The Brighton and Hove Labour party remains suspended after a marathon meeting of the party’s national executive committee adjourned without getting round to discussing the city.
Two of the officials elected at the last meeting whose appointments have been voided were at the door of Labour’s HQ in central London to pass a letter calling for the suspension to end to Jeremy Corbyn.
Would-be secretary and treasurer Greg Hadfield and Claire Wadey stood at the revolving doors and threw the letter into the lobby, calling to former Brighton Kemptown PPC Nancy Platts, who now works for Corbyn’s office, who picked it up.
Also on the NEC agenda last night were changes to how the shadow cabinet is elected, and it’s reported that lengthy discussions around this, which failed to meet and agreement, led to the meeting lasting eight hours and running out of time to discuss the suspension of the Brighton party.
The shadow cabinet elections will now be discussed at the party’s conference in Liverpool. It’s not clear when a decision will now be made about the Brighton party.
Also not discussed was an appeal by local activist Tony Greenstein, who was suspended for alleged anti-semitism, which he strongly denies.
The situation in Brighton and Hove has been the focus of three separate TV documentaries which have explored claims of entryism, in particular by the man elected chair, Mark Sandell, who is a supporter and, it’s alleged, member of AWL, which is banned by Labour.
Mr Sandell has been vocal in calling for the deselection of Peter Kyle in retaliation for his disloyalty to Corbyn, and was secretly filmed discussing which tactics would work best to achieve this aim by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, broadcast on Monday evening.
He also called for Peter Kyle’s deselection on a BBC Panorama programme, also broadcast on Monday.
Mr Sandell and Mr Hadfield have criticised the C4 documentary for its undercover filming of a public meeting. On a blog post published before the programme aired, Mr Hadfield described how he went to the production company’s head offices to take a revenge photo of its managing director Neil Grant.
He also described practising soundbites until his family complained, one of which was aired on the Panorama documentary: “the battle for the soul of the Labour Party will be played out on streets of Brighton”.
The Panorama documentary also showed four of those elected at the meeting whose positions are now voided – Hadfield, Sandell, Wadey and five-time TUSC candidate Phil Clarke – meeting independently and discussing which pro-Corbyn badges to distribute.
Mr Sandell told Panorama presenter John Pienaar he doubted Mr Kyle could convince he supported Labour values and that he was a longtime supporter of AWL, although he said he was not a member as there was no membership.
Mr Kyle said he was saddened things had become reductionist and polarised, and also warned the party had split and was standing on the edge of a cliff, and one or both factions could end up going over the edge of it.
You can watch the Channel 4 programme here and the BBC Panorama programme here.
It seems to me that in Hove and Brighton the Corbyn side of Labour and the Progress side of it went along with the proposal to close down Hove’s Carnegie Library. Including Kevin Allen. As I talk with people in Hove, there is continuing alarm at the the prospect of another – third – attempt by Labour to close it. Residents went through eight months of misery and anxiety over a proposal which was based on fraudulent figures – brilliantly exposed by the other Parties at the June meeting.
Will there be an enquiry in the way that those false figures ever came forward and put into Reports?
http://www.facebook.com/savehovelibrary
For god sake, Mr Hawtree, there are more important things than that Library. It should be the least important item on any list, seeing homelessness and poverty in Brighton. Get your perspectives right!
Why should taxpayers fund this large expensive building for a small vocal minority?