For those who don't study history

The bombing of Syria isn't just about peace and war in the middle east, for some its shamefully about the same issues in the Labour Party.

  1. Not only are the national security questions to be considered but it is clear that many are elevating the current balance of forces in today's Labour Party and tomorrow's to a a level of priority that becomes sectarian. The priority must be to do the right thing for Britain and the Middle East, but if we are going to consider the Labour Party, it's future and how it makes policy, Len McClusky nails these and the substantive issues in this article in HuffPo. I would like to summarise or quote from this article, but it's hard to pick a highlight, I recommend that you should read it yourself, it's not long
  2. Some argue that asking the membership and the Labour's NEC what they think, is a threat to MP's, others think it's the fulfilment of Corbyn's promises to conduct politics in a more open fashion.
  3. The LP asks its membership what it thinks,
  4. Jeremy Corbyn's reply to the Prime Minister's statement, basically you need to answer 7 questions.
  5. This is a bit odd from the indefatigable, Jon Lansman, again, probably written in a hurry. It raises the issue of reselection and trigger ballots. It recognises that the Left have not pushed this to the brink, but he suggests that the right are using the issue of bombing Syria as a lever to oust Corbyn which must be resisted using the corollary of Corbyn's mandate. The threat is that the PLP needs to listen to the membership and convince them of their case, or else we'll find someone that will. There's no short list of people who would do the job.
  6. And in this article contrasts Conference policy with the machinations of the Shadow Cabinet
  7. Sarah Anne Harris report's on the McCluskey blog, focusing on the PLP's plotting.
  8. And this from the BBC, despite it's lurid headline, looks at the way in which Labour's MPs are held accountable to the Party.
  9. I look at the substantive issues in this blog, which xref's the Story I made while thinking about it.
  10. Written on the 29th & 30th November, published on the 1st December, after the Shadow Cabinet decided on a free vote for Labour MPs