The vile, right-wing MP, Frank Field, quit the Labour Party before his own party members kicked him out. His party members, almost unanimously, from those on the Left to those on the Right, had combined to pass a vote of no confidence in him, after he had lined up with the Tories, and thereby kept Theresa May's government in office, at a time when we had the opportunity to kick them out. It's not the first time that his members have done so. They voted to deselect him 20 years ago, but in typically undemocratic fashion, the party leadership of the time overrode the democratic decision of the party, and bureaucratically reinstated Field, as the party candidate. Yet, those same Blair-rights, today, have the nerve to talk about the party being controlled by small undemocratic cliques!
Field is just the latest of these right-wing MP's, and Councillors who have been rejected by their party members, and who have jumped ship, to try to save face, and who have then thrown out ridiculous allegations, to try to give some kind of cover to their decision. As I wrote a month ago, we saw a similar thing with John Woodcock, and with various council leaders. The use of the charge of anti-Semitism is clearly just a convenient means of justifying their decision to leave, whilst enabling them to implement their scorched Earth policy, of trying to throw as much dirt at Corbyn and Labour as possible, in the hope that, no matter how ridiculous the charges, some of them might stick.
Field has followed the well trod path, after it was pointed out that he has resigned, now, only after his party passed the no confidence vote in him, and was about to ditch him, of claiming that the vote against him was based on thuggery, and small undemocratic cliques. But, the vote against him was near unanimous, combining opposition from left and right within his local party! But, this ridiculous charge of thuggery and intimidation is one that the Labour Right have thrown out willy-nilly as standard fare.
When Angela Eagle had the window of her office broken, at the time she was challenging Corbyn for the Labour leadership, the charge was made that it was Corbyn supporters that were responsible. No evidence was provided for that claim, and, as far as I am aware, no one has ever been charged with the offence. No one doubts that some Jewish Labour MP's have faced vile anti-Semitic attacks on social media, and they are quite right to demand that the party support them against such attacks. But, again, the impression was given that these attacks were being made by Labour Party members who support Corbyn. In fact, all of the cases that have come to court, where people have been apprehended by the police, for having made such attacks, have been not Labour Party members, but supporters of right-wing groups, as with the killer of Jo Cox.
What about the charges made by John Mann and others that "Marxists", or members of Momentum, or Corbyn supporters, sent his wife a dead bird in the post, when, according to Daily Mirror Associate Editor, Kevin McGuire, on Twitter, that incident happened in 2012, long before Corbyn was Leader, long before Momentum ever existed! And, McGuire points out, Mann has form in making such unsubstantiated claims in the past. As I pointed out in April, decent Labour Party members, like Marc Wadsworth, who have a proud record of fighting racism, are facing disciplinary action, whilst the Labour Right throw out unsubstantiated accusations.
Field claims that he has faced "thuggery" in his party. In that case, he presumably knows who these "thugs" are. So, presumably he has reported them to the party, for action to be taken. Indeed, if what he has faced is actual thuggery, then he will no doubt have reported those thugs to the police, won't he, for them to take action? But, of course, no such thing has happened, because what Field calls thuggery is actually only the fact that the majority of his party members oppose him, and his vile politics, which have led even Bishop Peter Selby to describe him as a racist, whose views are as bad as those of Enoch Powell. What Field and the other right-wing Labour MP's and councillors describe as thuggery, is only the fact that the majority of the party disagrees with them, and is calling time on them, and they no longer have Blair, and a bureaucratic right-wing party machine to override the wishes of party members and keep them in their cushy jobs.
If these right-wing MP's actually are facing real thuggery from party members they should report it to the party, and indeed to the police, rather than simply throwing out these unsubstantiated accusations. Its time for them to put up or shut up. Field claims that he has the backing of tens of thousands of Labour voters in his Birkenhead constituency, and that that is more important than the opposition to him from party members. If he actually believes that, and the same goes for all those other right-wing MP's that have come out to support him, over the last 24 hours, they should again put up, and show they have the courage of their convictions.
Now would be an excellent time for Field and the Labour Right to test their argument. Field, like Woodcock, having resigned the Labour Whip should immediately stand down as MP's, and stand for election on their own ticket. If their argument is correct that it is their own wonderful personal qualities that is responsible for them being elected, and not the fact that they simply stand as the Labour candidate, with the backing of thousands of Labour Party members who go out to get them elected, then they should be eager to prove that point, and set an example for all of those other right-wing Labour MP's who claim the same thing.
So, is Field and Woodcock rushing to resign their seats, so as to stand in a parliamentary contest in their own name? Not likely, because they know the truth that throughout history all such endeavours have seen such candidates disappear from view, once they no longer stand under the Labour banner. Even when they split from Labour to form the SDP in 1981, in far more favourable conditions than exist for them today, they quickly dissipated, and ended up having to liquidate themselves into the Liberals. Ironically, today, one of the original Gang of Four, David Owen has given a large donation to Corbyn's Labour, and says he has no problem with Corbyn as Prime Minister. And, for all their claims about some silent majority being eager for some centre party to be formed that they can vote for, the fact is that such a centre party already exists. It is the Liberals, and that centre party got annihilated in the 2015 election, and again in the 2017 election.
The Labour Right will not split to form such a centre party, because they know it is doomed. They will continue to throw out their ridiculous and hysterical charges to try to do as much damage to Labour as possible, and will, like Field and Woodcock, simply resign the Labour Whip, individually, as their party memberships vote to ditch them. They will not, of course, then put themselves up for election as independent candidates, because they know they will lose badly. But, the truth is that Labour also cannot allow these destructive elements to remain as Labour MP's, until after the next election, because at that time, they could undermine a Labour government, and would, as with Field, Hoey, Mann etc. simply line up with the Tories.
Its time for the Labour Party to tell these right-wing MP's to go, and to test their support with the voters, by standing in their own name. Its time the party introduced mandatory reselection, and that local parties started selecting decent candidates that reflect the views of the party, and who will fight the next election on that basis.
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