On the the Road to Victory with Chris Williamson in Derby North – the battle is between Chris and the Tories

One thing is clear – New Labour’s Tony Tinley Doesn’t Have a Chance but he could let in the Tories

The refusal of Labour’s National Executive Committee to rescind Chris Williamson’s suspension and allow him to stand as a Labour candidate was nothing less than an act of fraud and deception.

Chris’s original suspension was declared unlawful by the High Court and in anticipation of this verdict Jennie Formby and Labour’s bureaucracy issued a new suspension based on the most ludicrous grounds – giving offence to Margaret Hodge by providing a link to an article by Norman Finkelstein.

Instead Tony Tinley, a supporter of the Blairite Labour First was imposed on Derby North, which was won by Chris Williamson from the Tories with a 2,000 majority in 2017.

Chris is the incumbent, has been MP for 7 years and was Council leader and councillor for 30 years. As was clear when we went round a middle class area of the constituency he is well known and highly regarded.

Some constituents were in two minds. One woman told me that she was going to hold her nose and vote for Tinley but later agreed that only Chris had a chance and she was reconsidering. Another, an ex-shop steward at Rolls Royce, a major employer in Derby, was firm in his support for Chris (despite Chris having been apprehensive).

It’s clear that Tinley is not going to win and his only ‘achievement’ thanks to the cowardice and treachery of Jon Lansman, Tom Watson and their supporters is that Derby North could be lost to the Tories.

It is however invigorating, given the complexion of the Parliamentary Labour Party to be canvassing for one for a Socialist Labour candidate.

Tony Greenstein