Labour’s Decision to Stop Chris Williamson Standing is Indefensible – Tom Watson Will Only Be Missed by Racists and Zionists
Socialists Should Support the Decision of Chris Williamson to Stand as an Independent Socialist
It was a mixed day today. On the one hand Labour’s NEC refused to allow Chris Williamson to stand as a Labour MP. The reason, as Jennie Formby told him a few weeks ago was that Labour MPs hated him for supporting Open Selection. No one apart from a few lunatic Zionists believes that Chris’s suspension has anything to do with anti-Semitism
The irony is that it is amongst those who decided to keep him suspended that the racists are to be found, prime amongst them Tom Watson. As I have explained before, when racist Labour MP Phil Woolas was removed by the High Court from Parliament for lying about his election opponent, Tom Watson wrote an article for Labour Uncut which said that he had ‘lost sleep thinking about poor Phil.’
John Mann, the man who produced a guide to anti-social behaviour that targeted Gypsies, is the ‘anti-Semitism Czar’ no less. He was even more angered by the removal of Phil Woolas.Then there is Momentum Boss Jon Lansman. Lansman has spent time living on an Israeli Kibbutz. Most people who do this come back Palestinian supporters. He cannot but be aware of the endemic racism of the Israeli settler society yet he continues to support the Israeli state through thick and thin. He has been at the centre of the witchhunt in the Labour Party – Jackie Walker, Ken Livingstone and now Chris Williamson. That this racist should have any say over the continued suspension of Chris Williamson is an outrage
So let us disabuse ourselves of any notion that it was about anti-Semitism. Chris was the target of a vindictive witchhunt because of his support for democracy in the Labour Party. All socialists should support his standing as an independent socialist candidate and I wish him well in his endeavours and hope to be able to go up and campaign for him personally.
Tony Greenstein