by Naturally, Starmer and his right-wing allies are trying to pin the shockingly bad election results on Jeremy Corbyn. This really does not hold water. In 2017, under Corbyn, Labour won 22,000 votes in Hartlepool, and 52% of the vote. In 2021, under Starmer, Labour won 8,500 votes, and 29% of the vote.
That was, of course, before the antisemitism smear campaign against Corbyn and the left really took off, naturally affecting the election results over the next few years. Had the Corbyn leadership exposed these charges as the false and horrid allegations they were and taken on the right in the process, we could be in a very different situation today.
Starmer is a deeply uninspiring, incredibly boring leader without any vision, not even a bad one! Although there are currently four investigations against Boris Johnson and the Tories are embroiled in corruption allegations galore, Starmer has been entirely incapable of convincing anybody that under his leadership, the Labour Party is good for anything.
Starmer should stand down, allowing a new leadership contest to take place. If a left-winger is prepared to stand for the leadership on the basis that they would take on the right in and outside the party, this could very quickly open up things in the Labour movement once again.
Come to Brighton for Labour Party conference 2021 – as a delegate or visitor
If you are (still) a Labour Party member, please try to become a delegate to this year’s conference (September 25-29, Brighton). There are few important things left-wingers can campaign around:
- David Evans will have to be ratified by conference as the new general secretary – the more delegates from the CLPs and unions vote against him, the bigger the impact.
- Please try to move a rule change – they have to be submitted by your CLP by June 11.
– Labour in Exile Network have drafted a rule change to get rid of ‘fast track expulsions – click here.
– The Labour Left Alliance have drafted a rule change to allow CLPs to start a leadership challenge – click here
– Socialist Appeal are proposing a rule change motion to lower the threshold of nominations required to launch a leadership challenge and introduce motions of no confidence at conference to force a ‘vacancy’ and trigger a leadership contest – click here.
– CLPD wants to make the Parliamentary Labour Party more accountable – click here
- You can also move a contemporary motion – they have to be submitted by your CLP by September 13. We recommend this very good motion here, which would commit the party to ditch IHRA and adopt the Jerusalem Declaration instead. See more about this issue in our video posted below. If you are a member of the Labour Party, please submit motions to your next branch and CLP meeting so that they can go forward to conference.
-> However, even if you’re not a delegate or not a member of the Labour Party, it is worthwhile coming along to Brighton: A few organisations on the left are in advanced discussions about hosting a series of events during this year’s conference in Brighton – it’s definitely worth coming along! More details to follow asap.
