Instead of Supporting Chris Williamson John McDonnell Backs the Reinstatement of War Criminal Alistair Campbell
It is time for the Labour Representation Committee to ditch McDonnell – he is fast becoming Labour’s new Ramsay MacDonald
Despite the misreporting by the BBC and Guardian Chris Williamson won a clear victory at the High Court this week. His re-suspension in June, he was reinstated by a disciplinary panel only to have it overturned after an outcry by over 100 right-wing MPs and peers, was itself overturned and declared unlawful
This is the reality of the situation today – Corbyn and McDonnell by opposing open selection prepared their own graves
Mr Justice Popplewell made short work of the ‘illness’ of Keith Vaz MP, which was the pretext for overturning the original decision of the disciplinary panel. One can only presume he had the after effects of his cocaine habit.
In paragraph 55 of the Judgment, Popplewell observed that:
It would be surprising if, as an experienced Parliamentarian, Mr Vaz:
a) had taken part in an important meeting if he felt himself unfit to do so; and
b) then failed clearly to make that point in his subsequent email.
55.4 Further, there is no evidence from either Sir George Howarth or Ms Elmi. If Mr Vaz had been so unwell that he was not fit to serve on the panel, it is surprising that this experienced politician and Ms Elmi had not themselves raised the issue of his fitness either at the time or subsequently.
Referring to the evidence of Thomas Gardiner on behalf of the Labour Party Popplewell found (paragraphs 60-62) that:
Mr Gardiner does not deny that the negative press coverage was a factor, he simply “does not understand this to be the case.” Further, he then defends the importance of paying attention to press coverage. I accept that it would no doubt be difficult to identify the precise reasons why a majority of the twenty-two NEC members who cast a vote on the issue decided to remit the decision to a fresh panel. In the absence of other proper reasons, it is not, however, difficult to infer that the true reason for the decision in this case was that members were influenced by the ferocity of the outcry following the June decision. Indeed, Ms Crasnow realistically accepted that such inference might be properly drawn and positively asserted that the Party was entitled to take account of the outcry provoked by the original decision.
While not a court of law, the protocol for the Organisation Committee explains that the NEC Disputes Panel operates in a quasi-judicial fashion. An important aspect of acting judicially is that the NEC should decide cases fairly and impartially in accordance with the rules and evidence; and not be influenced by how its decisions are seen by others. Internal and press reaction to a decision are not of themselves proper grounds for reopening a case that was not otherwise procedurally unfair or obviously wrong.
CONCLUSIONS
I therefore conclude that, having communicated the panel’s decision as final, the Labour Party acted unfairly in that there was no proper reason for reopening the case against Mr Williamson and referring the original allegations to the NCC. Such complaint cannot be taken before the NCC and it is appropriate for the court to grant declaratory relief.
None of this was reported by the mainstream press who instead concentrated on the refusal to set aside the new set of bogus allegations. It is only the new suspension, handed down on September 3rd in anticipation of an adverse decision, which has been upheld.
I have sent a letter to The Guardian correcting their misreporting but I don’t expect that it will be published given that the letters columns have also fallen under the sway of the Freedland Syndrome.
Letters Editor, The Guardian
Kings Place, 90 York Way London N1 9GU
Dear Sir/Madam,
Your report that Chris Williamson had lost his appeal at the High Court [‘Anti-Semitism Williamson loses Appeal over Labour suspension’] is a classic example of how not to report a story. That the BBC and the rest of the media reported this in exactly the same fashion demonstrates the bias that surrounds the false accusations of Labour anti-Semitism.
It is a bias that is not dispelled by the recent book Bad News for Labour by 5 distinguished academics showing the lack of any evidential basis for this smear campaign. Reason has no part to play in the moral panic over ‘Labour anti-Semitism’.
The decision of Mr Justice Popplewell to rule that the resuspension of Chris Williamson was unlawful and that the accusations upon which it was based could not be resurrected were a clear victory. The Court found that the overturning of a disciplinary panel decision because of media hysteria was unfair and yet you have failed to report this.
This is a devastating indictment of the unfairness of Labour Party disciplinary procedures yet you chose to concentrate on the fact that the Court would not set aside the most recent suspension.
It is abundantly clear to all except the blind that the new suspension of Chris Williamson, a week before the High Court judgement, was in anticipation of the fact that an adverse judgement was likely to be delivered. The charges themselves, such as criticising the disciplinary process itself, are so flimsy I’m surprised that even the Guardian is taken in.Yours faithfully,
Tony Greenstein
Actually the last sentence is hyperbole. I’m not surprised that the Guardian is taken in!! What is disgraceful is that Corbyn and Jennie Formby have allowed these new bogus charges to go ahead. They are pathetic in the extreme
The new bogus charges against Chris Williamson
New Bogus Complaints Against Chris Williamson“
‘Sending an email to a member of the public who had complained to you about your criticisms of Margaret Hodge MP that referred her to a video on YouTube. The video described Ms Hodge as ‘cheapening and exploiting the memory of Jewish suffering’; ‘trivialising the memory of the Holocaust’; and requesting that she ‘get the hell out of the Labour Party’; among other offensive personal statements about her.
Chris is not being punished for making the video but sending it to someone! Pure guilt-by-association.
Hodge is the woman who called Jeremy Corbyn a ‘fucking anti-Semite’ and who has made it clear that her primary political goal is ensuring that Corbyn never becomes Prime Minister
The video is by Jewish academic Norman Finkelstein, both of whose parents survived Nazi concentration camps. He is perfectly entitled to hold the opinion that Hodge, like the Zionist movement, uses the Holocaust to legitimise its murderous policies. Why is telling Hodge to get the hell out of the Labour Party offensive.·
Publicly legitimising or endorsing the misconduct of members or former members of the Party that the NEC has found, in its opinion, to be grossly detrimental or prejudicial to the Labour Party.
Another case of guilt by association. In other words not accepting that the decisions of Labour’s Kangaroo Court (NCC) are valid. In essence guilt by association. Note the treachery of Tom Watson and his visceral racism, the behaviour of John Mann or Hodge herself, of course weren’t prejudicial.·
Undermining the Party’s ability to campaign effectively against antisemitism by publicly characterising the disciplinary processes of the Party in relation to cases of alleged racism as politically motivated and/or not genuine.”
So if you criticise the Labour Party’s disciplinary processes as politically motivated, which they clearly are, then that is an offence. In other words free speech (for the Left) has gone out of the window. Things are worse now for the Left in the Labour Party than they were under Blair. Yet McDonnell and Corbyn are blind and oblivious.
What is even more disgraceful is the behaviour of John McDonnell, who is rapidly becoming Labour’s iron chancellor-in-waiting. In an interview in GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly) Magazine with expelled war criminal, Alistair Campbell, McDonnell laughs and jokes at how he opposed his expulsion and supports his reinstatement. (Campbell chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee during the run-up to the Iraq War and was instrumental in attacking the BBC for having questioned the ‘sexed up’ dodgy dossier)
There is no limit to McDonnell’s treachery as he laughs and jokes with the man who sold Blair’s war
AC: Did you support my expulsion from the party?
JM: No.
AC: Would you have me back?
JM: Yes.
AC: Good. Thanks for that.
JM: Hang on, your expulsion was under the basis of ridiculous rules that were brought in under New Labour!
AC: It was badly applied!
JM: It was, but it was a stupid rule.
AC: OK.
JM: Come back, Alastair, all is forgiven!
Before going on to Labour’s anti-Semitism moral panic:
AC: The anti-Semitism stuff, you’re not happy with the way it has been handled?
JM: No, I’m not. And you know my view, we should have been firmer, more ruthless and faster. I think we are on top of that now but we are learning lessons all the time.
In other words the Labour Party should have been quicker to expel Jewish anti-racists like Jackie Walker and me and journalists like Asa Winstanley. Sickening stuff from this turncoat.
It is clear that McDonnell has gone along 100% with the fake anti-Semitism allegations. The fact that the Tory tabloids have gone to town over this makes no impression on him. The expulsion of Jewish anti-Zionists and the fact that Corbyn has been called an ‘existentialist threat’ by the Zionist Chronicle to British Jews and an anti-Semite makes no impression on this blockhead.
The fact that the centrepiece of the Zionist campaign was their effort to get the Labour Party to adopt the IHRA misdefinition of anti-Semitism, a definition that Geoffrey Robertson QC has called ‘unfit for purpose’ that conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism passes over this right-ward moving opportunist. Even worse there was
NOT A WORD ABOUT THE OUTRAGEOUS SUSPENSION OF CHRIS WILLIAMSON
I happened to be at a meeting on racism earlier this week at which Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the Brighton Kemptown MP and co-Chair of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs spoke.
I challenged him over Chris’s expulsion, not knowing the High Court verdict and put it to him that Tom Watson had openly supported the racist Labour MP Phil Woolas who the High Court removed from parliament in 2010 after having run an election campaign based on ‘making the white folks angry’. Yet nothing has been done about right-wing racism in the Labour Party or John Mann’s anti-Gypsy pamphlet.
Lloyd-Moyle stated that he wanted to see Chris back as a Labour MP and went on to say that Jeremy Corbyn had mapped out a route that he could take. Chris has subsequently told me that this is not true.
It is high time that the Socialist Campaign Group lived up to its name and that McDonnell was removed as President of the Labour Representation Committee. It will happen but I suspect they will wait until he introduces cuts to benefits.
Tony Greenstein
