham E&S NEC members' reps must unite for members' selection rights

While the nation agonises over unrest on the streets and the threat to the monarchy, Labour Party members in Oldham East and Saddleworth have today chosen their prospective parliamentary candidate, and NEC constituency members must unite to secure members' selection rights.

Whatever their policy differences they might wonder why none of them was on the shortlisting panel in the first place. Never again. This is an issue all CLPs ought to be united about. The right of members to select Labour candidates for elected office, whether for the European, British or Scottish Parliaments, London or Welsh Assemblies, or any unit of local government or parish council in the country.

That is a revolt worth fermenting. The shadow management structure that runs the Labour Party decided without consulting the full NEC that the NEC chair Norma Stephenson, vice-chair Michael Cashman and local government trusty Cllr Ann Lucas should longlist, interview and shortlist. Among the responses to my straw poll early yesterday, one constituency reps simply did not know who was on the panel. The other two were as well informed as I appear to have been and able to confirm the names of the Gang of Three. One of my NEC sources described the absence of an constituency rep from the panel as 'unfortunate'.

Well there's an understatement for all the tens of thousands of members who voted in the 2010 constituency section ballot earlier this year.

Obviously, the vast majority of Labour Party members will want to retain the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat. I wish Debbie Abrahams the new PPC a successful campaign to ensure Labour retains the seat. But I hope all our elected constituency section representatives will ensure that the lessons are learned.

Labour has increased its membership by maybe as much as a third over the past twelve months. If new members are to be retained, the Party has got to get smart about why people have signed up. If the new members are completely new to the party, then perhaps their expecations are different from those who are rejoiners. As I learned at my last branch meeting when talking about policy making from a rejoiner the last submission he had been involved in 2000 remained unacknowledged. I know his experience is typical.

So we need our elected representatives on the NEC to unite to promote members' rights - whether to select candidates for election or have a say.  

 

Any more squalid selections in the spotlight? Or was Nottingham East the last?

4 pm April 20, 2010 - that's the deadline for nomination papers to be submitted for prospective parliamentary candidates. That's less than four working days away. Since the results of the Nottingham East 'selection' were announced late yesterday afternoon, I have been asking contacts on the Labour Party's Special Selection Panel and in the media about the prospects of yet more selections to come. Given how little time is left, any last minute 'resignations' by prospective parliamentary candidates would inevitably require a new candidate to be imposed - an ideal opportunity for the exercise of yet more patronage by the 'powers that be'.

Only two weeks ago, the Labour-supporting weekly Tribune magazine reported a possible further dozen 'redundancy runners'  resignations - MPs willing to step down to take advantage of generous payments for just not standing for parliament again under the corrupting allowances system of the last Parliament, now abolished. That was followed by a report of an even larger number in the Daily Telegraph on Easter Saturday. 'Up to 20 Labour MPs may stand down this week', its headline claimed. Nothing has happened. So far.

Reactions to my queries ranged from 'watch xxxxxxxxxxxxxx', who brusquely denied the suggestion when asked by a contact whom I knew would have the person's telephone number, to extreme doubt that any further stitch-ups were possible.

So I remain on alert to chronicle if necessary. Ideas about how to 'legislate' against these abuses inside the Labour Party in future would be welcome. Rebuilding trust between members, supporters, voters and their elected Labour Party respresentatives is going to take much longer.

Notts East selection: Chris Leslie gets nomination

Former MP Chris Leslie has been selected by the Labour Party's Special Selection Panel as its candidate in the Nottingham East parliamentary constituency.

He was chosen from a shortlist of nine by a panel of five NEC members, including Deputy Leader Harriet Harman and NEC chair Ann Black. 

The decision was reported by the FT's Jim Pickard here. And I can confirm from my own sources. Some reactions are best not repeated. It is rally round time.

UPDATE: the decision was another split vote Leslie 3 : Taylor 2

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.

Labour's enforcers in last minute scramble to impose candidate

Applicants to represent the Labour Party in the Nottingham East parliamentary constituency are not likely to have to face a hustings. Some 500 members in what many regard as a vibrant Constituency Labour Party are going to be denied a vote. This follows a vote last night on the National Executive Committee's Special Selections Panel (in flagrant breach of policy agreed last November) by 8 to 7 to impose a candidate following receipt of applications.

This is further evidence of how the Labour Party has or perhaps remains institutionally undemocratic.

In mitigation, there was discussion yesterday about how CLP officers could be involved in the final decision about which candidate to adopt impose. The proposal was not put to a vote by the SSP and there is uncertainty about whether that would involve the SSP members assigned to decide travelling to Nottingham. The enforcers are understood to comprise: Deputy Leader Harriet Harman, NEC chair Ann Black, NEC vice chair Norma Stephenson, USDAW's Paddy Lillis and BAME representative Keith Vaz.

I am assured by local members that a CLP hustings could be organised for Monday next week. If I was a member there I would organise one and demand respectfully request that the SSP 'five' meet on Sunday at 5pm (the deadline for applications) agree a shortlist, so that the hustings can proceed the next day.

There have been persistent rumours that 'No. 10's' preferred candidate is former MP Chris Leslie, much to the disappointment of the PM's deputy political secretary, Jonathan Ashworth. And the latest twist is that the SSP vote last night reflected a majority who believe that the Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants Chris Leslie as the next MP for Nottingham East. I find it very difficult to believe that the PM would risk his reputation as a democrat over a mere selection. But he is not the only big beast alleged to have ambitions for former aides and allies. Deputy Leader Harriet Harman's special advisor Ayesha Hazarika is still looking for a seat. I sincerely hope that if Ayesha were to apply, Harriet would remove herself from the enforcers' panel immediately. 

The NEC decided unanimously in November last year the following form of words concerning selections after the General Election was called:

When the General Election is called the right of members to select their
candidates will remain a priority consideration for the panel. However, where
election timetable constraints make this impossible, the panel has the power,
under delegated authority from the NEC to select candidates on behalf of
local parties.

For the avoidance of doubt, the vacancy in Nottingham East arose before the General Election was called. The only reason that it was not declared Open at least a week ago was due to dissembling by party staff about the CLP's position concerning how a replacement for John Heppell should be decided. Therefore the SSP (IMHO) has no powers to change the procedure in this instance.

It is not too late for sober reflection by the powers that be. The Labour Party's reputation nationally could depend on members being given a say.

Labour Party outstanding selections - Nottingham East and....?

Just because a general election has been called does not mean that my selections in the spotlight series is off air. Quite the contrary, we have now entered a period during which members' rights in selecting parliamentary candidates are at greatest risk of abuse by powerful individuals among the Labour Party leadership.

Particularly puzzling is an inordinate delay in the designation of Nottingham East vacated by John Heppel two weeks ago. My sources tell me that the Special Selections Panel was told by Party staff that the CLP had not been consulted. That is most unfortunate, as the sitting Labour MP's intentions were discussed by members at the CLP's AGM two weeks ago and a view formed as to how the vacancy for a prospective parliamentary candidate should be filled.

To reinforce the message for an OPEN selection with local candidates a petition to the NEC has been signed by (at the last count notified to me) nearly 200 members.

The Special Selections Panel is due to decide today whether it should be open or an all womens' shortlist.

My worry and that of members in Nottingham East is that there will be enormous pressure for candidates to be imposed. That concern has only been heightened by unsubstantiated rumours of yet more sitting Labour MPs making the redundancy run and pocketing up to £65K stepping down. I only hope that's all completely untrue, otherwise I fear I could be very busy staying off message, but defending members' rights, rather than out on the doorstep in marginal seats.

Stoke Central comrades show members can resist selection malpractice

A valuable precedent was established tonight at the hustings to select a Labour candidate to replace sitting MP Mark Fisher in Stoke Central. A motion to move to ballot was moved, despite a tense, threatening conversation earlier today from a West Midlands Labour Party regional officer and the CLP chair stating that this procedural motion was not in order at a prospective parliamentary candidate husting.

I am still waiting for further details of what transpired in the meantime that led to the motion being put, and the world not falling in. Michael Crick reported that it was lost by a margin of about 2:1.  Should I worry about Michael's arithmetic, or my sources? They reported the motion was carried 41:29. I make that a rebellion lost more narrowly - by more like 4:3!

Bearing in mind there can be no debate about procedural motions, that suggests the level of concern about the shortlist was rather more widespread than the handful of activists currently being victimised by the Labour Party's national executive committee.

So I hope every member in every CLP still facing the need to select a candidate will look to Stoke for inspiration. If you suspect a fix, vote against the procedural motion to move to ballot. Forewarned is forearmed.

I speculated about what might happen next in a previous blog.