thoughts

The validation of the new members by the Labour Party is a mess. You’d think with the number of Lawyers and Trade Unionists on the NEC that they would understand the principles of natural justice and the law. I don’t think it’s bent, and I think there’s a large number of people of good will working on this but the lack of transparency is worrying and its a story that won’t go away.

I have instructed those who’ll listen that there must be evidence, it must be recent, it must be evaluated by two people. (It must also be legally obtained, this is so obvious that I didn’t bother to put it in writing. I have now. )

To become a registered supporter, one needs to sign a declaration that one supports the aims and values of the Labour Party and not support an organisation in opposition to it. This needs to be done truthfully, otherwise it’s fraud.

The £3 fee is an administration fee, we are not transactionally selling the vote. It’s the signature of the commitment that gets the vote, not the payment of the fee.

Perhaps the Labour Party should consider suing organisations and individuals that participated in a conspiracy to commit fraud by suggesting signing the declaration without commitment.

We have high profile rejections like Mark Steel and Jeremy Hardy, both of whom are making a hell of a lot of noise, but I can’t see what evidence there exists to suggest that they support an organisation in opposition to Labour and the danger exists that less well known people with weaker voices are being excluded unjustly.

For various reasons considering why Labour lost and whether it was because we were too Left or too Right. I am reminded of a speech I gave to LPYS Conference in 1979, where I said that it wasn’t the right wing manifesto during three weeks of the campaign, it was the four year record of a right wing labour government! This was a Government that nationalised things. Right wing? We were mad! The rest as they say is History.