Submission to Labour’s Chakrabati enquiry – from Broxtowe CLP

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This submission was submitted by me and approved by my Constituency Labour Party as our submission to the Chakrabati enquiry into antisemitism and other forms of racism including islamophobia, within the Labour Party. I publish here in response to my expulsion from the Labour Party for being a ‘supporter of the AWL’ and the slanderous accusation made by Owen Smith that the AWL is bringing in antisemitism into the Labour Party.

Submission to Chakrabarti enquiry

This CLP believes that antisemitism is an issue of concern both outside of the Party and within it.

We welcome the affirmation by John McDonnell that antisemitism has no place in the Labour Party. We believe that this primarily has to be done through an urgent education campaign rather than identifying individuals in the Party one by one for having expressed antisemitic views in the past.

As a CLP we are proud to have spoken out against the Gaza bombardment in August 2014 that led to the deaths of over 2,000 people including many children and to have organised a public meeting with Israeli and Muslim speakers that made clear our support for a democratic 2-states solution. We will continue to oppose terrorist acts by either the Israeli state, some of the West Bank settlers, Hamas or any other terrorist organisation.  But we have to recognise that much of that pro-Palestinian movement has little understanding about the reasons why Jews fled to the Middle East from the concentration camps of the Nazis, nor why the existence of the state of Israel needs to be politically defended by socialists or democrats, despite the many brutal actions of its governments.

We call on the Party to vigorously propose educational and debate events both for Party members and Labour supporters on the issue in the months ahead.

My speech against the UCU’s junking of EUMC antisemitism definition

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I have been notified that I have been expelled from the Labour Party. The expulsion appears to have happened a few hours before hustings contribution on Question Time on Thursday, 8th September. In his contribution Owen Smith renewed attacks on the AWL started by Tom Watson on 15th August. He made a slanderous accusation that the AWL was anti-Semitic.

I cannot discount that my expulsion is not unconnected with Owen Smith’s attack. I know that the AWL as well as myself have campaigned against antisemitism for decades. As evidence of some of my work confronting anti-Semitism within the labour movement I am republishing my speech to the UCU congress of 2011 and some background to its context

Below is the text of the speech made against the UCUs explicit rejection of the EUMC definitions of antisemitism at its congress on May 30 2011. The motion to reject this definition of anti-semitism, explicitly motivated to support Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas ideologue, Azzam Tamimi, was unfortunately passed overwhelmingly.

At the time of writing it was not known what the alleged use of the EUMC definition referred to. As it was regarding Azzam Tamimi, who has argued that those who live now in Israel who were emigrants from the wartime concentration camps should go back to Ukraine and Poland, a clearly antisemitic assertion, if I had known that, my speech would probably have been rewritten drawing attention to Tamimi’s politics.

Probably only half a dozen against in a conference hall voted against the motion where probably more than a third of delegates had left.

“Those arguing for the motion say that this definition intimidates free debate on the Palestine/ Israel issue. No definition of any form of racism can ever prevent misuse. Each time an accusation of racism is made, of whatever form it should always be assessed by the specifics of its application. Who makes it, can they justify it? In particular does it crudely generalise a condemnation of a part of the people onto a whole people, nation or race?

The fact that definitions of antisemitism may have been misused is no argument that definitions are wrong or that it should not be used.

What does this definition actually say?

The most controversial part appears to be where it says that those who claim that ‘the existence – THE EXISTENCE – of the Israeli state is a racist endeavour’ are antisemitic.

Consider the refuseniks who serve prison sentences because of their opposition to the racist Israeli government’s repression in Gaza and the West Bank.

Consider the left wing peace movement Gush Shalom who advocate a withdrawal from the occupied territories and who as Sue Blackwell pointed out yesterday are being threatened by their government.

The definition means that to call people such as the refuseniks and Gush Shalom racists is an antisemitic act. And that is entirely right.

To blur the distinction between the racist Israeli government and a huge proportion of the Israeli people who oppose it IS antisemitic.

Comrades we should be endorsing this definition not condemning it.

Finally comrades bear this thing in mind. We know yesterday and from leaflets distributed today that we are probably going to have a fiercely contested General Secretary election. Partly because of this, but more importantly because of the inevitable attention that will be given to any union so prominently in opposition to this government as our own, we need to take care.
The business of our congress has never more been in the public eye. Do we really want to give enemies of our union the gift of seeming to think that antisemitism is not a problem.

It is a problem!”

I will not accept my expulsion from the Labour Party

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Please support the Stop the Labour Purge campaign acting on behalf of all witch-hunted socialists in the Party

I have been informed today that I have been expelled from the Labour Party after a total of 35 years of Party membership and in spite of being Chair of Broxtowe Constituency Labour Party.

This follows an anonymous complaint about me to the Party. I don’t know what has led anyone to complain to the Party about me. I cannot believe that it comes from anyone in my constituency party where inclusiveness and comradely respect is genuinely shown by all party members. I am very grateful for the quick statement of support made by all of my fellow officers of Broxtowe CLP.

I am told that I am expelled because of I am an ‘active supporter of the AWL’ .

The AWL publishes a very useful and educative paper Solidarity and I welcome and am proud of  its significant contribution to debate in the Party and the wider labour movement.

My expulsion appears to have been activated without the knowledge of either myself or my fellow constituency officers – 2 days before I was notified. It was only hours before Owen Smith renewed the attacks on the AWL as ‘hard left’ and made preposterous claim that the AWL is anti-Semitic. The implication is therefore that I, as an individual, am also anti-Semitic. I have campaigned virtually all of my political life against anti-Semitism within the labour movement and I have evidenced some of my work on it below. I consider that implication and the action against me are motivated and contribute to slander against me.

I believe that this is not an attack solely on me as an individual. It is intended to disorganise my constituency party and demoralise its members. It is also part of a national witch hunt conducted by figures still powerful in the Party who are attempting to drive away the hundreds of thousands of new members who have moved it to the left.

I have long advocated that our Party should be open to all who want to fight for a Labour victory. Free speech and free debate are fundamental to socialism. They are essential to anything claiming to be a socialist political party.

Hundreds of thousands of energetic people are being attracted to our Party. We should welcome them and I believe that in my role as Chair of my CLP I have the responsibility to contribute to that.

That is why I, along with the other officers of my CLP, wrote in protest to the General Secretary and Chair of the PLP against the attempt to oust our leader unconstitutionally by trying to force him to resign without allowing a vote by the Party membership.

It is why, as officers of Broxtowe CLP, we protested to the General Secretary and the NEC about the further discourtesy shown to new members by instituting an unexpected freeze date that denied them the right to vote.

Later still on August 9th individually I organised an accredited online petition calling on the Party to refrain from using the full force of the appeal courts to enforce that freeze and give yet further offense to our new members. Over a 21 hour period, the petition was signed by over 1,000 Party members.

The day after sending that petition to the General Secretary, Tom Watson released his dossier on far left entryism. The following day I first began to hear from journalists, briefed by persons unknown, asking me to respond to accusations of being a ‘Trotskyite entryist’.

For the next 2 days I had journalists contact me before an article appeared in Politics Home claiming that I had been reported to the Labour Party as a ‘hard left’ activist and was being ‘probed’ by the Labour Party. That was on August 17th –  over 3 weeks before the notification of my expulsion. During that time, I heard nothing from the Labour Party and presumed this was a fictional provocation intended to damage the Party. It appears I was wrong.

In the original press attack upon me I was accused of speaking at a recent AWL event. However I spoke on the same platform as Ian Hodson, President of the BFAWU. Other speakers at the week-end event also included prominent representatives of the Progress/ Labour First right wing of our Party, Luke Akehurst, John McTernan. I cannot therefore believe that these are the real reasons for the complaint made against me.

There are no secrets about my politics. The paper Solidarity has been kind enough to cover much of my campaigning work in its news coverage. They have occasionally republished articles I have written elsewhere or on my blog. I find it scandalous that having an association with that paper and the policies it advocates, can be used to witch-hunt me or anyone else out of the Party.

The real reason some want me out of the Party must be is because they want to stop my political activities both for the Party and to influence its policies.

I list below most of the important work I have done over the last 6 years for and within the Party with links to more details. In the absence of my right to appeal, I leave others to make their own judgement on my record and the legitimacy of the attempts to remove me from the Party.

  • Building my local Party and the referendum campaign
  • Campaigning for the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader
  • Challenging the government’s support for Saudi Arabia
  • Campaigning against anti-union laws
  • Campaigning against war and terrorism and for a 2–state resolution in Israel/ Palestine
  • Campaigning against anti-semitism
  • Campaigning in support of oppressed Kurdish people in Syria and Turkey
  • Campaigning against the government cuts
    Details of my work can be read in the Appendix to this article

My history and my views have never been a secret. In 2001 I resigned from the Labour Party after, then, 29 years membership. Whilst I continued to campaign for Labour general election victories in the days of Tony Blair’s leadership, I feared that some of the changes of the Labour Party might be irreversible. Firstly, the Party’s turn away from working class communities and towards ‘Middle England’ and secondly, the marginalisation of trade unions. I stood as a protest candidate in the very safe Labour constituency of Nottingham East in 2001 and then again in 2005 after the Iraq war.

I was wrong about the Party. It was able to revive after Blair and Brown’s leadership – it had to revive in the face of a very right-wing Cameron government. Although it has left us a legacy of political alienation in many working class communities which we have seen so starkly in the EU referendum result.

I rejoined the Party in 2010 in Broxtowe after working with it to rebuild the Labour Party in areas of the borough where the BNP had got a councillor elected – another result of the collapse of the Labour Party in many areas because of Tony Blair.

I never hid anything either about my earlier disenchantment with the Party or my activities during those years. I was pleased to say I felt very welcomed by other constituency activists and officers. They showed the same solidarity I believe our Party should show to all others who want to work for its success regardless of their voting or electoral activities in the past.

Genuine political disagreements about how we fight together for the interests of all working class people, the vast majority in our society, should be met with respectful and democratic debate and not crude labelling, expulsions, exclusions and the denial of free speech.

I do not believe I have acted as anything other than a responsible socialist. I will not walk away from the Labour Party nor advocate anyone else does.

I appeal to party members and organisations to support the call for the revoking of my expulsion and my rights to resume my work for the future of this Party and the return of a Labour government. We need that to reverse the devastation inflicted on our society by the Tories and put a government accountable to the vast majority of society, working class people, in control.

Appendix – my recent political work for and within the Party

  • Building my local Party and the referendum campaign
    Over the last 6 years of membership of Broxtowe Constituency Labour Party, I have been a branch secretary for 3 years, constituency secretary for 2 ½ years and from last May its constituency Chair.
    Over the course of my branch secretaries position, with other activists, I built that branch into the biggest and most active branch in the constituency with regular street stalls and very successful council election campaigns.
    When I became Chair of the CLP this year my first act was to agree with fellow officers Cllr Greg Marshall and Cllr Dawn Elliott to go ahead with the production of over 30,000 of a 4 page Newsletter and then co-ordinate their distribution over the final 2 weeks of the EU referendum campaign.
    The Newsletter with its main article in support of remaining in the EU also made clear our opposition to the Tories cuts on our local services. We feel confident that the Newsletter and the energetic work of our much strengthened Party gave us a better result than most other neighbouring East Midlands constituencies – a fact acknowledged by our Tory opponent Anna Soubry MP.
  • Campaigning for the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader
    When Jeremy Corbyn put his name forward for leadership I wrote an open letter to Labour MPs in the region asking them to nominate Corbyn. I invited fellow Labour activists to sign it and 103 of them did, including 19 councillors and 1 council leader. See https://beestonleftie.wordpress.com/2015/06/
    Given that the nomination threshold was only closely met and our letter may have affected some MPs, is this why people want me out of the Party?
  • Challenging the government’s support for Saudi Arabia
    In January 2015 I wrote an open letter to Cameron following the intensification of Saudi terror on its own citizens highlighted by the flogging and threatened death sentence on free speech Saudi activist Raif Badawi. Over the following 6 months that letter was signed by over 1,000 human rights activists, journalists, trade unionists and political activists. It was supported by 11 prominent NGOs. It called for Britain to end its arms trade with Saudi Arabia and for other trade sanctions to be considered whilst the Saudi regime continued its human rights abuses.
    See http://wp.me/P5RyD9-3
    The open letter was delivered to Parliament in July 2015 on a Day of Action that I organised with the supporting NGOs. A delegation of MPs and activists delivered it to Downing Street including the now shadow transport minister Andy McDonald. raifpresentAmongst others Glenys Kinnock addressed the assembled activists in Whitehall on that day.
    See http://wp.me/p5RyD9-cY
    The same day with the support of John McDonnell’s office I organised a meeting in Parliament addressed by supporting NGOs and Sarah Champion MP speaking from the Labour Party, as well as MPs and leaders from the  SNP and Greens. Jeremy Corbyn was one of the first signatories of our Open Letter and spoke in support of the issue at later Parliamentary meetings.
    I hope that our work contributed to the greater awareness and desire for action against Saudi Arabia that helped Jeremy Corbyn force the later government climb down on their provision of prison equipment to Saudi Arabia. A topic also touched on in my speech to the 2015 Labour conference.
    The abandonment of any aim of an ethical foreign policy was a major failure of the Blair and Brown governments. Is this why certain people want me out of the Party?
  • Campaigning against anti-union laws
    At the 2015 Labour conference I spoke to our motion that was composited with other trade union and CLP motions. My CLP added a pledge to the other motions composited to restore the trade union rights of solidarity and sympathy action that had been taken away by Thatcher. My speech to conference can be viewed here

    As an active trade unionist firstly as GMWU/GMBATU steward, then a UCU branch officer throughout my employed life, restoring trade union and employment rights has always been one of my major concerns as a Party member. Like many trade unionists I consider this to be one of biggest failures of the Blair government. Is this why certain people want me out of the Party?
  • Campaigning against war and terrorism and for a 2–state resolution in Israel/ Palestine
    In July 2014 I made a successful call on my CLP to hold a public meeting on the military onslaught on Gaza. The meeting in Beeston attracted an audience of well over 100 local constituents and was addressed by our PPC of the time, a prominent Pakistani Labour councillor and through Skype by Israeli anti-war activist Elizabeth Tsurkov. All speakers at the meeting not only condemned the Gaza onslaught but made a strong call for peace through meaningful dialogue towards a 2-state settlement.
  • Campaigning against anti-Semitism
    In June of this year I wrote the submission of my CLP to the Labour Party Chakrabarti enquiry. Our submission addressed the issue of anti-Semitism. It called for education and debate in the Party recognizing that much of the contemporary left had only a superficial understanding of the reasons why the continuing existence of Israel is so important to the Jewish community. Our statement called for real action from the Party to revive the prospects of a peaceful and just 2-states settlement for both Palestinian and Israeli people. The statement can be read from this link
    I was frequently active in debates in my union, the UCU, in opposing anti-Semitism: arguing at the 2011 UCU congress that antisemitism was an issue that the union should not deny as much as it did at the time. Link to my speech at the Congress
  • Campaigning in support of oppressed Kurdish people in Syria and Turkey
    In August 2014, I spoke at Kurdish public protests against the brutal attacks on the Yazidi and Kurdish people by the at the time of ISIS’s dramatic offensive in Syria. I wrote an appeal for MPs to meet with representatives of the local 4,000 local strongly Labour-supporting Kurdish community. I led the delegation that met local MP Chris Leslie from whom we had a sympathetic hearing. I have continued to work with the Kurdish community, many of whom have joined, become active and strengthened relations between that community and the Labour Party. I work with the local Kurdish community in Nottingham and across the country in championing the Kurdish militia, the YPG, in their battle with ISIS in Syria and giving appropriate respect to Kurdish and other fighters who go to their aid. They are now facing a brutal onslaught in Turkey as well, about which this Tory government is silent. I campaign along with my Kurdish friends for the Labour Party to give real support to the Kurds but not to use them as an excuse for disastrous foreign military adventures.
  • Campaigning against the government cuts
    From 2012-13, I was secretary of a campaign, Councillors Against Cuts, that was set up with local councillors and advocated that councils consider alternative strategies to those of implementation of the cuts demanded of them by the Tory government. At that time there was a confidence in the trade union movement and an outrage in our councils about these cuts.
    I believe an alternative strategy of combined union/ Party defiance was possible. It is my personal belief that such an alternative strategy still needs to be considered before our services are stripped to the bone.

Assad and Erdogan’s new alliance?

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It looks as though there are some startling shifts in alliances in the Syrian civil war. Although for quite some time it has been less a Syrian civil war and more a proxy war between super-powers and tyrannical regimes in the region.

What is the relationship now between Turkey and the US?

Erdogan continues to strut arrogantly around – bolstered by his overcoming of the coup against him. Russia and the Syrian dictator, Assad, rub their hands with glee as Erdogan approaches them independently of the US for mutual favours. The US desperately seems to be playing catch-up, as the militias and the forces they finance and logistically support are turned by Turkey on each other.

The US were long reported to have been angry about Erdogan’s failure to act against ISIS. After all a successful war against ISIS, necessary for the US’s public credibility, is costing them a lot of money with no seeming end in sight.

Many of the leading figures in the recent attempted military coup in Turkey were known to be pressuring Erdogan to act and send troops against ISIS. Whether was this for anti-Islamist reasons or those of Turkish military pride – or both – is not clear to me.

After the failed coup, Erdogan accused the US of helping the attempted military coup against him. He then made approaches to Russia and for the first time argued that Assad need not go as a precondition for peace.

It is clear that more significant negotiations are also going on between Russian/ Assad/ Erdogan about common interests: a key one of these, at least to Assad and Erdogan, would be their common opposition to any Kurdish autonomy.

US Vice President Joe Biden following the coup rushed to Turkey in order to be seen to be repairing relationships with Erdogan. He stood alongside Erdogan demanding that the SDF/YPG leave the area west of the Euphrates, around Manbij, which the US only a few weeks before had helped the YPG take after a fierce siege.

Finally, Turkey sends troops into Syria with clear agreement from Assad. It is difficult to believe that this wasn’t done without NATO and US knowledge. Nevertheless, the US acts as if it has been publicly offended by this act.

After all, the Turkish action ended up with two of the US’s allies fighting against each other, the comparatively new Jaysh al Tahrir (acting with Turkey) and the US’s longer term ally, the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Whatever else these events prove, one thing is clear. Turkey is not just a US pawn, an argument unfortunately too common on some sections of the left about Turkey and other Middle Eastern sub-imperialist countries. It simply isn’t true, Turkey is currently calling the shots here.

Intrique and double-dealing

It is difficult to predict what is going on between the US and Turkey. The cynical double-dealing of all the main players, Russia, US, Assad, is probably at its height at the moment. Some even think that the CIA both helped set up the military coup and leaked it to Erdogan and that they wanted a failed coup in order to help him.

I find that hard to believe. But not because of the implied gross duplicity of the US secret services – that I can believe. I just cannot believe the US would want Erdogan’s increased popularity amongst his Turkish supporters. A popularity that now gives him greater independence from them and able to pursue new relationship with Putin or Assad.

Is partition on the cards?

Some argue that what we are seeing is a move towards a partition of Syria between a Kurdish-dominated area, a Turkey-dominated area and a reduced territory under Assad. If that were to happen, how long could such a partition last or would it be just a short breathing space before another conflict?

About turns are not easy or predictable

The Syrian rebellion is probably close to defeat – symbolised by the fall of Daraya and the imminent collapse in Aleppo. The military coup in Turkey was put down. Each of these events have given their victors, Assad and Erdogan, the confidence to forge a new alliance with Russia’s help. Together with Putin, they see an opportunity to form a new alliance.

But abrupt reversals, especially in the exceptionally cynical alliances that exist within Syria, can cause huge problems. Subordinate elements do not do as they are told!

In defiance of the US’s instructions the YPG have stated that they will not move across to the east of the Euphrates river. If they did so, they would be sacrificing the bridgehead to the Kurdish canton of Afrin and to other potentially besieged Kurdish communities in Aleppo.
Erdogan will not leave a Kurdish dominated area alone even if the US told him to.

  1. They have long had imperialist ambitions of occupying sections of oil-rich northern Syria including the areas west of the Euphrates.
  2. They are conducting a vicious war on their own Kurdish community to destroy any hopes of autonomy, why would they tolerate an autonomous are Kurdish area in Syria?
  3. And even though they eventually dropped their opposition to a Kurdish autonomous area in Iraq, Rojava is not the KRG and the PYD is not the KPD.

Assad bombs YPG held Haska

Assad bombs YPG held Haska

What is now the relation between Assad and the YPG? The YPG have long denied that they have had any formal alliance with Assad. They have claimed they were exploiting his weakness whilst concentrating on fighting ISIS. Their opponents amongst the Syrian rebels frequently define them as being in ‘collaboration’ with Assad. Whatever the relationship may have been in the past, now it is certainly no longer either of those in the wake of the the assault and bombings of Hasaka by Assad’s forces.

Assad’s forces have been in Hasaka but he still feels comparatively confident – at least in comparison with where he has been in the past. The bloody bombardment of his people elsewhere in Syria has to some degree worked – they have been starved and mass-murdered into submission. Some undoubtedly will not surrender but continue to fight on.
So as part of the deal there may be further migration of both the militias and populations that opposed him into areas not under his control – perhaps into the Turkish dominated area of a partitioned Syria.

Where does ISIS stand?

ISIS are clearly in retreat in both Iraq and Syria. Primarily in Syria through the actions of the SDF/ YPG.

Now that ISIS are weak and after the Turkish government allowed them freedom of movement across the border for years, it now uses them as their public justification for military action in Syria.

But the primary intention of Erdogan remains to drive the anti-Islamist Syrian Democratic Forces back as far as he can.

Where have the all the Saudis gone?

The Saudi regime appears to have been sidelined considerably as a big player in Syria. Even more so has the mini-state of Qatar – an earlier major financier of jihadists in Syria.

It was only 9 months ago that Saudi Arabia was given the prestigious role by the UN of diplomatically unifying the anti-Assad opposition during the Geneva peace talks. However, you hear nothing now of the so-called ‘Riyadh opposition’.

A proper analysis of their marginalization in Syria requires more analysis and facts than I currently have access to. But it appears that despite the huge supply of Saudi-financed arms and the influx into Syria of many thousands of volunteer Saudi Wahhabi fighters – they have, as in Afghanistan, proved to have been more of a liability to the Syrian opposition than a benefit.

Suicidal activists and Islamist fanaticism did, and in places may still do, provide a fearsome edge for those fighting back against Assad. But the Islamists’ political objectives inevitably are anathema to many of those who believe they are still fighting against Assad for freedom.

Whenever the Islamists started to become dominant and started to shape society, the repellent undemocratic nature of their ideology was seen.

A brutal quasi-state like the Islamic State can be built in a closed territory where there is absolute and brutal control and where dissent is ruthlessly repressed as has existed in Saudi Arabia for decades.

But an authoritarian Islamist regime can’t be built in one suburb or small town where there may be competing ideologies and leaders, capable of undermining them, a short distance away.
There are other major Islamist outfits in Syria, Ahrar al Sham, Jaish al-Islam or Jabhat Fatah al Sham (formerly Al Nusra). They however were restrained not only by their financial and logistic dependence by their overseas Wahhabist sponsors, they have never had that degree of total control over a territory.

On occasion Nusra has attempted to enforce its will but it has led to civil and military conflict between them and more popular forces – as in Idlib province last March when there were both street demonstrations in support of the Free Syrian Army’s 13th Division when Nusra moved against them.

Is long-term Turkish domination of part of Syria possible?

After cynically supporting chaos in Syria Erdogan now wants to exercise more direct domination through occupation and greater control over Turkey’s 800 miles border with Syria.

His target with both is likely to be not only ISIS but all militias he doesn’t control: those under the influence of Saudi Arabian Wahhabism but above all and, of course, the Kurds.

Turkey wants even greater control of who gets arms and fighters and thereby gains political control and they are now doing so through direct occupation and where they feel unable to occupy a greater control of the border.

A 40 mile wall has been built from Öncüpınar to Çobanbey and that has reduced the flow of fighters to ISIS and other militias Turkey disapproves of. Allegedly 2,000 fighters came through this border before the wall – this has been reduced by up to 90%! And the wall is being extended to reduce this more. See Hurriyet Daily news

A strengthening of Erdogan and Assad’s control will not bring peace

Both the US and Russia may think a stalemate and a partition may be worth working together towards.

Hopes for a temporary peace through partition may also be welcomed by others, particularly after the mass slaughter that has been seen, primarily by Assad of his own people.

If the YPG are also allowed to finish their job against ISIS in eastern Syria, Obama may be able to go into retirement claiming a job done, at least in part. However, the US have little control over Erdogan who may continue his attacks there on the YPG.

There are still huge obstacles to a Turkish/ Syrian enforced partition. Their common enemy, the YPG/SDF, will not be easily removed from western Syria even with US acquiescence. Why should the YPG/ SDF ally with the US in the east if they are stabbed in the back in the west?

The Syrian anti-Assad opposition have not yet been defeated in Aleppo despite a phenomenal assault.

But the gulf between the Kurdish secular militias and the Syrian rebels remains as high as ever. The Arab allies of the YPG in the SDF are not that extensive and may be more a military one than having a shared vision of any multi-ethnic, secular Syria.

The hope for long-term peace and democracy in Syria needs a coming together of those that reject both religious and ethnic sectarianism. The PYD, at least in theory, with their calls for a secular and democratic confederation provided some possibilities of progress to that.

But civil wars are not easy places for political debate.

When barrel bombs and heavy artillery are slaughtering everyone around you, people fight back together regardless of ideology – there is a basic defensive communalism and an understandable astonishment that the world or neighbouring communities do not lift a hand to defend you.

When ISIS are selling women into sex slavery and beheading whoever they like, it is difficult for secular fighters (Kurdish or Arab) to trust those who want Sharia Law, no matter how different from ISIS’s variant.

There has undoubtedly been examples of democratic self-administration in areas freed of Assad’s terror and still inspired by the secular 2011 aims of Syria’s Arab Spring. Some people have argued those community organisations in Free Syria have effectively countered the sectarian agenda of some of the militias operating there. On occasion there have been civil and military conflict with them – as in Maarat-Al-Numanin Idlib province last March when there were both street demonstrations in support of the Free Syrian Army’s 13th Division.

But the anarchy, in both good and bad senses of the word, will not be allowed by either Assad or Erdogan. They will control and will attack democratic formations in any territory they dominate.

Those opposing the tyranny of them both and supporting democracy, both Kurds and Syrian, will need to find a way of uniting against them.

Support our new members – call off the Party’s legal appeal

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The statement below was sent off to the General Secretary of the Labour Party on Tuesday 9th Aug at 9am with the 1050 signatures below.

There is a petition still open at https://www.change.org/p/labour-party-don-t-appeal-the-court-decision that members or other may care to sign
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We demand that the Labour Party General Secretary, Iain McNicol, calls off the Legal Dept of the Labour Party from considering appealing against the decision to allow post Jan 12th members the right to a direct members vote in the leadership election.

The decision of the court to reinstate their right to vote should be accepted. The original NEC decision to deny them the vote had no moral justification. It has proven to have little legal justification. The only seeming motivation for the action was to reselect an electorate that would be seen to be more favourable to those who want to overthrow the elected leader of the Party, Jeremy Corbyn.

Not only have 130,000 members been alienated from the Party by this action. Further attempts to deny them the vote after this legal outcome will only add to this as well as incurring legal costs which the Party membership will hardly agree with.

We demand that any legal appeal be called off and that the future NEC considers how it will reimburse those members of the additional cost of £25 that some paid in order to apply for a registered supporters vote.

 

Signatories (all in personal capacity)
Pete Radcliff, Broxtowe CLP, Chair
Alan Philip Darley MA, Broxtowe CLP, NUT, Former councillor (Lincoln City)
Ian Woodyatt, Gedling CLP, Retired,
Teresa Woodyatt, Gedling CLP, Unison,
Barnaby Marder, Richmond Park CLP
Nina Douglas, Broxtowe CLP
Andrew Coolin, Broxtowe CLP,
Scott Jennings, Nottingham South CLP
Ellis Tansley, Broxtowe CLP, Unite, TULO Officer
Rachel Bannister, Broxtowe CLP, NUT,
Claire Lawrence, Broxtowe CLP, UCU
Simon Cross, Broxtowe CLP
Nick Fletcher, Derby South CLP
Rupert Holman, Broxtowe CLP, Unison – University of Nottingham Branch, Labour Link Officer
Melissa, Nottingham East CLP
Paul K Swift, Broxtowe CLP, Unison delegate
Marie Llewelyn, Gloucester
Dave Ratchford, Broxtowe CLP, Unite
Jane Stoggles, East Worthing + Shoreham CLP
Peter Urbacz, Broxtowe CLP
Rosalind Izard, Putney, CLP Member and activist
Selina Postgate, Bristol CLP
Ingrid E Green, Gedling CLP, Unison
Virginia Turner, Twickenham CLP, Unite
Kevin Llewelyn, Gloucester CLP
Sally McDonald, Gower CLP
Pauline Bouakaz, Chesterfield CLP
Daniel, Romford CLP, UNISON
Richard Kilbride,, Macclesfield CLP, Unison
Beryl Brown, Hallam CLP
Charlie Ryan, Morley CLP, GMB
Paul Charisse, Romsey CLP
Carol Eades, Sheffield Central CLP
Min Clifford, Streatham Hill CLP
Christine Rimmer, Broxtowe CLP, Unison,
David Horton, Folkestone & Hythe CLP, Unison,
Les Lazell, Peterborough CLP, Unite,
Gill Smith, Swale CLP
Sue Ball, Hastings & Rye CLP, Unite,
Chris Kemp, Rushcliffe CLP, UNITE, Councillor and Branch Secretary
Pat Melia, Halton CLP
Christopher Emmins, Castle Point CLP
Bob Thomson, Rother Valley CLP
Barbara Brown, Fareham CLP
Susan Titmus, Leigh, Lancs CLP, Unite
Stephen Rees, Torfaen CLP, Unison
Gary Jakings, Peterborough CLP
Anne Amison, Totnes CLP, Unite
Susan Titmus, Leigh, Lancs CLP, Unite
Arvind Jadwa, Hendon CLP, PCS
Barry Say, Berwick CLP, Branch treasurer (Lynemouth)
Catch Ryde, Bolton West CLP, NUT
Stephanie De-Sykes, Woking CLP
David Sheridan, Edgbaston CLP
Pamela Mcmillan, Rochford CLP, Unite
Kathy Archbold, Bermondsey And Old Southwark CLP
Florence Anderson, Houghton & Sunderland South CLP, GMB
Maureen Schaeffer, Newcastle Central CLP, Unite
Gail Marchant, Stretford & Urmston CLP, Usdaw
Bob Cartwright, Derbyshire Dales CLP, retired member Unison
Jo Manning, Leeds NE CLP
Monika Kemp, Brentwood and Ongar CLP
David Mills, Witham and Braintree CLP
Diane Rayburn, Bracknell. Berkshire CLP, Retired.
Angela Rai, Dagenham and Rainham CLP
Vicki Messam, Devizes CLP, Unite
Denise Bevington, Meirionedd CLP, UNISON
Dianne Frances, Bristol And North West CLP
Robert Beard, Sheffield Central CLP
Austin Reeve, Ipswich  CLP,
Liz Taylor, Wantage CLP, Usdaw
Geoffrey Spittles, Hastings and Rye CLP, NASUWT
Stephanie David, Bexleyheath&Crayford CLP, PCS
Angela Rai, Dagenham and Rainham CLP
Rob Campbell, Montgomeryshire CLP, Unison CLP Chair
Joan Harris, Chester CLP
Peter Coomber, Orkney CLP
Katrina Stelzner, Boston and Skegness CLP
David Watson, Doncaster Central  CLP
Julie Bell, Washington & Sunderland West CLP
Louise Bath, Halesowen And Rowley Regis CLP
Graham Phillips, Kenilworth and Southam CLP, Unite
Graham Brinksman, Warrington North CLP, Unite
Jean Kincaid, Clwyd West CLP
Robin White, North East Somerset CLP, RMT
Nauman Younas, Middleton and Heywood CLP
Sean Kelly, Broxtowe CLP
Morag Cumming, Nottingham East CLP, Unison
Tracy O’shea, Broxtowe CLP, Unison, Branch Secretary – UoN
Brenda Davis-Bates, Northfield CLP
Wendy Rogers, Vale of Glamorgan CLP
Paul Simm, Brighton & Hove CLP
Alan Hardy, Makerfield CLP
Lesley Clyne, Bromborough New Ferry CLP
Jemeela Sayyadi, South Shields CLP
Jean Stones, Birmingham CLP
Gaye Denyer, Devizes CLP
Paul Langridge, Basildon CLP, unite
Julie Hartwell, Sutton Coldfield CLP
Valerie Leyland, Broxtowe CLP
Gillian Kalter, Labour International CLP
David Gamble, Liverpool Riverside. CLP
Martyn Wood-Bevan, Swansea West CLP, Unite
Jo Moreland, Camberwell And Peckham CLP, Unite
Veryan Greenwood, Brighton And Hove And District CLP
David Gamble, Liverpool Riverside. CLP, Retired
Mrs J Clark, Camberwell And Peckham CLP
Karla Wells, Boston And Skegness CLP
David Knaggs, Charnwood CLP, NUT(retired)
Mel Johnston, Truro And Falmouth CLP
John Siddall, Bolsover CLP, Shirebrook – vice chair
Lorraine Kelly, Newton Abbot CLP
Mandy Williams, Riverside CLP, UNISON
Lorraine Webster, Milton Keynes South CLP
Mike Kennard, Chatham & Aylesford CLP, Unite, CLP Treasurer
Patricia Armour, Yate Thornbury CLP, Unite
Linda Barratt, Taunton Deane CLP
Katy Marchant, Okehampton CLP, MU and Unite
Linda Webb-Thornton, Cardiff Nortb CLP, Unison
Jean Siddall, Bolsover CLP, Retired
Pamela Gonsalves, Hastings And Rye CLP
Denise Piper, Redcar CLP, Unite
Josh Petzoldt, Holborn And St Pancras CLP, UNISON
Maureen Hancock, Reigate And Banstead CLP, Retired
Terese Mooney, North West Norfolk CLP, Unison
Brenda Boland, Wansbeck CLP, Unite
Norman Iveson, Cardiff North CLP
Tony Fehler, Bristol East Clp CLP, Ex Unison (retired)
Terry Russell, Bristol West CLP
Jacqueline Boden, Bristol West CLP
Norman Iveson, Cardiff North CLP
Jacqueline Jones, Workington Clp CLP
Kelly Hopwood, Plymouth Sutton And Devonport CLP
Janet New, Heckmondwike CLP, ATL
Paul Loring, Pudsey CLP
Helen Bennett, North Somerset CLP
Fingal Plumpton, Cambridge CLP, Unite
Mandy Jayne Gregory, St Austell And Newquey CLP, Unite
Paula Bodington, Tower Hamlets CLP
Brenda Stone, Southend West CLP
Bob Southern, Worcester City CLP
Dr Joseph Baxter, Broxtowe CLP
Sue Gledhill, St Helens South & Whiston CLP, Unite
Katherine Davis, Devizes CLP
James, South Leics CLP
Martine Carruthers, Hastings And Rye CLP, Unison
Alan Gasparutti, Peterborough CLP
Frederick Stone, Southend West CLP
Andreas Hoberg, East Hampshire CLP
Chris Ellison, Saffron Walden CLP, Unison
Kate Condie, Cowdenbeath CLP
Barnabas-Francis Macphail, Bethnal Green & Bow CLP, UNITE!
David Spratt, Torridge And West Devon CLP
Cathy Augustine, Didcot & Wantage CLP, Unite Community, Labour Party Member
David Anderson, Camborne CLP
Janet Granger, Staffordshire Moorlands CLP
Mary Cousins, North East Leeds CLP, Unison, Retired members secretary
Allan Pearson, South Ribble CLP
Gerald Giddings, Dawlish, Devon.  (Newton Abbot ) CLP
Keith Edwards, East Devon CLP
Christine Harman, Salisbury CLP
Mark Catterall, Calder Valley CLP, Unison
Nick Noble, Cambridge CLP
Anya-Nicola Darr, East Devon CLP, UNITE
Jane Merlin, South East Cornwall CLP, PCS (retired)
Philip Weaver, North East Somerset CLP
Dr L Marriott, Derby CLP
Mary Francis, Forest Of Dean CLP
Susan Weaver, North East Somerset CLP
Catherine Plummer, Nuneaton CLP, Unison
Tricia Mclaughlin, Gillingham & Rainham CLP
Dan Carter, Broxtowe CLP, FBU
Tina Damian-Grint, Sheffield Central CLP
Di Coffey, Truro And Falmouth CLP, Vice Chair Falmouth Labour branch
Vj Rees, Maidstone & Weald CLP
Sonia Oatley, Bridgend CLP
Jackie Burnham, North Norwich CLP, Unity
Stephe Rees, Maidstone & Weald CLP, Unite
Jillion Florence Steyne, Northe Herts CLP, Unison, retired member.
Sean Moore, Fylde CLP
Sue Robins, Newton Abbot CLP
Jeff Munn-Giddings, Harwich CLP
Mrs G Doe, Maidstone & Weald CLP, Unite
Andrew Doolan, St Helens & Whiston CLP, unite
Dr Pamela Osborn, Spelthorne CLP, Unite
Sheena Mckerrell, Keighley & Ilkley CLP, NUT
Lesley Bees, Bath CLP
Keith Winter, Beverley & Holderness CLP
Rosemary Scott, Chester City CLP, Unite
Felicity Nightingale, Skye, Lochaber And Badenoch CLP
Terry Casey, Garson And Halewood CLP
Patricia Wright, St Helens North CLP
Sandra Giddings, Dawlish, Devon  (Newton Abbot  ) CLP, Affiliate member
Graham Hobbs, Holborn & St Pancras CLP, CLP Delegate
Linda Stoker, South Norfolk CLP
Vicki Worthington, St Helens North CLP, Unite the community, Student
Barry Sherwin, Christchurch CLP, None: Retired, Paid Member
Rima Salahie, Holborn & St Pancras CLP
Carole Josling, Newcastle Upon Tyne Central CLP
Claire Yard, North Islington CLP, GMB
Isabel Mcnab, Corby CLP
Patricia Shobaki, Brighton, Kemptown CLP
Louise Bath, Halesowen And Rowley Regis CLP
Francesca Alaimo, Holborn And St Pancras CLP, RMT
Wendy Walker, Brigg Snd Gool CLP, Non, Non
Anne Stockpory, Easington CLP
Georgina Thackeray, Brecon Powys CLP
Vivien Bridson, Highbury And Islington CLP
Joanne Czernuszka, Hackney CLP, GMB
Andy Jackson, Isle Of Wight CLP
Rose Seabury, North Durham CLP
Frances Lilley, Derby North CLP
Lesley Kimber, Wakefield CLP, NUT, CLP delegate and Branch Exec
Helen Haysom, North East Somerset CLP
Steven Spall, Sheffield Central CLP
David, St Helens South CLP
Julie Shackson, Wales CLP, GMB
Adele Mcinroy, St Helens North CLP
Paul Harris, South Leicestershire CLP
John Newton, South East Cambridgeshire CLP
Christina Lloyd Checkley, Sollihull CLP
Kate Flynn, Arundel And South Downs CLP, Branch Secretary
William Vallance, Dude South CLP
Katrina Allan, Mid Fife & Glenrothes CLP, UCATT, Ordinary member
Dorothy Rogerson, Mansfield East CLP
Debbie Rees, Preseli Pembrokeshire CLP
Eileen Nicholson, Garston/Halewood CLP, Unite
Fran Brennan, Camborne, Redruth & Hayle CLP
Jean Thirtle, North Norfolk CLP, Unison
Gillingham Davies, Garston/Halewood CLP, GMB
Charles Abrahams, North East Leeds CLP
Pauline Hickey, Congleton CLP, UNISON
Tracey Strathdee, Hayes And Harlington CLP, Unite
Paul Johnson, North Cornwall CLP
Gillian Davies, Garston/Halewood CLP, GMB
Margaret Mcneil, East Kilbride CLP, Unison
Angela Fae, Wallasey CLP, GMB
Michelle Eades, Eltham CLP, Lgbt
Nicola Pattyson, Staffordshire North CLP
Katherine Lawrence, Exeter CLP
Claude Gonsalves, Hastings&Rye CLP
Ian Maddison, Castle Point CLP, Unite, Branch secretary
Mark Bushell, Walthamstow East CLP, Deaf Arts Curator
Rasha Shaheen, Islington South And Finsbruy CLP, Musicians Union
Johanna Boal, Beverley And Holderness CLP, Unison
Cathy Page, Camborne, Redruth, Hayle CLP, RCN
Stephen Cook, Hove CLP
Trevor May, Ashfield CLP, Unite
Diane Cheshire, Tiverton And Honiton CLP
Martin Gregory, Wrexham CLP, UNISON
Rosalind Austin, Peckham And Camberwel CLP
Lorraine Murphy, Folkestone And Hythe CLP
Steve Miller, West Dorset CLP, Equity
Tracey Whalley, Blackley & Broughton CLP, Unite
Sandra Stevenson, Ilford North CLP
Joan Phelan, Chippenham CLP, Unite
Olga Dunning, Rotherham CLP
Salli Ward, Macclesfield CLP
Rebekah Hirsch, Walthamstow CLP
Lindsey Lacey, Ceredigion CLP
Sally Preston, Winchester CLP
Karen Sta, Broxtowe CLP
Frances Lilley, Derby North CLP
Moira Steel, Norwich South CLP, Unison (retired)
M Brown, Cheltenham CLP
Peter Underwood, Ladywood Birmingham CLP, Unite
John Chatham, Ynys Mon CLP, UCU
Christopher Spink, Westbromwich East CLP
Jill Westendorp, West Dorset CLP
Mr David J Robertson, Preseli Pembrokeshire CLP, UNITE
Christine Shawcroft, Nottingham South CLP, NUT, NEC member, constituency section
Lesley Boyd, Rutherglen CLP, Unite
Danny Thomas, Milton Keynes North CLP
Bernadette Ellis, Bermondsey  And Old Southwark CLP, Unite
Pauline Lane, Pontypridd CLP
Kevin Tulliver, Arfon CLP
Eugenia Ravens, Oxford, East CLP
Frances Brackley, Lewisham CLP
Tim Cooper, Nottingham East CLP, Unite Community, Union Treasurer  and CLP delegate
Jane Cotton, Skipton And Ripon CLP
Maggie Kelly, York Central CLP
Sue Quinn Aziz, Cardiff South And Penarth CLP, Unite
Nigel Todd, Newcastle Central CLP, Unison
Lynne Gillard, Cardiff West CLP
James Kelso, Lagan Valley CLP
Ben Pritchard, South Ribble CLP
Zoe Mavroudi, London CLP
Ian Charlton, Hackney South & Shoreditch CLP, PCS
Mike Coulson, Selby & Ainstey CLP, Unite Community
Barry Milligan, Camborne & Redruth & Hayle CLP, Unite, Retired
Janet Parfitt, Rct CLP, CWU
David Upton, Darlington CLP
Deborah Rushton, Ceredigion CLP
Graham Kirwan, Dudley  South CLP, Unite Community
Martin Ellis, Colchester CLP
Michelle Evans, South Swindon CLP, Unite
Julie Harrison, Putley CLP
Annie Davies, Carmarthen West CLP, Unite
Kenneth Jones, Basildon And Billericay CLP
Elisabeth Mcmahon, Gedling CLP
Susan Morley, Sheffield CLP, Unison
Helen Waygood, New Forest West CLP
Susan Prince, Riverside Liverpool CLP, N/A, N/A
Julie Harrison, Putney CLP
Howard Martin, Wyre Forest CLP, PCS
Maureen Herd, Paisley Branch CLP
Christopher Collins, Preston Pr1 5ht CLP
John House, Hackney South CLP
James Spooner, Hemel Hempstead CLP, Unison
Peter Harris, Lichfield CLP
Victor Graves, Clacton CLP
Kevin Harrell, Northern Ireland CLP
Amanda Brooks, Hackney South And Shoreditch CLP
James Hind, Broxtowe CLP
Darrel Pointing, Newark CLP
Yvonne A Harvell, Hackney South/Shoreditch CLP
Christina Mccabe, South Cambs CLP, Unite
Jessica Murray, Holborn And St Pancras CLP
Maria Gledhill, Skipton & Ripon CLP
Piers Wildman, Bournemouth East CLP
Paul Sullivan, Wallasey CLP
Jan Bennett, Plymouth Sutton & Devonport CLP
Lynn Jones, Beckenham CLP
Nicole Gough, Sheffield Heeley CLP
Dave Russell, Plymouth CLP, Unison supporter, None
Sylvia Roberts, Haringey (Muswell Hill Branch) CLP, Unison
Paul Watson, Andover & North Hampshire CLP
Harriet Bradley, Bristol West CLP, UCU, Councillor
Ian Fellows, M CLP
Gaynor Wall, Caerphilly CLP, supporter
Elizabeth Kellaway, Nottingham South CLP, Chair of University of Nottingham’s Labour Students
Janet Matthews, North West Durham CLP
Ian Fellows, Birmingham, Selly Oak CLP, Unite
Joan Twelves, Vauxhall CLP, Unite
Joanna Paskell, Cardiff South And Penarth CLP
Keith Miller, Mansfield CLP, Unison
Keith Miller, Mansfield CLP, Unison
Annette Gossett, Hornsey And Wood Green CLP, NUT
Helen Skinner, Broxtowe CLP, NUT
Philip Lewis, Hornsey And Woodgreen CLP, Unison, Camden UNISON Vice Chair Branch
Kate Clayton, Birmingham Northfield CLP, UCU, Branch Treasurer
Chris Crosby, Witney Oxfordshire CLP
Pam Mercier, Great Yarmouth CLP
Ian Jackson, Islwyn CLP
Denis Bird, Tunbridge Wells CLP, Unite
Barbara Panvel, Selly Oak CLP
Chris Crosby, Witney CLP
Richard Williamson, Maidstone CLP, NA, NA
Dylan Kerrigan, Hampstead And Kilburn CLP
Janice De Haaff CLP,  CLP, Member (a very important position)
Lisa Rossetti, Chester CLP, Unite
Ian Jackson, Islwyn CLP
Alicia Harvey, Halton CLP, Unite
Janice De Haaff CLP,  CLP
Graham Kirwan, Dudley  South CLP, Unite Community
Dave Langstaff, Ceredigion CLP
Neil Innes, Weymouth CLP
Morag Davies, South West Devo CLP
Linda Mckeefery, Rossendale And Darwen CLP
Grace Elliott, Halifax CLP
Kevin Duignan, Heaton CLP, Unite
Fran Yeldham, Llanelli CLP, member
Andrew Stonell, Great Yarmouth CLP
Dai Wright, West Carmarthen And South Pembrokeshire CLP, Retired NAHT, Retired Deputy Headmaster
Janet Brown, Royton CLP, unison
Julie Holland, Welsh Labour CLP
Diane Blackbourn, New Forest East CLP
Susan Glazier, Lewisham West And Penge CLP, Unison (retired)
Natalie Junio, Sefton Central CLP
Linda Mcduffie, Hastings And Rye CLP
Joe Field, Weston-Super-Mare CLP, Retired
Anna Colgan, Witny CLP, NUT
Christine, Isle Of Wight (Cowes And East Cowes) CLP, Unison, Retired
Jack Irving, St. Leonards CLP, Musicians Union
Michael Stanbridge, Isleworth CLP
Cameron Michie, Holborn & St Pancras CLP
Malcolm Bates, Lewisham Deptford CLP, Unison
Mary Mc Veagh, Northampton North CLP, None, Retired
Caroline Rigg, Bristol South CLP
Stephanie Grant, Basingstoke CLP
Pam Field, Weston-Super-Mare CLP
Susan Thomas, Swansea East CLP, Unite
Virginia Eldridge, Cardiff South And Penarth CLP
Stella Kordun, Havant CLP, Unite
Rosgowers, Mid Worcs CLP
Lorna Wright, Colchester CLP
Jane Katz, Altrincham And Sale West CLP
Nicola Cure, Warwick CLP
Christine Curran, Tiverton & Honiton CLP, N/A – retired.
Adrienne Davis, Worthing West CLP, UCATT, Campaign Co-ordinator
Frankie Patterson, Gosport North CLP, vice vhair
Malcolm Lang CLP,  CLP
Alison Wright, Truro & Falmouth CLP, Full member
Ian Heaphy, Havant CLP, NUT
Mike Gingell, Guildford CLP
Neil Mccart, Tewkesbury CLP
Nicola Quinn, Ellesmere Port CLP
Michael Fitzmaurice, Northampton CLP, CWU
Steve Kimber, Wakefield CLP
Goodgardener14, Harlow CLP, Member
Eve Brady, Halton CLP
Macauly Adams, Basingstoke CLP
Christopher Bright, Camberwell And Peckham CLP, Unison
Esin Ertas, Richmond Park CLP, Unison
Philip Bradley, Gedling CLP, Unison, Branch Membership Secretary
Steve Howard, Herne Bay CLP, ord member
Burton Urquhart, Northampton South CLP
Sheila, Bootle CLP
Graham Nash, Llanelli CLP, Unite
George Anthony, Westminster North CLP, Unite, Branch chair and Regional Council member
Karen Rudrum, Mid-Norfolk CLP, Unite
Keren Gilfoyle-Mcgroarty, Broxtowe CLP
Taryn Mcdermott, Holborn And St Pancras CLP
Dorian2012, Colchester CLP
Siobhan Ferguson, Bournemouth East CLP
Chris Grant, North West Cambridgeshire CLP, Unite, Member
Sylvia Coles, Ashfield CLP, Unison, retired
Kate Varnfield, Eastbourne CLP, Unison, N/A
Sally Carter, St Austell And Newquay CLP, Unite
Dorian Kelly, Colchester CLP
Steve Ascott, Ceredigion CLP
Angus Geddes, South Swindon CLP
Adrian Smith, Luton North CLP
Ann Maureen Hardcastle, Hexham CLP
Debbie Sayers, Falmouth CLP, Unite
Sharon Taylor, Basingstoke CLP
Sue Ngwala, North Herts CLP
Margaret Wheatley, Gainsborough CLP
Lindsay Hannington, Basingstoke CLP
Clare Edwards, Woking CLP, Unite
Norman Wood, Wantage CLP, Unite
Lynne Breeze, West Glamorgan CLP
Christina Downes, Shipley CLP, UCU
Penny Bruce, Maidstone And The Weald CLP, Unite
Robin Johnson, Falmouth & Truro CLP
Fiona Jones, Leeds West CLP
Daniel Lane, South Northants CLP, NUT
Dewi Afoko, Streatham CLP
Elizabeth Lock, Oxford East CLP
Geoff Runciman, Aberconwy CLP
J G Mooney Esq, Great Grimsby CLP
Geofge Moore, Cunningham CLP, Unite the Union
Lea Bentley, Bradford South CLP, unite
Mark “Pasty” Turner, Blaenau Gwent CLP, Unite, Tulo officer
Helen Richards, Edmonton CLP
Mark Trotman, Gloucester CLP, Unite
Pete Firmin, Hampstead & Kilburn CLP, CWU, CLP TULO
Andy Walsh, Aberconwy CLP, NUS, CLP Executive Committee Member
Margaret Martin, Tynemouth CLP, Unite
David Roberts, Stockport CLP, Manager of a rock band
Marie Forell, Beverley And Holderness CLP, Promotion manager
Jonathan Morris, Mid Norfolk CLP
Janis Garbutt, Gloucester CLP
Alan Butcher, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP, UNITE, Chair of
Rachelle Whalley, Rossendale CLP, Unite
Leigh Hodgson, Blaydon CLP, GMB
Nick Burrows, Henley CLP
Robert West, Holborn & St Pancras CLP, UCU
Clare Ayton-Edwards, Kenilworth & Southam CLP, PCS
Maria Lucia Cavaliere, Luton South CLP, UNISON
G. Crowley, Torfaen CLP, Unite
Rob Dugdale, Chippenham CLP
Ruth Knight, Slough CLP, Unite
Tim Johnston, West Ham CLP
Gilaine Young, Sheffield Central CLP
Barbara Butcher, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP
John Ross, Central Devon CLP
Eileen Kersey, Hull West And Hessle CLP
Susan O’neill, Littlehampton CLP
Mrs. Linden Lynn, Totnes CLP, Former NUT member, Retired
Frederick Butcher, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP
Sean Fitzsimons, Castle Point CLP
Leslie Chalk, New Forest East CLP
Rose Bulfin, Bolsover CLP, Unison NHS Retired  member, Past Branch Secretary
Ewan Carmichael, Redcar CLP, ASLE&F, Branch secretary
Laura Cameron, Broxtowe CLP
Alan Bowring, Bournemouth East CLP, T&GWU (Retired)  TSSA, Shop-Steward/Rep
David James, Bognor Regis CLP, None
Roger Grenville, Warwick And Leamington CLP
Andrea Jordan, Southampton Itchen CLP
Paul Tindall, Brighton Dlp CLP, Unite
Colm Bradley, Leicester South CLP, NUJ/ Prospect
Simon Hartley, Chipping Barnet CLP, National Union of Teachers
Andrew Duncan, Exeter CLP, Unite
Corinne Lemar, South East Cornwall CLP, NUT
David Francis Mccouaig, Bath CLP, Unite
Tom Cumiskey, Washington&Houghton CLP
Deborah Timmermans, Broxtowe CLP, Unison
Arthur Shaw, Bromley & Chislehurst CLP, RMT
Andy Wynne, Leicester West CLP, UCU, Political Education Officer, Western Branch
Rachel Crowcroft, Carlisle CLP
Mick Brooks, Ealing Southall CLP, Ealing Unite Community Branch
Ian Rowland, Bexhill & Battle CLP
Chris O’donovan, Harborough CLP
Lesley Doogan, North East CLP
Julia, Birmingham Yardley CLP, UCU, Vice Chair (Policy)
David Copeland, Kilmarnock & Loudoun CLP, UNISON
Carolyne Darmanin, Itchen, Southampton CLP, Unite
Herukajon, Lewisham And Penge West CLP
Dickson Derek Arnold, Ellesmere Port And Neston CLP
Jonathan Carberry, Lewisham And Penge West CLP
Sean O’donoghue, Brecon & Radnorshire CLP, Branch Secretary
Teresa Dawson, Wantage CLP
David Thompson, Bootle CLP
Sue Mullins, South Bristol CLP
Carol Cookson, Stamford And Grantham CLP
Jeanette Flecther, Weaver Vale CLP, Unite the Union, CLP Treasurer
Janet Shaw-Rutter, Torridge And West Devon CLP
Jane Clarke, Leicester South CLP
Ray Barkley, Windsor CLP, Unite, Secretary Unite SE/6235
Christine Price, Morecambe And Lunsdale CLP
Ian Fletcher, Weaver Vale CLP, Unite the Union, Chair
Zena Herbert, Mid-Bedfordshire CLP
Keith Chenery, Bognor And Littlehampton CLP
James Waudby, Hull West And Hessle CLP, UCU Hull ACE, Secretary
Andrew King, Chesterfield CLP
Kristian Ravnkilde, Broxtowe CLP
Gary Coleman, Torridge And West Devon CLP
Lesley Doogan, Pendle Constituency Labour CLP
Sheila Ravnkilde, Broxtowe CLP
Danny Blackwell, Sevenoaks CLP
Lucy King, Chesterfield CLP
Mike Butcher, Aylesbury CLP
Debby Monkhouse, South Dorset CLP, Retired
Catherine Hutchinson, Winchester And Chandlers Ford CLP, Vice Chair Membership
Barbara Kay Lawrence, Torfaen CLP
Stephen Bell, Carshalton And Wallington CLP
Shana Begum, Bolton North East CLP, Unite
Lawrence Robinson, Wealden CLP
Mohammed Aslam, Nottingham East CLP
Lou Brady, Stoke On Trent North CLP
Max Tasker, Clwyd West CLP
Louise Grassi, Withdean Brighton CLP
Michele Mcavoy, Middlesbrough South East Cleveland CLP, Unite, Retired
Yvonne Mills, Fareham CLP
Steve Schollar, Newbury CLP, GMB
Joanne Sinton, Great Grimsby CLP, Unite Community
Susan Higgins, Wantage CLP
Deborah Knight, Finchley And Golders Green CLP, Unite
Deborah Good, Aberconwy CLP, Unison, Vice chair
June Vae, Barrow In Furness CLP
Eileen Mahony, Lewisham West & Penge CLP, NUT
Edward Patrick, Blackpool South CLP, Unite
Elizabeth Knight, Dorset North CLP, Retired
Jacquelyn Killick, Basildon And Billericay CLP, Unite, member
John Lyn Evans, Llanelli Clp CLP
Andrew Eyles, Winchester CLP
Anna Windich, Oxford CLP
Anne Hollingshead, South Dorset CLP
Linda Hope, South Shields CLP, Unite
Raymond Shemilt, North Cornwall CLP, UNITE, Social Media Bude/Stratton Branch
Antony Radburn, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP, Unite
Andrew Nix, Enfield Southgate CLP
Anne Knight, Calder Valley CLP
Eddie Hayes, West Lancs CLP
Yvonne Schofield, Lewisham Deptford Clp CLP
Derek Gibson, Dewsbury CLP, Unison
Jennifer Macdonald, Hull North CLP
James Flack, Tynemouth CLP, CWU, retired
Roger Southgate, Winchester CLP, UNISON, IT Technician
Caryn Louis, South Norfolk CLP
Jacqueline Cairns, Preston CLP, unite
Paul Kelly, Selly Oak CLP
Phil O’neill, Wellingborough CLP
Peter Thomas, North Islington CLP, BECTU
Martin Shaw, Bolton North East CLP, USDAW
Diane Holland, Dudley South CLP, Unison
Amanda Eccles, Coventry North East CLP, Unison
Vincent Mccabe, Bognor Regis & Littlehampton  CLP, Exec member of CLP, Candidate for County Council Bersted division
Chris Savill, Chichester CLP, Unison
Pat Richens, North Cornwall CLP
Patricia Day, Haslingen And Hyndburn CLP
Tony Garrod, Leeds North West CLP
Mike Bird, Aberconey CLP, Unite, CLP Secretary
Callum Forbes, Hammersmith & Fulham CLP
Paul, Carshalton And Wallington CLP
Denise Brady, Wigan CLP, member
Si Cooke, Wakefield Clp CLP
Michael Coleman, Hampstead & Kilburn CLP
David Greenhalf, South Dorset CLP, UCU
Jill Murphy, Hucknall Nottingham CLP
Denise Brady, Wigan CLP, member
Lee Giles, Bury CLP
Jocelyn Gaskell, Barrow In Furness CLP, unison
Ros Sunley, South  Dorset CLP
Carol Wilcox, Christchurch CLP, Secretary
Fenella Roberts, Cynon Valley CLP
Michele Nicholls, Gloucester CLP, Member
Linda Shepperd, Bognor Regis & Littlehampton CLP, Membership Secretary
Ken Garbutt, Gloucester Clp CLP
Paul, Orpington CLP
Maureen Lindsay, Keighley CLP, unite
Juliet Overland, Yes CLP, GMB
Kalpana Wilson, Holborn And St Pancras Clp CLP, UCU
L Nicholls, Vale Of Glamorgan CLP, Unison
Andy King, Bolton CLP
Zoey Fendt, Tewkesbury CLP
John Prewett, Gloucester CLP, O.A.P.
Richard Kuper, Holborn & St Pancras CLP, UCU
Amy Moon, St Ives CLP
Vanya, Pembrokeshire CLP
Taiwo Rasaki, Northern CLP, Unison
Darren Withers, Don Valley Clp CLP, The Law Society
Michael Dee, Lancashire CLP, Unite
Martin Walsh, Rossendale And Darwin CLP, Unite
William J Smith, Labour Member, NUM, retired
Roy Mccabe, Newport West CLP, UCU
Sue Coe, Leamington Spa CLP
Sian Bloor, Stretford And Urmston CLP, NUT, Member and activist
Olive Wilmshurst, Rugby CLP
Rebecca Barnes, Orpington CLP, TSSA
Marjorie Caw, Bristol West CLP
Matthew Bain, Reddish And Denton Clp CLP, Unison
Laura Browne, Nottingham CLP
Paul Terry, Belper And Duffield CLP
John Sage, Bristol West. CLP
Caroline Skinner, Ceredigion CLP
John L Gibson, Thanet North CLP, CWU, Vice chairman of Margate BLP
John Charles William Beeching, Bexhill And Battle CLP, Unite
Marilyn Connor, Stratford And Urmston CLP
Denise Ross, Central Devon CLP
Moon Fong, Deptford CLP, Unison
Jan Kennon, Streatham CLP
Karen, Lp Supporter, retired
Claire Wallace Sims, Northampton South CLP
Zena Sanigar, Newark CLP, Chair
Anjonaroy, Northampton South CLP, UNISON, Fundaraising officer
Shane Woodhouse, Winchester CLP
Ian Manion, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP, CWU, Industrial Relations and Health and Safety
James Sparkle, Islington CLP, B.E.C.T.U, Health and Safety Representative
Tom Muirhead, Hampstead And Kilburn CLP, Delegate
Craig Fraser, Cheltenham CLP, Unite
Alexis Angel, Brighton And Hove CLP
Donald Ball, Bexhill And Battle CLP, unison, environmental rep,health and safety steward
Geoff Reynolds, Winchester CLP
Lynne Faulkes, Shipley CLP, UNISON and Unite CLP vice chair (personal capacity)
Dittany Morgan, Cotswolds CLP, MU, Women’s officer Cotswold CLP
Gillian Higgins, Doncaster Central CLP
Sally Beggs, South West Norfolk (Downham Market) CLP
Rosalind Wilson, Labour International CLP
Dave Huddleston, Leicester West CLP
Antony Shephard, Wakefield CLP, Unite Community, Member
Irene, Wakefield CLP
P Mcnulty, Bootle  CLP, Retired
Yvonne Robinson, Stratford-Upon-Avon CLP
David Brede, Northampton South CLP
John Purcell, Holborn & St Pancras CLP
Jason, Braintree CLP, TSSA, National Officer (Treasurer) TSSA
Linda Brown, Broadland CLP, NUT
Andy Chambers, Ashfield CLP
Jason Turvey, Braintree CLP, TSSA, National Officer (Treasurer) TSSA
Susan Carlyle, Dover&Deal CLP
Susan HARRIS, Beckenham London CLP, unite, vice chair
Paula Hardy Kangelos, Stretford And Urmston CLP
Sal Morawetz, Nottingham East CLP, GMB, Treasurer / soon to be Branch delegate to  CLP
Gail Robinson, Bolton North East CLP
Ruth Antill, Wolverhampton East CLP
James Hall, S. Cambs. CLP, Unite
Sharon Brown, Winchester CLP
Allan Jones, Withington CLP
Elaine Francis-Truett, Leeds North West CLP, Unison
Elaine Nightingale, York CLP
Naomi Farr, Wells CLP
Rose Thompson, Wythenshawe And Sale East CLP, Unity
David Whittaker, Lewisham CLP
Suzanne Mcloughlin, Forest Of Dean CLP
Michael Kneale, Blackpool South CLP, Unison,  CLP
Stephen Calder, Banffshire & Buchan CLP
Susan Colenso, Truro And Falmouth CLP
Sue Dockett, N E Cambs CLP, UNISON
Steve Vincent, Gravesham CLP
David Douglas-Wilson, Islington North CLP
Mike Mcdade, Chipping Barnet CLP
Gordon Dockett, N E Cambs CLP
Agnes Kory, Hampstead And Kilburn CLP
Jonathan Russell, Aberdeen Central CLP
Mr. R. Lazar, Streatham  CLP
Jill Kember, Labour International CLP
Elaine Duncan, Broxtowe CLP, Unison
Chris Eyre, Erewash CLP
Juliemackay, South West Wiltshire CLP, Unite
Fiona Carmichael, South Cardiff CLP
Ms M Harrison, Streatham  CLP
Louise Hanlon-Brooks, Bournemouth West CLP, unison
Tyler Bennetts, Se Cornwall CLP
Mandy Clare, Eddisbury CLP, Unite Community
Mel Timmins, Don Valley CLP, Unite
Karen Johnson, Brill CLP, Mother
Grace Smith, Labour International CLP
Heather Govier, Croydon Central CLP
Polly Thomas, Preston CLP, New member
Adam Samuels, Clwyd South CLP
Sylvia Veale, Portsmouth South CLP, Unite
Anita Hughes, Broxtowe CLP
Steve Mcmahon, Chester CLP
Ken Clements, Lancaster And Fleetwood CLP
Katy Perkins, Cardiff North CLP, Unison
Michael Skiggs, Portsmouth South CLP, chair Portsmouth Momentum
Keith Petts, Hornsey And Wood Green CLP
Steve Daly, Morecambe And Lunesdale CLP
Louise T, Preseli Pembrokeshire CLP, Unite Community
Andy Fugard, Hampstead And Kilburn CLP, University and College Union
Tim Geering, Southampton Test CLP, Unite
Fran Robinson, Chorley CLP
Dianne Maynard, Brentford And Isleworth CLP, Unite Community
Jennifer Long, Abergavenny CLP
Peter Robbins, Holborn And St Pancras CLP, UNITE
Allen Lane, East Worthing And Shoreham  CLP
Rob Hardy, York Central CLP, Unison (Higher Education)
Antonia Jenkins, Islington North CLP
Mary Baker, Preseli Pembrokeshire CLP
Julian James, Gedling CLP
Julia Silezin, Cynon Valley CLP, NUT, Junior vice chair  CLP
Kay Harding, South West Devon CLP
Lesley Robinson, Sunderland CLP
Anthony Baldwin, Dover And Deal CLP, National Union of Teachers
Miss M J Clery, Putney CLP, Prospect
Linda Black, Holborn And St. Pancras CLP
Beryl Baldwin, Dover And Deal CLP
Elizabeth Moon, Peterborough CLP, Unite,  CLP Treasurer
Mark Noall, St Ives CLP
Pamela Wadey, Brighton & Hove CLP
Julian Hudson, Camden CLP
Lynne Garrick, New Forest East CLP, NASWUT
Sunnylagarto, Vale Of White Horse And Abingdon CLP, Unite
Sunnylagarto, Vale Of White Horse And Abingdon CLP, Unite
Kelly Morris, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP, unite
Hazel Salisbury, Bosworth And Hinckley CLP
Diane Hempsall, Brigg & Goole CLP, Branch Treasurer
Phillip Cooze, Swansea  West CLP
Anthony Kent, Stratford Upon Avon CLP, FBU
Jo Wace, Medway CLP
Jake Binnington, Winchester CLP
Richard Parkinson, Bolton North CLP
Peter Wright, Broxbourne CLP, GMB
Lynne Fordyce, Leeds Central CLP
Bonnie Craven, Sutton And Cheam CLP, Unite the Union and NUT,  CLP Secretary
Pam Remon, Brckenham CLP, Mone
Barry Vaz, Halewood And Garston CLP, unite
Louise Dagnall, Wythenshawe & Sale East CLP, nasuwt, Councillor
Roy Blacker, Hemsworth CLP
Bill Geddes, West Worthing CLP, Unison, Vice Chairman
Emily Crabtree, Otley CLP
Peter Swift, Newark CLP, Unite
Barry Vaz, Halewood And Garston CLP, unite, member
Rachel Annand, Chester CLP, Retired
Deborah Hilal, Chorlton Park CLP, Unison
Deborah Hilal, Chorlton Park CLP, Unison
Louise Avingale Allen, Ceredigion Labour Party CLP
Lynn Blake, Wells CLP
Ruth Kirk, Hemel Hempstead CLP, Ex Unison retired
Sean Fox, Mitcham & Morden CLP, UNISON, Joint Branch Secretary UNISON
Liam Mcnulty, Hornsey & Wood Green  CLP, UNITE, Chair, Noel Park BLP.
Mick Sidaway, Waveney  CLP, RMT
Gill Regan, Stoke-On-Trent North CLP
Marie Culleton, Pembrokeshire CLP
Matt Styles, Broxtowe CLP, Unite
Corinne Finnan, Crewe And Nantwich  CLP
Bernice Nash, South Norfolk CLP, Unison
Steve Mckenzie, Erith And Thamesmead CLP, Unite, Belvedere ward secretary
Anthony Jones, Bridgend CLP
Cllr Martin Field, Nort East Cambs. CLP, NUTr
Molly Warren, Bridgwater CLP
Mary Kerr, Canterbury And Whitstable CLP, NUT
Carol Duerden, Bradford East CLP, Unite
Amanda Kent, Ealing Central & Acton CLP
Alan Dougall, North East Cambs CLP, Branch Treasurer
Dr Judith Jones, Havant CLP, Visiting Research Fellow (University of Southampton)
Manni Dheensa, Lewisham CLP, None
Dave Binks, Wavertree CLP, unite
Glen Shakespeare, Southampton Test. CLP, Unite Community, Member.
Susan Hyett, Dorchester CLP, RCN, CO-OP, Ex-PRO
Eileen Sagar, Burnley CLP
Ulrich Savary, Altrincham And Sale West CLP, Branch secretary
Bev Jenkins, Uplands Ward Swansea West CLP, POA
Bernard Forbes, Labour International CLP
Lyn Davies, Stretford And Urmston CLP
Sheila Roberts, Dearne CLP
Bev Jenkins, Swansea West CLP, POA
Angie Mindel, Nottingham East – Sherwood Branch CLP, Nut
Kevin Davies, Stretford And Urmston CLP
Lorna Sage, Poole CLP
Francis Richens, North Cornwall CLP
Gerald Fjanagan, Brighton&Hove CLP, GMB
George Forbes, North West Cambridgeshire CLP, Unite
Carol Harris, Lewisham Deptford CLP
Gordon Liddle, Bolsover CLP
Paola DG, Leyton And Wanstead CLP, Disability Officer
Shaun Wade, Rotherham CLP, UNITE
Phil Hembury, Beeston North CLP, Unite
Rosalind Bannister, Kenilworth & Southam CLP, Assistant Manager at Charity Shop
Kathy Renswick, Wallasey CLP, GMB
Florence Mitchell, Halifax CLP
Rachel Keys, Worthing West CLP
Olwyn Ridyard, Rossendale N Dawen CLP
Kevin Mott, Warwick & Leamington CLP
Graham Wyatt, Newark CLP
Carole Lynne Fyfe, Northfield  Birmingham CLP
Marie Joyce, Newcastle Under Lyme CLP, Unite
Alan Tattersall, Stroud CLP
Neil Anderson, South West Wiltshire CLP
Keith Padden, Some Room & Frome CLP, Unite
Bill Cort, Wallasey ( Suspended) CLP, retired, retired
Jacqueline Diduca, Scarborough CLP
Andrea Heverin, Lewes CLP
Rachael Siegenberg, Bournemouth West CLP
Louis Minson, Broxtowe CLP
Paul Diduca, Scarborough CLP
Sarah Spoor, Wallasey CLP, Unison, CLP
Helen Rayner, Scunthorpe CLP, Unison
Stephen Raynee, Scunthorpe CLP
Jennifer Gourley, St Ives CLP
Clare Woods, Stretford & Urmston CLP, Unite, Member
Patricia Jackson, Leeds Central CLP
Jen Barfoot, Monmouth CLP
Lyndsey Moon, Covent Garden CLP, unite
Jennie Dealey, Erewash CLP
Les Lazell, Peterborough CLP, Unite
Caryl Burton, Hallam Sheffield CLP
Matthew Slater, Peterborough CLP
Joanne Chadwick, St Austell & Newquay (Cornwall) CLP
Jessica Pitman, Swansea West CLP, Unite
Angus Ellis, Peterborough CLP, PCS CLP Vice Chair Membership
Sez Thomasin, Sheffield Heeley CLP, Unison
Steve Williams, Leyton & Wanstead CLP, Forest Branch Secretary
Peter Wickenden, Holborn And St Pancras CLP
Andrew Gunton, Northampton North CLP, Unison
Mark Plumb, North East Cambs CLP, Unite
Christine Hodder, South Suffolk CLP
Dawn Manners, Stoke Newington CLP, ‘-, ‘-
Liam Dorcey CLP CLP, NUS, Rep
Jill Murdoch, Peterborough CLP, TSSA
Niki Reilly, Peterborough CLP
Ian Mackay, Holborn & St Pancras CLP
Howard Smeeton, Peterborough CLP
Marie Mackay, Holborn & St Pancras CLP
Daithi Gilfoyle-Mcgroarty, Broxtow CLP
Judith Klaus, Leeds NE CLP, Napo
Susan Ghany, Lewisham And Penge CLP, Unite, Steward
David Bell, North West Leicestershire CLP, NUT
Jane Marsden, Clwyd South CLP
Mary Mccullagh, Peterborough CLP
Katherine Mycock, Broxtowe CLP, UCU
David Mycock, Broxtowe CLP
Dorothy Wright, North Ayrshire & Arran CLP
David Davis, Isle Of Wight CLP
Mrs Wendy A Stoten, Worcs CLP, GMB
Rachel Abbotts, Derbyshire CLP, Music Teacher
Nick Ryall, Cambourne And Redruth CLP
Ray Harvey, Halton CLP, Unite
Barbara Gerard, Altrincham Sale West CLP, NUT, member
Kimberley Pilgrim, Peterborough CLP, Unite
Janet Harriman, North East Cambs CLP, None, None
Chris Nicholas, St Austell CLP
Simon Harriman, North East Cambridgeshire CLP, None, None
Dawn Jarrold, Crawley CLP, USDAW
Helen Brown, Wentworth/Dearne (Dearne North Ward) CLP
Alexandre Brown, Wentworth/Dearne (Dearne North Ward) CLP
Laura Elwell, Wentworth/Dearne (Dearne North Ward) CLP
Vincent Felton, Heywood And Middleton CLP, UNISON, Member
John O’heron, Northern Ireland CLP
Chris York, Nw Cambs CLP, Unite CLP Secretary
Lydia Markham, Edinburgh North And Leith CLP, Unite, Member
Angela Ansell, Bradford West CLP
Claire O’heron, Northern Ireland CLP, NUS
Jo, Cambridge CLP
Daphne Gilbert, Hexham CLP
Don Clarke, Crewe And Nantwich CLP, NUT and Unite
Gabrielle Vaughan, South Ribble CLP, UCU. retired now
Kathy Dougall, Ne Cambs CLP, Secretary
Bisi Williams, Islington North CLP, CWU
Reubedube88, South Leicestershire CLP, Unison
Sue Ellis, Gedling CLP, NUT (not affiliated)
Nigel James, Chester CLP, Unite, Chester NE Branch Chair
Maureen Hillier, Lytham CLP, non, full partymember
Carolyn Treadwell, Taunton CLP
John Booth, Milton Keynes CLP
Ian Mcmullon, Peterborough CLP, CWU, Divisional Rep
Billie Reynolds, Reading West CLP, UNISON, Branch Secretary, Central and East Berks UNISON
Stephen Lavery, Stretford And Urmston CLP, Unite
Rose Sangare, Maldon CLP
Wayne Stanley, Romsey And Southampton North CLP, cWU
Peter Monaghan, Sefton Central CLP, Retired
Jacqueline Chapman, Hit CLP
David Ross, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP, USDAW
Jacqueline Chapman, Hitchin And Harpenden CLP
Rowena Luke-King, Holborn CLP
Jacqueline Chapman, Hitchin And Harpenden CLP
Nick Wall, Wallasey CLP, GMB, Branch secretary
Jean King, North West CLP, unite
Tina Jess, Newham CLP, Unison, Member
Tim Licence, Maidstone & The Weald CLP, Vice Chair
Frank Downes, Brent Central CLP, Former Sec, StonebridgeLondon
Sonya Weiss, Hayes And Harlington CLP
Ann Whitehurst, Stoke-On-Trent North CLP, Unite
Amanda Sebestyen, Holborn & St Pancras CLP, NUJ, Camden Town with Primrose Hill branch, assistant secretary
Pierce Moloney, Stretford And Urmston CLP
Maureen Madden, Northtyneside CLP, Usdaw, council member branch secretary
Jack Palmer, Southend West CLP
Jo Rostron, Holburn And St Pancras CLP, Unite
Gillian Evenett, Peterborough CLP, Unite
Joseph Black, Hampstead & Kilburn CLP
Caroline, Finchley And Golders Green CLP, Unison Brent Council Branch, Member
Jo Rostron, Holburn And St Pancras CLP, Unite
Geoff Davey, Yeovil CLP, Unite
Prue Lilley, Ashfield And Eastwood CLP
Neill Grant, Derby South CLP, Unite
Helen Leon, East Cornwall CLP, NASUWT, Vice-President of Cornwall Executive
Rachel Atherton, Derby North CLP, Derby City Council UNISON
Alan Falconer, Midlothian South, Tweeddale And Lauderdale CLP, Prospect
Chris Foot, Dudley South CLP, Unite
Elaine Di Campo, West Somerset CLP, Unite
Anette Herbert, Christchurch CLP, Unite
Elizabeth Kenward, Brighton & Hove CLP
Kevin Nicol, Ashford CLP, Ex RMT, TSSA and GMB, Industrial rep, h+s rep and branch officer
Anthony Mudrak, Oxford East CLP, Unite
Beryl Jackson, Chorley/South Ribble CLP
Darren Bisby-Boyd, North-West Cambridgeshire CLP, Unison, Parish Councillor
Gina Hartshorn, Bradford East CLP, unison
Trudie Brew, Preseli Pembrokeshire CLP, Unite
Mo Grogen, Suffok CLP
David Slater, Gedling CLP
David King, Brightside, Sheffield CLP, Unite
Sarah Evans, Wells CLP, Unite
Melanie Gardham, Hull (Hessle) CLP
Karen Schofield, East Surrey CLP, Unison
Debra Green, Portsmouth CLP
Alan Ingram, Yardley. CLP, Retired
Nigel Johnson, Bridgwater And West Somerset CLP, Unison, delegate to Bridgwater TUC council
Kay Haw, Nottingham South CLP
Sue Marshall, North East Cambs CLP, Chair
George Lambert, Wallasey CLP
Elinor Scott, East Devon CLP, NUT
Heather Nicholld, Doncaster CLP
Rosemary Robinson, Thirsk And Malton CLP
Amanda Preston, Peterborough CLP
Zowie Martin, Hastings And Rye CLP
Ruth Whitehart, Neath CLP
Kevin Fitzgerald, Rushcliffe CLP, NUT, Chair, Keyworth Branch
Karin Ryk, Bognor Regis And Littlehampton CLP
Elizabeth Brown, Wigan CLP
Lynette Cone, West Hull CLP, Unison
Phyllis Baker, Peterborough CLP, Unite
Leon Reed, Erewash CLP, Unison
Carol Harper, International CLP
Avril Baker, Hornsby And Wood Green CLP, Unite
Lynne Pardoe, Cotswold CLP, Unison
Nod Wallman, Berkhamsted And Tring CLP
Cllr Waida Forman, Harlow CLP, Unison, Branch Secretary
Ed Murphy, Peterborough CLP, UNISON, Labour and Co op Councillor for Peterborough
Bernard Miller, Holborn & St. Pancras CLP
Helen Chester, Sutton In Ashfield CLP, UCU
Steve Knight, Brighton And Hove CLP
Kim Woods, Mid Devon CLP
Bernadette Hanley, Bolton NE CLP, Unison
Peter Reilly, Southport CLP
Wes Hinckes, Bridgwater And West Somerset CLP, Unite Community, District Councillor
Jenifer Flintoft, Meon Valley CLP
Patricia Manning, North East Cambridgeshire CLP, NUT
Lesley Booth, North Tyneside CLP
Dan Broadbent, Taunton Deane CLP
David Boyden, Halton CLP, NUT
Kate Knight, Brighton & Hove District Labour Party CLP, NAPO, Chair of Goldsmid & Hove Park branch, member of District Labour Party EC
Gareth Lewis, Milton Keynes CLP
Margaret Harris, Worthing West CLP, Vice chair
David North, City Of Chester CLP
Stephen Parr, Bristol West CLP
Vera North, City Of Chester CLP
Martin C Lawrence, Preseli Pembrokeshire CLP, UNITE
Christine Atkins, Dover And Deal CLP
Ronald Atkins, Dover And Deal CLP, Unison
Julia Ault, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire CLP, UCU, Branch Secretary
Tanja Heyer, Holborn & St Pancras CLP
Christine Dowsett, Romford CLP
Richard Hepple, Broxtowe CLP
Elaine Nagle, Stockport CLP, Unison
Clare Ivory, Stretford and Urmston CLP, Unite
Renate Tracy, Fareham CLP, Unite
Alec Shelton, Broxtowe CLP, Unison (retired member)
Michael johnstone, Redcar and cleveland CLP, none
Sue Walters, Vale of Clwyd CLP
Bruce Poole, Bridlington CLP, Retired
Rowenna Williams, Dwyfor Meirionnydd CLP
Gina Deen, Worthing West CLP, , Treasurer
John Toomey, Peterborough CLP, Unison, Retired Hon Member
Vince Moon, Peterborough CLP, NUT, CLP Vice Chair
Sarah Fitzgerald, Stretford and Urmston CLP
Florence Liggins, Broxtowe CLP
Zoe Gealy, Castle Swansea CLP, Puc
Sarah Dawson, Calderdale CLP
Stewart Whitehead, Arundel and South Downs CLP, UNISON
Gabrielle Parker, Macclesfield CLP
Keir Howeld, Arundel and South Downs CLP, Unite
Georgia Leigh, Worthing West CLP
Kaleem Anwar, Stretford And Urmston CLP, Unite
David Aldred, Haltemprice And Howden CLP
David Squire, Brigg And Goole CLP, unite
Peter Reid, South West Wilts CLP
Hannah, Caerphilly CLP
Rafaelle Robin, Cambridge CLP, , Member
Marie Meaden, Cardiff West CLP, Unite
Al Ogden-Steele, Blackley And Broughton CLP
Linda Ashley, Ipswich CLP, Unite
Madeleine Buxton, Bury South CLP, , Labour Member
Ron Graves, Peterborough CLP, Unison and Unite, Chair of Peterborough LCF
Jean Edwards, Stoke On Trent North CLP, GMB
Jo Rostron, Holburn And St Pancras CLP, Unite
David Kirk, Leeds West CLP, Unite
Maureen Cave, Tynemouth CLP, Unite
Thomas Rooney, Harwich CLP
Rob Greenhalf, Llanelli CLP
Dilys Ann Cartwright, Chester CLP, retired
M Ilery, Hemel CLP
Chris Giles, Blackpool South CLP
Hanna Morgan, North Cornwall CLP
Alison Hawtin, Peterborough CLP, Unite
Christine De-Pulford, Frome And Somerton CLP, Unite
Rachelle Mcevilly, Bootle CLP, Unite
Tahir Mirza, Eastham CLP, Unite the union, GMB, Branch Chair
Karim Donald Slimane, Leicester South CLP, Unite, Night worker at action Homeless
Jenna Blackwell, Peterborough CLP, Prospect
Helena Cook, Calder Valley CLP
Joanna Bell, S.E Cornwall CLP, Unite
Daveena Daley, Mid Derbyshire CLP, Unite
Phylly Alexander, Thornbury & Yate CLP
Joan Osullivan, East Worthing And Adur CLP
Max Pilotti, Withington CLP
Sue Young, Ceredigion CLP
Dugald Ferguson, Norwich South CLP
Karl English, Stoke-On-Trent Central CLP, UNITE
Susan Moffat, Newcastle Under Lyme CLP, UNITE COMMUNITY, EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY OFFICER
Glynis Walker, Hayes CLP, Momentum
Julie Sultana, Gillingham South CLP
Kas Graham, Islington CLP
S M Winspear, Southend West CLP
Susan Ann Flowers, Hackney South And Shoreditch CLP
Keith Johnson, Newton Abbot CLP, Unison
Sue Thompson, Shipley CLP, Unite
Josephine Liddicoat, St Ives And Penzance CLP
Les Monaghan, Don Valley CLP, UCU
Hilary Corbett, Broxtowe CLP
Susan Millett, Leyton And Wanstead CLP, Unite
Voirrey Faragher, North Cornwall CLP
Carol Higgin-Jones, Twickenham CLP, None, None
Melanie Davis, Aberconwy CLP
Moira Houghton, Durham CLP, Unite
Alison Smith, Bromsgrove CLP, Unite
Leon Dole, Erawash CLP
Anji Main, Cambridge CLP, , Artist
Elizabeth Lester, Wells CLP
Helen Leach, Nottingham East CLP
Sheila Sheppard, Milton Keynes North CLP
Ken Sheppard, Milton Keynes North CLP
Colin Carr, Bootle CLP, Unite the Union, Regional Officer
David Frost, Dover and Deal (Cornilo Ward) CLP
Carole Griffiths, NW Cambridgeshire CLP, PCS, none
Heather O’Hara, Blackpool South CLP, Branch Secretary
Michael Wright, Plymouth Moorview  CLP, UNITE, Retired member of Unite
Martin Morris, Newcastle-under-Lyme CLP, UNISON
Andrew Clayworth, Rushcliffe CLP, Unite CLP Delegate
Donna Braithwaite, North Cornwall CLP, Usdaw, GMB, Launceston BLP secretary
Vanessa kirk, Dartford CLP, Usdaw, Shop steward/H&S rep
Nigel Ross, Stoke on Trent south CLP, Unite, Workplace Rep
Jon Harriss, North Herts CLP, USDAW, Retired
Amanda Mcdowell, Portsmouth South CLP, Unite
Sarah Jones, Nottingham East CLP, NUT
Gill Brown, North Cornwall CLP, Retired

Statement on antisemitism – please sign below

Leave a reply

I have signed this statement that attempts to address the problems of antisemitism on the left as well as stop concerns about it being used to silence important debates we need to have  about Israel and Palestine. If you agree please fill in the form beneath the statement to add your name. I will pass it on.

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We are Labour Party members who want to see the party and wider labour movement take seriously our responsibility to confront anti-semitism and other forms of bigotry.
The problem with anti-semitism on the left is not a few ill-chosen words. It is linked to hostility to the Jewish-background people of Israel and Israel’s right to exist as an independent state. This political hostility – which is quite distinct from justified opposition to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians – has in some cases become bound up with attitudes towards Jewish identity and Jewish history, in part inherited from Stalinism, which have anti-semitic implications.
Substituting the word “Zionists” for “Jews” does not make the problem disappear. An “anti-Zionism” which erases the experience of oppression, persecution and genocide which led many Jews to adopt nationalist politics, and the affinity which most feel with Israel, however critical of its government they are, will always have a tendency towards hostility not merely to Zionist ideas, but to Jewish people.
The left needs to push out conspiracy theories and narratives presenting Palestine/Israel as “good people” vs “bad people”. It must support the Palestinians’ struggle against Israeli occupation, but also advocate self-determination for both Palestinians and Israelis and reconciliation between them.
We must fight against right-wingers in the party cynically exploiting these real issues to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and derail our efforts to revitalise and transform Labour. We will take no lectures on fighting racism from the sewer of bigotry that is the Tory party and Tory press.
We oppose calls to further empower unaccountable elements of the Labour bureaucracy, particularly the “Compliance Unit” which has attempted to persecute the left, to suspend and expel members. We support democracy and due process. In any case this problem must be addressed *politically*, through discussion and education. That requires an atmosphere of free speech and debate, where those raising concerns of anti-semitism are taken seriously; where criticisms of Israel are not automatically shouted down as anti-semitic; and where the discussion is not manipulated for factional purposes. We call for Labour Party and other labour movement organisations to organise such discussions.
Only such work of political discussion and education can root out anti-semitism on the left.



Initial signatories
Daniel Randall, Islington South and Finsbury CLP, RMT activist
Rhea Wolfson, Scottish Young Labour Women’s Officer, Scottish Labour Young Socialists co-chair
Omar Raii, UCL Labour Treasurer, NUS national executive-elect
Ben Towse, UCL Labour Campaigns Officer and Horsney and Wood Green CLP
Nik Barstow, Secretary Stretford BLP, Secretary Momentum Manchester &Trafford
Maisie Sanders, Gloucester CLP Youth Officer
Jamie Green, Goldsmiths Labour Students chair
Anita Downs, Lewisham East CLP, Lewisham Unite health secretary
Stephen Wood, Wakefield CLP, Wakefield District Union GMC delegate
Andy Warren, Greenwich and Woolwich CLP and King’s College Labour outreach officer
Esther Townsend, Lewisham West CLP, Bexley Local Government Unison Labour Link Officer
Mark Crawford, UCL Labour, UCLU Postgrad Officer-Elect etc
Ricky-Lee Cooke, Ashfield CLP
Evan Jones, Chair, Chilwell, Attenborough & Toton Branch, Broxtowe CLP
Simon Cross, Broxtowe CLP
Joe Baxter, Broxtowe CLP
Ruth Cashman, Lambeth Unison secretary, Tooting CLP
Jason Hill, Stoke North CLP
Luke Neal, Manchester Labour Students
Dr Pete Campbell, Newcastle East CLP
Alex Stuart, Basingstoke CLP, Surrey Labour Students Secretary
Vijay Jackson, Hastings and Rye CLP, BAME Officer of Edinburgh Labour Students
Kieran Miles, Unite
Jade Baker, Lewisham Deptford CLP and Assistant Secretary, Lewisham National Union of Teachers
Alan Fraser, Chair, Southampton Momentum, Southampton Test CLP, and GMB Regional Education Officer (Southern Region)
Pete Radcliff, Broxtowe CLP
Tom Harris, Lewisham West and Penge CLP
Dr. Christian Emery, Leyton and Wanstead CLP
Martin Ohr, Leeds North CLP
Ronne Randall, Rushcliffe CLP
Marie Harrington, Twickenham CLP
Liam Liburd, Sheffield Hallam CLP
Dave Kirk, Leeds West CLP
Barnaby Marder, Richmond Park CLP
Max Munday, Sheffield Central CLP, Momentum Sheffield steering committee
Daniel Nichols, TULO Romford CLP
Tom Roberts, Chair of Beeston Central and Rylands, EU Referendum Co-ordinator, Broxtowe CLP
Michael Teece, Gedling CLP
Cllr Mike Rowley, Oxford East CLP, Cabinet Member, Oxford City Council
Madeleine Buxton, Bury South CLP
Ed Whitby, Newcastle East CLP, Momentum National Committee and Unison Labour Link officer
Yoni Higgsmith, Barnet CLP, J-voiceUK

Oil workers strike in Kuwait

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Over 13,000 oil workers in Kuwait have now been on strike for 3 days. Strikes are rare, exceedingly rare, in the oil producing oligarchies of the Gulf States. Whilst the oil workers have union rights, most workers who are migrants usually have appalling living conditions and no civil or trade union rights.

This strike is the first major strike in Kuwait in many years. Although the last months have seen growing activity from a number of Kuwaiti unions in tourism and from municipal workers.

There had been a flurry of public sector strikes back in September/ October 2011 leading on in November and December to street protests that led to the resignation of the Kuwaiti parliament.

Then, after the Arab Spring, as now the strikes come at a time of crisis across the Gulf states. This time the crisis is economic as oil prices remain low and budgets of most of those countries go into major deficit.

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