The
Motto? Telling the Truth to Power Doesn’t
Always Pay!
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| Be gone Spot and never grace my Inbox again! |
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| Jon always liked to cultivate an image of power – little did I realise it would go to his head |
They say the personal is political, but that isn’t always true. Sometimes the personal is, well, just
personal and that is how it felt when Jon Lansman sent me, out of the blue, a
curt email ending a long and sometimes traumatic personal relationship. From nowhere I got the following:
Please
delete me from your records and do not send me any further emails
delete me from your records and do not send me any further emails
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| This kind of best sums up my own emotions at the way this has all ended |
There was no acknowledgment even
of my name. It is as if I had become
just another anonymous email address. Not
even a Best wishes, your sincerely or even yours truly. Just a name and a mobile number and email
address. Clearly Jon doesn’t do empathy
or sympathy for that matter.
of my name. It is as if I had become
just another anonymous email address. Not
even a Best wishes, your sincerely or even yours truly. Just a name and a mobile number and email
address. Clearly Jon doesn’t do empathy
or sympathy for that matter.
What I wondered caused me to
become persona non grata in the Lansman Inbox? All I had done was to send a short email last
night, giving Jon the good news from Brighton.
With an image of Tony Benn with his famous 5 questions. Clearly he had
taken the words of Tony Benn about accountability and getting rid of the
powerful too much to heart. I thought
Jon might see the funny side of the image.
Obviously not. Clearly the vote
against his coup d’etat in his own, Southwark Momentum group, had not gone down
well and now the news from Brighton and Hove on top of Liverpool et al was
proving too much.
become persona non grata in the Lansman Inbox? All I had done was to send a short email last
night, giving Jon the good news from Brighton.
With an image of Tony Benn with his famous 5 questions. Clearly he had
taken the words of Tony Benn about accountability and getting rid of the
powerful too much to heart. I thought
Jon might see the funny side of the image.
Obviously not. Clearly the vote
against his coup d’etat in his own, Southwark Momentum group, had not gone down
well and now the news from Brighton and Hove on top of Liverpool et al was
proving too much.
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| was it a mistake to send this to Jon I ask myself? did I underestimate his sensitivity? |
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| The Devil According to Lansman and Newmark |
On 26 Jan
2017, at 06:08, Tony Greenstein <[email protected]>
wrote:B&H
Momentum Votes to Oppose the Witch-hunt and for Labour to Break all links with
Labour Friends of Israelhttp://azvsas.blogspot.com/2017/01/brighton-and-hove-momentum.html
So, with considerable trepidation, I penned the final email
ever to pass between us. Unlike Jon’s
email to me I thought the least I could do was to preserve a few of the formalities,
such as addressing an old friend by their first name:
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| In happy days a young Lansman with Tony Benn |
Dear Jon,
I apologise for having displeased
Momentum’s absolute ruler. I am fully aware that if this act of
lèse-majesté had occurred in previous times I might well have lost my
head. However at the risk of incurring further royal wrath perhaps I
might be allowed to ask a few questions?
Momentum’s absolute ruler. I am fully aware that if this act of
lèse-majesté had occurred in previous times I might well have lost my
head. However at the risk of incurring further royal wrath perhaps I
might be allowed to ask a few questions?
i. Given your enthusiasm
for One Member One Vote, MxV and on-line voting, I am curious as to why it was
that you didn’t put your proposed Momentum Constitution out to an on-line
vote? How can something which was a principle before Christmas become
dispensable in the New Year?
for One Member One Vote, MxV and on-line voting, I am curious as to why it was
that you didn’t put your proposed Momentum Constitution out to an on-line
vote? How can something which was a principle before Christmas become
dispensable in the New Year?
ii. How is a democratic
Momentum compatible with you and your personally selected cronies owning Momentum
and its companies?
Momentum compatible with you and your personally selected cronies owning Momentum
and its companies?
iii. Perhaps you could
explain to me the constitutional logic behind a body, the Steering Committee,
which is elected by another body, the National Committee, abolishing the latter
body as well as itself?
explain to me the constitutional logic behind a body, the Steering Committee,
which is elected by another body, the National Committee, abolishing the latter
body as well as itself?
iv. Do you not agree that
your relationship with Jeremy Newmark of the Jewish Labour Movement and your
support for their false anti-Semitism allegations, which have now been
discredited in the recent Al Jazeera programmes, has
played a major part in the destabililsation of Jeremy Corbyn? The JLM has
been used as a Trojan horse in the fight against Corbyn and Momentum. Not
only did the JLM vote 92-4% in favour of Owen Smith over the summer, but in
Brighton & Hove we find that 5 right-wing delegates are being sent from the
JLM to each CLP General Committee to negate their defeat in ward
elections.
your relationship with Jeremy Newmark of the Jewish Labour Movement and your
support for their false anti-Semitism allegations, which have now been
discredited in the recent Al Jazeera programmes, has
played a major part in the destabililsation of Jeremy Corbyn? The JLM has
been used as a Trojan horse in the fight against Corbyn and Momentum. Not
only did the JLM vote 92-4% in favour of Owen Smith over the summer, but in
Brighton & Hove we find that 5 right-wing delegates are being sent from the
JLM to each CLP General Committee to negate their defeat in ward
elections.
v. Perhaps you can explain
how you think socialist politics and hostility to a policy making Momentum
conference are compatible?
how you think socialist politics and hostility to a policy making Momentum
conference are compatible?
vi. Do you have any
understanding of why, up and down the country, Momentum groups are voting
heavily against your coup? I understand that even your own, Southwark
group rejected your proposls by 17-10?
understanding of why, up and down the country, Momentum groups are voting
heavily against your coup? I understand that even your own, Southwark
group rejected your proposls by 17-10?
Even David Cameron resigned when
his proposals were rejected in a referendum? Has the idea ever occurred
to you?
his proposals were rejected in a referendum? Has the idea ever occurred
to you?
As a parting gift I thought I
would send you a reminder of the questions that a mutual friend of our once
asked those in positions of power.
would send you a reminder of the questions that a mutual friend of our once
asked those in positions of power.
In solidarity
Tony Greenstein
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| In more reflective times before Momentum started becoming a profitable business |
I can
only hope that my parting missive causes Jon to rethink the error of his ways
and the curt way he has cut me out of his life.
only hope that my parting missive causes Jon to rethink the error of his ways
and the curt way he has cut me out of his life.
However I
have to face up to the bitter truth that things will never again be the same
between us.
have to face up to the bitter truth that things will never again be the same
between us.
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