Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Entrism and the Labour Party - text LABOUR to 78555
Regular HoL readers may recall that I've been banging on about the very low membership numbers nationally in the Labour Party for years and the potential for infiltration by entrism. This is what happened in St Ann's, just FIVE people were required to completely change the three councillors that represented that ward.
Nationally at the election The Labour Party had 200,000 members, currently it has 268,000. This is still a tiny, tiny number of people who will decide a huge number of our MPs in London. No wait in London it's worse, there are about 25,000 members.
Harriet Harman has promised to weed out Labour Supporters that have signed up to take part in the leadership and London Mayoral selections in September but aren't the kind of people they want. So entrism from the right, in the form of wealthy businessmen who are prepared to support them with big donations is OK, they only want some small favours locally, like their neighbourhoods gated, a turn at being mayor or perhaps an opportunity to get some state assets cheap. However as soon as thousands of ordinary Labour Voters sign up, they worry about entrism.
There may be 300,000 people who take part in the leadership selection (optimistically) so why wait until you're voting with the millions who take part in a general election and the screwed up FPP system we have? Get in there at the selection where your vote is worth hundreds of times more than it will be at an election.
Not only that but you could also vote to select their London Mayoral Candidate. I estimate that the winning candidate for this selection would need about 10,000 votes from members and supporters. This is why David Lammy wanted the system to be free, he could easily get half the numbers to win, just in Tottenham where he commands ever increasing parliamentary majorities.
Personally I have paid up my £3 (text LABOUR to 78555) so that I can vote for Christian Wolmar in the mayoral selection. Being able to perhaps swing the party back to the centre-left by voting for Jeremy Corbyn is just a bonus.
Tags for Forum Posts: christianwolmar, election, entrism, jeremycorbyn, labour, london, selection, stanns, wolmar
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cllr Emina Ibrahim on
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John have you checked membership numbers for other political parties and compared ? I suggest you do
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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This is Harringay/Haringey/London - all pretty much controlled by the Labour Party. I therefore am not going to waste my neighbours' time by suggesting that they join up en masse to the Conservative Party. If you really want some control over your life in London, join the Labour Party, or at least pay £3 and help pick their candidates.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Well you did mention the leadership election John which has a national impact. For those who want their time wasted the number of members of the Conservative Party (from the Conservative Party website) is 149,000. I do agree with you about the mounting hysteria about left "infiltration" by paying the three quid but little in the way of concern about those who have not the slightest inclination to support Labour buying a vote.
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Fair enough Michael. I just didn't want it to turn into "Whataboutery".
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Context helps John
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If it turns into "What about the Tories", I will blame you ;)
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If a thread on this site keeps to its original purpose I'll buy you a cake!
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Lib Dems 61,072 - around the capacity of Emirates stadium
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You don't realise it but, you're making my point for me.
The Labour Party is essentially just a machine for gaining power now. The obsession with being in government whilst being such poor opposition (knocking on doors in CE, quoting the "bedroom tax" at ineligible pensioners and then voting with the government on the Welfare Bill springs to mind as an example) is a sign of having no soul. This is why you are so worried about entrism. The Labour Party is a machine sitting there ready to get someone into power, as long as they pay off the people at the top holding the levers.
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Importantly not everyone in the Labour Party thinks that wAy ( but you're right that a lot do) and I would imagine that many who joined after the election did so because they want to see a new energy in the party
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The current top contender for the Mayoral nomination is Tessa Jowell. She gave us the 2003 Gambling Act. She is still married to the man she said she was separated from in 2006, David Mills, when it came to light that he had taken a bribe from Silvio Berlusconi (he's since changed that to someone else) to perjure himself in an Italian court, which they had tried to launder by mortgaging their Kentish Town home. He was convicted but the appeal took so long that the conviction was quashed because of how the statue of limitations works in Italy. His daughter Eleanor edits the Times Saturday edition for Rupert Murdoch. His brother is John Mills, a prominent Labour Party donor. David introduced one of his clients, Bernie Ecclestone to the Labour Party. The two Mills boys and Tessa were councillors in Camden together.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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John thanks for the link to The Telegraph article of 2004 (Opponents … are snobs") that I hadn't seen before.
The expressed views of the then Culture Secretary I find appalling. Many warned at the time about the result, yet she poured scorn on them. I sincerely hope she would be embarrassed by her remarks now: but the damage is largely done.
The Fixed Odds Betting Terminals that were ushered in by the last Labour Government were a lasting contribution to misery, poverty, vast profits for a few and deepening income inequality. Their Gambling Act ranks amongst the worst mistakes of the Blair-era.
On past form, I would expect the former Culture Secretary either to have no view about a certain local matter: i.e. protecting parks from excessive commercialising – or actually to support Haringey Council Cabinet's controversial park-exploitation policy. I'd be happy to be wrong about that.
Another Labour candidate for Mayor has been unequivocal about it. David Lammy MP has been forthright about Haringey's Major Events policy (the Serengeti).
CDC
Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
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